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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-05 HCHA Approved MinutesMeeting of the HAWAII COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY Hilo, Hawaii November 5, 2020 Agency Members Present Absent and Excused Karen Eoff, Chair (by video from Kona) Valerie T. Poindexter, Vice -Chair Aaron Chung Susan "Sue" L. K. Lee Loy *excused at 9:56 a.m. Ashley Lehualani Kierkiewicz Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder Maile Medeiros David (by video from Kona) Rebecca Villegas (by video from Kona) Herbert M. "Tim" Richards III, DVM Housing Staff Members Present Duane Hosaka Amy Bautista County of Hawaii Staff Members Present Jeanette Aiello Deanna Sako Douglas Le Corporation Counsel Members of the Public Malia Hall (by WebEx) Via WebEx Aiello: Good morning madam chair everybody's here, were ready when you are. WE Oh okay. thank you. Good morning. I'd like to welcome everybody to the Housing Agency meeting. Today is November 5, 2020. It's approximately 9:05 a.m. and Councilmembers (sic) this is actually the Hilo meeting being video conferenced both with Kona and Hilo. So Councilmembers (sic) are present in two locations. I think I see Mrs. Poindexter, Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Chair Chung, Ms. Kierkiewicz, is Mrs. Lee Loy there?... Poindexter: Matt is not here yet. HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Eoff: .... or Mr. Richards? Oh, Matt's not there. Is Mr. Richards there? Yes. Okay. And, Mrs. Lee Loy? Just let me know when Mr. Kanealii-Kleinfelder arrives. This morning we do have some ... oh, I'd like to call the meeting to order. This morning we do have testifiers. And I believe our staff will help me to coordinate their testimony. Oh I think I see Matt ... Aloha, good morning. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: morning. Eoff: Okay so Jeanette can you introduce the first testifier? Aiello: Yes ma'am our first testifier this morning is Patrice MacDonald. Patrice can you hear me? Patrice are you there? Okay I don't see her on the screen so I am going to go to the next testifier. Eoff: Jeanette? Aiello: Yes. Eoff: Before you do that, can I just make a correction, my friend... pal over here, Ms. David reminded me that right now we are acting as Housing Agency members not Council members so thank you, go ahead. Aiello: Thank you for that. Our next testifier on the list is Diane Franciosa if I'm pronouncing that correctly? Diane are you there? Okay I also don't see here on the pictures. The third one I have up ... signed up to testify is Paul Kuykendall and I see him. Paul you will need to unmute your microphone and then you have three minutes. Kuykendall: Mahalo. Aloha Kakou. My name is Paul Kuykendall I'm ... and I'm a member of inaudible... lower Puna. I live on lower Pohoiki road on my farm that's 80% covered by lava in August 2018. We lost 19 acres to the lava, more than 300 fruit trees, five acres of fenced pasture and all the structures on our farm, including our home. We still have one water tank. We had more than a 100 animals including 48 sheep and 12 milk goats. We tended the animals for more than a year and then (inaudible) gave the animals away (inaudible) care of um. Like many of our neighbors, working hard to reestablish with resources that have been severely diminished by the lava flow were very disappointed in the current plan to spend $78,000,000 on a buyout program for people who want to leave the area and almost nothing on the infrastructure we need to rebuild our homes and farms. My family received no aide from FEMA, the state or the county. We had fire insurance that covered 1/3 of our loss. We have spent most of that money on road access to the lava to our five acre kapuka, on living expenses and a small guest home near our property. I called the county for Page 2 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 months asking for when we could file for a permit to rebuild and was told they didn't know when or if I would be given a permit. Now more than two years later after the ... after that lava flow we've seen no visible progress on rebuilding Pohoiki road. There's no commitment to rebuild red road between Isaac Hale park and Highway 137, a necessary egress for us in an emergency. [time tone] This is especially important now since PGV says we're starting... their starting up this week and they have had more than 60 emergencies in 30 years, about one every six months. We must be able to evacuate in case of a hydrogen sulfate leak. We received no commitments to rebuild the county waterlines down the Pohoiki road even though the water tanks are intact and the county has received (inaudible) for that purpose. The current plan to spend millions on a buyout program speaks louder than any words that the county is more interested in depopulating our community then supporting us in rebuilding our homes, farms and lives. I request that you reject this plan and help us rebuild roads both public and private (inaudible). I request you rebuild waterlines for our homes and farms. I request you work with the new Mayor to [time tone] develop a meaningful plan to support us with housing as we rebuild our lives and farms. We're doing all we can. We recently planted four ulu trees, like roof in the roots of a friends tree, there only a few feet tall now within five years they'll be tall and will bear fruit and they'll feed us and our neighbors. We and our neighbors we'll be here then. I hope the county steps up to help us. Either way we will be here. Mahalo for your consideration and your support. Aiello: Thank ... thank you Mr. Kuykendall. Madam Chair our next speaker is Bernadette Sabath or SABathe. Bernadette? Sabath: Yep. That's right. Sabath. Aiello: Okay. Okay, please go ahead you time starts now. Sabath: Aloha my name is Bernadette Sabath. I live off of 132 between mile marker four and five. I am speaking as individual within a non-profit. The non- profit which is composed of individuals doing service together while also living as individuals within the container of a community. We also lost our homes and sustainable food source. The garden is destroyed and the orchard, at the moment, is needing some serious rejuvenating attention. Mahalo for the road which once again gets us access to our 20 acres but now we face the problem of restoring our infrastructure. We applied for a grant to help restore permitted buildings which were damaged in the fire storm to help with the housing shortage here but were denied. I'm speaking out today to pled to those in positions of power who can allocate more monies for grants to help with recovery who do not want to abandon their kuleana to the land that we have worked so hard to maintain for many years. I can understand how folks like Mayor Kim who lost their family home would want to walk away if there was Page 3 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 nothing left to salvage, but imagine that your home was surrounded by lush, green, futile top soil. Top soil which was not destroyed. Imagine feeling hopeful to once again host local school groups onto the property to lean about solar power, gardening, how to use power tools and build structures with those power tools. How to take care of bees. How to even play volleyball and make popcorn. Were now only three people left here on the property trying to keep the jungle back with fruit falling on the ground, pigs overrunning the property. Pig hunters telling us there's no way to trap them because they have too much food lying on the ground. Food which could be supplying food banks in this area. I'm turning away farm hands who want to help us because I do not have decent housing for them. We cannot maintain a regular schedule to fight against the fire ant situation. If I had more spaces here to org... to offer help we could get the upper hand here. Agency and Council members if the end game here is to depopulate this area you can soon add 20 more acres to your checklist. I know there is recovery money in the ethos earmarked for our specific needs. Direct it towards us again. We are drug and alcohol free. To get ... for our community to get involved with here. That is another rare commodity here in this district. Help us thrive again so we can be of service and thank you for your time and your service. But everyone has different needs here. And some of us want out and some of us want to stay. And I believe you can help both of us. Thank you. Aiello: Thank you for your testimony. Madam Chair our next testifier is Jan Marshall. Jan can you hear me? You might have to press *6 on your phone to unmute. Marshall: Okay. Mahalo. As United States tax payer I'm appalled that my tax dollars are proposed to buyout properties which are actually fairly low risk. I can't understand why Hawai `i should get future disaster funding if these monies are wasted. As a member of the greater Puna community I am appalled that rather than using these scarce funds to strengthen our economy and rebuild our communities the county proposes to waste them. As an owner in Vacationland I am deeply disturbed by this proposal which I believe will set our community that wants to recover, back for years. While folks are waiting to find out whether they've hit the jackpot and get bought out at values far exceeding the real value of their property or whether they'll be left with a neighboring lot owned by the county with trash and invasive species and other issues that the county will not have the funds to resolve. The county cannot even tell us whether they will pay road association fees for the roads in front of these lots that we will have to pass by to get to our homes. Those fees represent a future burden on Hawai `i County taxpayers with no benefit for them. I urge you to have the incoming administration put together a thoughtful plan for the use of these funds based on respect for community input which so far has been thoroughly lacking. I recognize that HUD has imposed restrictions which may need to be challenged Page 4 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 and I believe can be overcome based on the great value a good application of these funds could have. Mahalo. Aiello: Thank you. Our next testifier is Robert Golden. Mr. Golden please unmute your mic and you can go ahead. Golden: Aloha my friends. I come before the committee to ask you to do one thing ... to table this motion. And to put on pause this process of refunding peoples homes in terms of this HUD grant. We've already heard some of the key reasons why and I would just like to point you to one very important profound book some of you might have read called what ... the Seven Habits of Highly... Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Franklin Covey its classic written about 25 years ago and in this book Covey lays out seven clear habits that make and enable people to be a success and extract ... we can extrapolate from that and make the community a success. And I believe if go forward with this plan for housing buyout we will be violating those seven habits of success. One being proactive, that means taking responsibility. I'm not going to elaborate on all of them, just a couple. Two and this ... that's the most important one which I believe you will be violating if you don't table this motion, is to begin with the end in mind. We have come before you, various people from the community, have come before you to say we need a long term plan. We still don't have this long term plan. And so people are ?? allowing, wanting to buyout on their properties but we have no sense of a future for lower Puna. You're going to be going to be giving away over $70,000,000 that might ... most probably will not stay in the community. We will not be rebuilding. Lets take first things first. Lets get a plan. Please work with this community to create a plan that we all are working together on shoulder to shoulder and that way we can go forward. I don't quite understand why there's this rush to do this now? We have a new incoming administration and with a new mayor, Mayor Roth, you know let us all work together. There have been many mistakes along the way, please do not compound the errors of the past. Please show your good faith to our community. We need your help desperately. We want to be proactive with you. We want to be responsible players. Mahalo. Aiello: Thank you Mr. Golden. We have a James Clear signed up, I don't see him on the list so our next testifier will be Betty Oberman. Ms. Oberman please unmute your mic and you can start. We can't hear you. Oberman: Good morning can you hear me? Aiello: Yes. Please go ahead. Page 5 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Oberman: Aloha. I'm Betty Oberman. I come from Vacationland/Kapoho. I have been there for 20 years. I serve on the ... I'm Vice -President of the VHCA, Vacationland Community Association. I have been involved with the Water Board since 2002. I'm appalled that ... I'm hurt ... I cry every day that you folks don't listen to us. I have been involved with this since the lava flow, highway 132, we've talked about highway 137, our community has had the opportunity to look at grants we've even been granted $250,000 but we can't get to our properties, we need at least a small section of 137. 1 know others chime in and they want all of 137 done but we can't get anywhere near Vacationland without the road being opened up so that our surveyors, our people, we are private property, we know we have to operate our own expense, the offer of a buyout is ... is horrible because people don't want to come back, they don't want to support our community. There's myself, Eileen, Robert, Bernadette... there's so many of us ... Paul, were all working hard to go home and we need roads and then we can work on our infrastructure, get our water back, do all we need to do and I wish that you guys would listen to us. We have begged and begged and begged for two and a half years and we hear nothing. Its always, we gotta survey. Finally, often times I feel like a child who fell in the pool and I'm yelling help! help! help! help! and the life guard says well let me research that and see if I can save you. (laughter) That's exactly how I feel and I've put 20 years into this community, we, our community, Vacationland, we've had a lot of vacation rentals, we brought in a lot of maintenance people, laborers, painters, we spent a lot of money at Home Depot, Lowes, Sears. We really have supported the community, it may not be that were growers or have orchards or agriculture and so forth but we have fully supported the community with our vacation rentals [time tone] and with our own personal needs. My husband and I retired to Vacationland in 2020, excuse me 2000 even, we worked all our lives to afford to live where we were living. Please help us out. Help us to get to our homes. Mahalo. Aiello: Thank you Ms. Oberman. Our next speaker Amedeo Markoff. Mr. Markoff can you hear me? Markoff: Yes I can hear you, can you hear me? Aiello: I can, I understand that you have another person there that will be testifying from your location, is that correct? Markoff: Yes ma'am that's John Olson. Aiello: Okay. You can go ahead. Your three minutes starts now. Markoff: Okay, thank you. Okay, so as you folks know I'm the President of Mainstreet Pdhoa Association and we are the longest serving community Page 6 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 association in Pdhoa town that deals with economics and the business community specifically. So we feel like we have a pretty good handle on what the needs are for the business community in Pdhoa and the surrounding communities. We wrote you a letter back when public testimony was open saying that we were not in favor of the buyout program and listed various reasons and the recovery team base ... counted that as one vote against the buyout program when in fact we have over 30 businesses and those businesses comprise of 100s of employees. So lumping us in as one vote is really disingenuous and we've also, John Olson, the Vice -President of Mainstreet has filed for a freedom of information act asking for the county to provide the actual records in relation to that public testimony, in addition, we've asked for the ISD report which is the Economic Development Report and the geological studies showing that ... what the threat level is to this community. None of that has been provided and in fact is, that is in violation of the Office of Information Practices and the State and County Charters. So that being said, there are problems regarding the comments, the initial comments in support and the supposed (sic) and then there also ... our concern is that the lack of road restoration and the connectivity of Puna and the access to farms and homes and in addition the buyout program and the public review period have been expedited and that's worry some. We feel that it may be seriously time to consider an extension, in fact, we ... we ... we demand an extension of the review period at this point. This needs to be tabled until such time that the ISD and the geological studies have been made public and reviewed so that we can make an informed decision about the economic recovery of lower Puna. It really is a sensible that the decision being made now reflect the actual full amount of information available and the ISD component was completed, that's the economic recovery plan, was completed as far as I know over a year ago and its really disheartening that it hasn't been released. Perhaps some sections are not finished or need review but that no excuse for releasing the whole ... the document. In addition, we feel like its essential that an overall plan for Punas recovery be made available for public review before any decisions made [time tone] on any particular aspect of the recovery can being. Other than road restoration. We all know that road restoration is imperative and those should commence immediately and in full ... and full all roads need to be recovered but the idea of a buyout program before you know what the overall plan for lower Puna is is really really really ludacris and it certainly... we're gunna keep ringing this bell until we start to get a voice ... one of the other things I just wanted to touch... Aiello: ma ma ma pardon me Amadeo your time is up. Can we transition to Mr. Olson please? Markoff: Okay. Thank you ma'am. Okay, Mr. Olson. Page 7 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Olson: Good morning. John Olson here. Members of the Committee. I have several problems with this document starting with some of the vendors that were brought on board to do the various reviews. Taking it to the level of what is to be gained and what is to be lost both for Puna and for the island overall. There are several things that are missing from this that on our side of the table, documents that we have not been supplied with for review and here we are being asked to comment on that. The concept that the county has as an entity has last something, when in fact it has lost nothing. Leilani Boulevard was a roadway that was built to the county's standard and dedicated to the county during the creation of Leilani Estates, the county never paid a dime for the construction of that roadway. In the past 50 years the county's contribution has been to mow it. The same can be said of Pohoiki, the same can be said of all of the water infrastructure that goes down there. That water infrastructure was paid for by other entities there was not a donation to the county, by the county. In the next two minutes that I have left or so there is also this issue of lifestyle, Oh you're from Puna!, well this a choice that I made 40 years ago because it was a lifestyle that I wished to live. I would not live in Hilo, I would not live in Kona. I lived where I lived in Leilani because I enjoyed the environment, that is a choice that I get to make. We need to stop this process immediately until we have the possibility of reviewing all of the documents. I still cannot know ... I still do not understand how the county went to an independent geologic firm when they had USGS. (Inaudible) we have only to go knock on the door and they will come out and tell you what is and what isn't going on with 0auea. I did that 40 years ago. Had a wonderful day long conversation with the then scientist in charge, Reggie Okamura, she explained to me what risks I was choosing to take and I accepted those. There are people there who are producing agriculturally because of the climate. It is unique. They are able to grow things that you could not grow otherwise in Hawai `i. The list goes on and on [time tone] and on. The perception is that this is something that we need to get rid of and I would strongly suggest to you that just to opposite is the truth. Thank you. Aiello: Thank you Mr. Olson. I don't see Rachelle or Rachel Nack on the list so I'm going to go to Eileen O'Hara. O'Hara: can you hear me? Aiello: I sure can. Go ahead please. O'Hara: Alright. Mahalo and I hope all have recovered from the election day trauma and congratulations to Councilmember Kanealii-Kleinfelder for his return to Council. Speaking of which its important to note that the change in Council with new members on boarding and possible changes in leadership as well as the introduction of a whole new mayoral administration greatly effects the discussion today with regard to this action plan with this CDBG Disaster Relief Page 8 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 HUD Grant agreement for $83,000,000. Our group previously known as Imua Lower Puna representing all areas of lower Puna effected by the 2018 lava event we have conferred with Mr. Roth and were delighted to hear that his position on replacing roads lost to lave in 2018 is that it isn't a legal obligation due to force majeure but a moral obligation. This is quite different than the outgoing Kim administrations position which has been to refuse to commit to road recovery, specifically highway 137 from Pdhoa to Pohoiki, and has publicly supported not allowing the area to be repopulated. This is not in the best interest of community. Puna needs a public roads circulation plan in place for it threatens the public health, safety and economic interests of our community. It's absurd not to recover highway 137 as Pohoiki will once again become a major commercial fishing spot thanks to the work that the State ... and it serves as the hub for recreational marine resources in Puna. Now speaking to this action plan the community has repeatedly signaled its lack of support for this buyout plan. And speaking to the director of the HUD field office in Honolulu, Ryan Okuhara, he expressed dismay that that was the only thing that this action plan contains, a buyout. HUD disaster relief funds can be spent on more than just housing, as he explained, economic development efforts leading to job creation, infrastructure, this is what lower Puna residents have been asking for but none of those contain in this plan which is built on incomplete data. Many effected residents won't speak out today as ?? on not being heard and as noted previously an Office of Information claim was filed on October 6th and the county is in violation of that in it has not yet responded, 10 working days has long since pasted. Tom Callis of the Lava Recovery Team told us that there are 305 households that might qualify for buyout. Many of these households are not interested in a buyout and have expressed that. They want roads to their properties which is being denied to them by their current administration in spite of the county receiving nearly double the funding in FEMA needed to replace the 1 1-12 miles of public roads lost. Many will not qualify as medium low income per this buyout plan. Many of those 355...305 properties were previously valued at less than 230,000 which is the cap and if you multiply 230,000 x 305 you'll come to around $70,000,000 and we know all these properties won't participate. What of the remaining money? What of the remaining $13,000,000? Under this plan lower Puna has to wait six years before money left over from this poorly planned buyout can be redirected to needed infrastructure and economic development activities. That's too long to wait. Councilmembers you can go ahead and vote on this measure and again tomorrow to approve the funding but were here to let you know the community is rock solid in opposition to this plan [time tone] although were still having a new action plan drafted under the new administration. According to HUD and I've been in touch with local office and the nation director of disaster relief on the mainland, substantive changes needed will require a new plan and we will continue to pursue that. So you can do what you want to do but we will not stop pursuing a plan that meets the community's needs. Thank you very much. Page 9 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Aiello: Thank you Eileen. Madam Chair if I could just have a moment to confirm that there's no more testifiers. Eoff: Okay. Thank you for checking. Aiello: Thank you so much Madam Chair you can proceed, that was the final testifier. Eoff: Okay. Thank you then we will move from statements from the public and go to approval of the minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the April 8, 2020 housing agency meeting please? (inaudible) Villegas: Second. Eoff: Okay it's been moved by Ms. David, and second by Ms. Villegas. Any comments? Hearing none. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? I believe we have nine ayes. Motion carries. Okay we have two items under new business. I believe the testifiers were speaking to item b. but lets just go in order so item a is transmitting a report of the executed agreements between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and County of Hawaii for Hawaii County Housing Agency approval and this is being presented by Mr. Duane Hosaka. Can I Have a motion to file this report and approve this executed agreement between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the County of Hawaii Office of Housing and Community Development please? (inaudible) Eoff: Moved my Ms. David, second by Ms. Villegas. Mr. Hosaka would you like to just briefly give us an overview of what we're looking at here? Hosaka: Okay. Thank you Council Chair... Eoff: (inaudible) Hosaka: First I would like to thank my secretary Amy Bautista for putting this meeting together and she's been working extremely hard trying to get everything together, put the testifiers together. And also, another person whose behind the scenes right now is Alisa Hanselman, my Deputy Housing Administrator, she's back at the office getting this web meeting together, pulling Page 10 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 everybody together, so it's hard work for everyone so I'd like to thank them again. So under County Code Chapter 2, Article 13, § 2-73, "...Any and all contracts with the United States department of housing and urban development shall be submitted to the housing agency for its approval and any such contract shall be executed by the mayor as authorized by the Charter." Accordingly, the Office of Housing and Community Development submits this report on agreements between the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and County of Hawai'i, Office of Housing and Community Development for the Hawai'i County Housing Agency. So if you want to follow with me on this excel spreadsheet we have three items that was passed in Council, the first is the existing housing contracts, the first one is a housing choice voucher rules and regulations, that was passed back in June. The second one was the Public Housing Agency five year plan and also the Public Housing Agency annual plan, that was also passed in June. And the second set of HUD agreements was the grants and management contracts. This was in April. We passed the consolidated plan which is from 2020 to 2024. And also we have the ... our regular CDBG... its our entitlement monies that come in every year, so that was ... the Council passed $2,726,000 and again, that was back in April. And then in May, we got our first funding of CARES Act money, the CDBG COVID monies and that was again passed by Council $1,543,000 so I'm just reporting this back to the Council, I want to put it on record. On the second page of that spreadsheet, it just shows all of the projects that was accepted for the COVID monies. And I can answer any questions if you have anything. Eoff: Okay and I will open up the discussion to Councilmembers at this time and I'm assuming everybody has their housing agency packet? And Hilo ... agency members in Hilo do you have any questions of Mr. Hosaka or comments? Kierkiewicz: Chair? Eoff: Ms. Kierkiewicz? Kierkiewicz: Yes. Thank you Chair. I just wanted to extend gratitude and appreciation to Administrator Hosaka and his team. You folks have worked really hard to bring a lot of things forward to us and so thank you. It so great to have this overview. One of the questions I have, you know I was perusing the HUD website and there are over a couple of dozen different funding opportunities that are available to counties. Does your team have the capacity and ability to take a look at that list and prioritize some grant funding opportunities that we can go after as a county? Page 11 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Hosaka: Yes my staff have ... has been looking at the list and where possible we are pursuing, trying to get extra monies to our office. Kierkiewicz: Have you encountered any challenges in some of the requirements for some of these grant funds? Hosaka: Mainly it's the income levels of the participants so as long as we can qualify on the income side, most times we can get the monies. Kierkiewicz: Okay, and then I just wanted to check in on some of this CDBG-DR that's come in to support COVID. You talked about purchasing additional tablets or laptops for kids and families that are in different low income housing units, has that project been completed? Hosaka: That unfortunately, I guess because of the tablet demand, the tablets that we were traying to get, cause were asking for 900 tablets to use by the clients with school age children, that particular model was discontinued so we're in the process of getting a different model but we had to start the process all over again so its another 900 units, different model, but we had to ... because of the procurement, we couldn't use the old ... you know that old model number. Kierkiewicz: Sure. I appreciate the honesty and clarification. I'm just curious. So the laptops are going to be for the kids, not for the family? Hosaka: First set is for the kids. Kierkiewicz: Okay, and DOE wasn't providing any of these students devices? Hosaka: They have, I believe some of them are but were going to provide... Kierkiewicz: This helps to fill in the gap? Hosaka: Yes and its one per family so if there was a family with two or three children there going to get only one per family. Kierkiewicz: Okay. and then, do we kbkua the internet connectivity at these housing sites? Hosaka: No. Not at this time. They would have to provide their own internet access. Page 12 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Kierkiewicz: Is there a grant that we could possibly go after that would allow them to ... or that would allow that county to kinda pay for that connectivity? Hosaka: Right now... Kierkiewicz: Particularly because it's the most ... you know were talking about some of the most vulnerable in our community. Hosaka: Currently we haven't found any means to do that but hopefully if there's some leeway in the guides... guidelines we possible could. Kierkiewicz: Okay that's helpful to hear. Thank you much for the report. Happy to help in any way that I can. Thank you Chair. I yield. Eoff: Thank you anyone else? Poindexter: Yeah, Chair. Val Poindexter. Eoff: Go ahead Ms. Poindexter. Poindexter: Thank you ... thank you for all you do and continue to do. Just wondering as you develop the plan and as we continue to move forward whether it needs tweaking or whatever... what community organization or out there in Puna is at the table as part of the team in creating this plan? Hosaka: For the COVID monies we did a request for proposal. So it was ... whoever wanted to turn in a proposal for ... to receive the monies. And the committee was based from our CDBG office to pick and... Poindexter: Yeah, what I was talking about is ... talking about the overall planning of the recovery, you know, whether it be COVID funding... whose at the table so that there's a continuity in recovery from the public, from that area in the community? Hosaka: Yeah again so our funds are being used for very low income families so we already have like a section 8 list, if that's what you mean... Poindexter: Yeah no I was talking about like overall plan ... you know...the count ... you know...were trying to make sure that recovery happens in Puna and there's all these puzzle pieces all scattered all over and... Kierkiewicz: Chair I don't mean to interrupt but point of clarification or order of information... Ms. Poindexter I think those questions are best directed to Douglas Le when we get to talking about the action plan. Page 13 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Poindexter: Yeah, I know about the action plan too but even on the ... what I'm saying is all the different departments have all these different puzzle pieces and I think at all the different levels we need to have community input or involvement, regardless of what it is... Hosaka: Okay, yeah... Poindexter: .... that's what I'm ... that's what I'm getting at, and I know when somebody talked about the seven habits, if anybody owned one of those franklin covey planners you automatically ... you would get the seven habits, right? And one of those seven habits is making sure there is a paradigm shift so that we need to force that paradigm shift and I think part of our problem in government is what ... that's what I'm trying to point out, is that were used to to working in, you know, our own areas and not looking at the paradigm shift and think the important thing, I think what Puna is the people are getting frustrated with is things are happening and one other thing of the seven habits, I think, is seek to understand then to be understood, so there trying to understand this whole process, there coming out and there testifying on all of this but all I'm trying to say is we gotta try to have a paradigm shift of anything we do with community input. When you have RFPs goes out you have requests for information as well and how do we include them on the RFIs? You know so ... that's all I'm trying to say is that every step of the way in whatever department or whatever piece of the puzzle where working at whether it be Douglas Le who makes sure that's all pulled together and that each piece is worked on with that specific community organization or the people who are being affected by this is at the table at every step of the way and I think that's when we look at them seeking to first to understand then that way they will understand and be able to give good feedback or concerns and questions, that's all I'm saying... Hosaka: okay... Poindexter: .... is ... is ... we gotta find a way, even in ... with CDBG funding or at the housing agency area or your department. How do we engage with that community? Hosaka: yes. Poindexter: Thank you. Hosaka: just to add to that. So when we went through the COVID one, two and three funding we did work with finance and research & development so we didn't duplicate our monies. We tried to reach out to most organizations that we Page 14 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 could, as best as we could ... some of them we couldn't provide all the monies that they wanted but we tried to give as much and tried diversify our monies to the community. And basically some of them were food, were certain priorities that we were trying to get out and of course, were trying to get out the money as quickly as possible so some types of, where there was construction that would take years to complete, that might have had a lower rating, a lower score because of the time ... the timeliness that were trying to get ... whether its rental or mortgage assistance, or food ... we could get it out quicker to the community. Poindexter: I yield Chair. Eoff: Okay thank you. Any other comments from Hilo? Lee Loy: Yes. Chair please. Eoff: Go ahead. Lee Loy: Thank you Duane. I had a question around the monies, it's basically low income, right? And we've seen the devastating effects on family with the economy and so I'm just wondering if any thought is being given to ... yes we have this funding now but I suspect were going to see the need, because so many families will then fall into this low income or ... but there not in there now, how do we plan for that because at some point as these people begin to request the need, that income level of users will grow, has any thought been given to that when we're looking at the different tranches of money as it comes down? Hosaka: Again I guess working with finance their COVID monies for rental and mortgage assistance so when that started we put our monies on hold so once... finance... or the State money that's being used up, then ours would start to kick in, so it would last a little longer. Of course, you know the monies won't last forever, so hopefully the families can get back on their feet within the next several months and again if we can find additional monies we are always looking for it so we can provide assistance longer. Lee Loy: Thank you and we are all very hopeful turn around will be months. I'm more realist, I think it will take a couple of years so a lot of this CDBG monies too have a bigger window of use right, and remind me again how long we have to utilize the money here? Hosaka: So the CDBG monies we have five years but we don't expect it to be that long, we are trying, or our goal is to use the money up within a year cause we want to get it out to the public or our clients. Page 15 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Lee Loy: Great, thank you Duane always such good work coming out of the housing department. Chair I yield. Eoff: Ms. David. David: Thank you ... I just have one ... I'm sorry, I just have one question for Administrator Hosaka and want to thank Ms. Lee Loy for the question. The five year term that we can utilize this funding, within that five years, Mr. Hosaka, are we precluded from seeking grants in the interim? Or do you have to wait to expend, like even if you said you wanted to expend it within in a year, would that preclude us from or the agency from seeking other grants within the period of time? Do you have to use it up is what I'm asking before you apply for new ones? Hosaka: We don't have to wait to apply for any new monies or especially if the federal government were to possible give a ... the forth tranches or the forth allocation of monies but again we want to spend the money as quickly as possible to get it out to the public. David: Okay great and I appreciate that because I think efforts in just your priority in doing that, getting it out as fast as you can to the public is very grateful ... I'm grateful for that and thank you for all that you folks do to help our people because like Ms. Lee Loy stated there's going to be a lot more people that fall within that category and that will need help so that you very much aloha inaudible. Eoff: Thank you Ms. David. Any other comments? Hilo? Well hearing none then thank you so much Mr. Hosaka and we can go ahead take a roll on the motion to file this report and approve the agreements, all in favor please say aye. Any opposed? That's nine ayes motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to item number b. The approval of ... item b, the Approval of the County of Hawai'i Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Action Plan and Grant Agreement with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. May I have a motion to approve the initial action plan and grant agreement? inaudible Eoff: moved by Ms. David, second by Ms. Villegas and I believe we have Mr. Doug Le who has a presentation. Is the presentation ready Mr. Le or did you want to speak first? Le: Douglas Le, Disaster Recovery Officer, County of Hawaii, I'm happy to provide the brief presentation. Page 16 of 36 HCHA meeting Eoff: Okay. November 5, 2020 Le: So as we wait for the presentation to come up I just want to acknowledge the close partnership with the Office of Housing and Community Development Administrator Hosaka, Deputy Administrator Hanselman and also Amy and the whole staff who really work closely with us and you all to make today possible. Eoff: Thank you. Kanealii-Kleinfelder: Chair can we take a brief recess while we get the documents up on the screen? Eoff: Okay let's be in recess. Thank you. Let me know when you're ready. Lee Loy: Chair? Eoff: yes. Lee Loy: I'm going to be excusing myself I have another matter to attend to from 10 - 11. Eoff: Okay. thank you. We received your note. Lee Loy: Thank you. **recess** Aiello: Madam Chair were ready over here in Hilo. Eoff: Okay. I'd like to take the meeting out of recess then and we'll go to the presentation. Le: So again good morning. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this Hawaii County Housing Agency to consider approval of the community development block grant disaster recovery funding between the County and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support our recover from the 2018 Klauea eruption. I want to be able to provide some of the key facts and the considerations of what has been built into this process and also the action plan itself and I'm happy to engage in questions and discussion afterwards. So specific to the community development block grant for disaster recovery you know the acronym goes by CDBG-DR it's a mouth full but I'll try to be clear as I refer to it. Congress allocated funding to jurisdictions with federally declared disasters in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Our allocation currently is at $83,841,000. As Page 17 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 we've discussed with community and with council in the past these HUD fundings are ... is one part of other streams of funding that support other aspects of our recovery effort from the FEMA grants that have been allocated to the County for the restoration of infrastructure to also relief that we received from the State Legislature and the Governor's office to address recovery needs more broadly. Essentially our team ... the county has been in this process since January when following the publication of the Federal Register Notice that allocated these funds the representatives from HUD were with us here on island and had an opportunity to provide some overview with the Housing Agency back in January. Since then we've been working very closely with the HUD team both recovery staff but also the finance staff to really meet these key requirements and milestones that I'm presenting here. Policies and procedures for financial management and grant compliance, our pre -award implementation plan, the CDBG-DR action plan, which is before us today and then the subsequently with the appropriate approvals at the county and being able to enter into a grant agreement to receive and expend the funds. We could print out a book of all of the rules and regulations and important requirements that come with receiving and administering these important funds. I've highlighted here just some of the key ones that really drive where we are in terms of what is being proposed with this grant. In the Federal Register Notice that allocated our funds, as known as 85 FR 4681, it is one of six Federal Register Notices that applies to our funding. For all grantees HUD directed jurisdictions to primarily consider and address our unmet housing recovery needs with this allocation prior to being able to address other recovery needs such as eco ... our economy or infrastructure. I will go in a little bit later with what housing unmet needs means to help provide context. Other key considerations, it is long established HUD policy for this island to not participate, is the framing of it, in assistance with their funding for housing reconstruction, rehabilitation, acquisition for redevelopment and also housing related infrastructure in lava zones one and two. So that's a really important piece that is not specific to these community development... the community development block grant disaster recovery funds but speaks to FHA underwriting, the use of our entitlement CDBG funds as well. And in the Federal Register Notice it is clear and is not unique to ours, our funding, that programs and activities must have a tie back to the disaster that the fund was allocated for and that 70% of program funds must assist low to moderate income households and individuals. So what is the action plan? The current approved action plan by HUD is on our website and as we move through this process since this summer we've made the document available on our website as well. I've highlighted here key chapters essentially, the pieces of this action plan, and they each have a unique role to play and also are one part of the requirements that HUD lays out in these Federal Register Notices, what the action plan actually needs to have. Page 18 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 I'll go through some of them just to facilitate our discussion today. So first and foremost, of course, is ... are the disaster impacts. I think we know the impacts very well. The graph ... the map here does show where the inundated or isolated areas immediately following the eruption, prior to any road restoration that's happened since has happened. We speak a lot about the farms and homes that have been inundated by the lava but this map not only properties but structures or farms and businesses that were inundated. The yellow dots also demonstrate where places were isolated and the green dots also indicate where lava did not take or damage a property but it was impacted by the irruption, between the gases and earthquakes that have been documented. The county looked at several data sources in the day following that first initiation of the eruption since data collected at civil defense, data with the real property tax division of finance, data from FEMA and SPA and the FEMA and SPA data is represented both of those properties that have structures or farms destroyed as well as those that were damaged. Folks sought assistance for damage even if the structure may have still be standing. Below are just a breakdown of really what we're talking about in terms of residences verses agricultural parcels and then isolated parcels as well. This is a table from the action plan that breaks out what we know to date in terms of the funding and assistance that has been received by the county and families impacted by the disaster. So this is the first part of the equation that HUD requires us to look at in terms of what assistance we've received following looking at the impacts and damages. I think this also speaks to the columns represent the different categories of recovery efforts and the rows represent the different funding sources. Essentially because this is also framed for a HUD conversation is does not calculate yet the assistance that HUD is providing to supplement what has been otherwise received and anticipated. This next table which is also in the action plan fills out the equation. Essentially the ... across these different types of recovery work on the row side, the first column demonstrates the need that's been articulated right, around housing needs, infrastructure and economic development we factor in, in the middle column, the assistance we've received and that third column represents the unmet need and then we factor in the CDBG award after that. Really going back to key policy issue around HUD requiring grantees to address our unmet housing recovery need prior to allocating funding towards other eligible projects or activities its that first column that were really tracking. So understanding what the total documented damage in need was at Page 19 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 $269,000,000. What we have documented as received, both primarily, in this case, assisting impacted households and what the unmet need is. So the unmet need is identified as $293...$239,000,000 and the HUD funding that were seeking approval for will reduce that need but there will still be un ... remaining unmet need even after all the HUD funding is applied. So specifically we are proposing two programs. One is a voluntary housing buyout program that we are planning to allocate $78,000,000 to. Our second program is around housing relocation services. So assistance in helping families really find that next home. For those participating in the buyout program or even those who are impacted by the disaster directly and still housing insecure. Besides just the support type of assistance, were also proposing financial assistance in the form of a partial security deposit for a rental or a down ... partial down payment assistance if someone's buying into their next home as a result of the buyout program. We looked at some key objectives and really had to look at also best practice at HUD and other grantees who've run similar types of housing programs shared with us what the needs are on the ground, in terms of the families that were looking to serve, there's no ... there's no question that of the hundreds families that were impacted by this irruption the experiences are across the continuum in terms of their... peoples financial situations, their housing needs, their lively hoods and farms but also their future vision, I think, the choice folks have had to make and continue to have to make are very complex ones and we really weighed that in terms of how we approached the proposal to design this program from folks who are carrying debt on the property that was inundated that can no longer occupy to taking an SPA loan immediately after the irruption cause that was one of the few options of assistance at that time. Folks who continue to be renting or housing insecure, not having a permanent place to be as well as families who had to relocate off island. Because that was the only place where they could find stable housing but they are looking to return. And finally stories of folks who may have received that FEMA assistance that max at $34,000 or so that went to any number of needs the family was facing. Some folks bought a lot but can't do much else with it. So its just sitting there until they can figure out there housing. All of these considerations went into the proposal of the program. One part being really looking at pre -disaster value for the purchase price a maximum grant award of $230,000 prioritizing serving low - moderate income households first but non low -mod income household are also eligible, its not a question of eligibility, it is a question of prioritization. The same goes with the types of properties, really prioritizing primary homes over second homes or undeveloped vacant lots and two key issues that came across in the public comment period was if our property's adjacent to public road that will not be restored ensuring that those folks have prioritization inconsideration of other eligibility criteria and this question of duplication of benefits where in every Page 20 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 disaster the different types of assistance a household can receive between FEMA assistance, insurance or SPA assistance among others the federal government with these being taxpayer dollars wants to ensure that the dollars are being spent on the highest need and not being duplicated. Through the public comment period and subsequently we were able to really get clear with HUD on the application of this policy. And essentially that, the purpose of the buyout program is different than the immediate assistance than folks may have received in terms of FEMA for example or you know the buyout is were buying out a property, SPA assistance may have been to rebuild a house, compensate for lost... economic loses and insurance was for the loss of the structure. And so really being clear on this duplication of benefits piece. I think the one consideration is just if folks still have access to those dollars relative to what was made available for recovery that will have to be considered. The bottom line is that there's no such thing as a blanket application of policy. For every individual who is interested in participating in the buyout program we will need to get their full picture, in terms of assistance they sought, assistance they received, and then make the determinations for every single case. But I did want to provide the background on the overall policy approach in terms of how this really important issue of duplication of benefits applies to the situations that our community is facing. So as I mentioned earlier, really a piece of the housing program was, the objectives that were looking to achieve, so assisting residents of greatest need who lost their home due to inundation or isolation from the lava and providing them with resources to rebuild their lives and I think for each family ... each individual, that process looks very different for them. And also questions have come up around why we are considering primary homes as well as second homes and undeveloped lots and one piece of that is around for ... if folks choose to participate in this buyout program it ... there is the process of essentially reducing exposure to volcanic hazards in this hazard area where eruptions have occurred before and we know just based on the geology will happen again. As a brief reminder this is where the lava zones map in terms of the area that was impacted directly by the 2018 irruption, the Puna district, the red being the lower east rift zone, lava zone 1 area ... lava zone 2 area is adjacent to it and then lava zone 3 area is um...you know from yeah in the sub divisions including Kea `au. And some statistics around really what these ... the type of development that is currently in these areas broken out in terms of lava zone 1 specifically, in terms of the number of parcels, the number of buildings, and also the value of property in this area and the data is really broken out between what's in lava zone 1 Page 21 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 specifically and what is considered volcanic hazard area which in Puna mainly represents lava zones 1 & 2 and which also encompasses a lot of the historic flows. And so with public input in July and August we provided a copy of the action plan for public comment. We received 93 comments and 70 were supportive but even among that support there were a lot of questions and concern that we really looked to address in the subsequent versions of the action plan that have been shared and also approved by HUD. I think issues that have been brought up by folks from the community and also spoken about earlier too is this question about insurance right, do we want to penalize folks who were able to get insurance coverage? of course not. So how does it all play out? and how does ... how does that weigh in in terms of the design of the program itself? Questions around road restoration and its relationship to the work that would be supported by this grant which was focused on housing and also question around future land use so after properties are acquired what does that look like? In terms land assemblage? In terms of long term management? And we have proposed some strategies that are informed by what HUD and other jurisdictions have taken on in terms of these properties in the long. Finally this represents the spread of issues and the action plan does provide a summary of the comments and specific issues that were raised in those comments, as well as responses from our side in terms of how we incorporated those comments, reflected on them or directly answering the question. I think among many of the folks that have been in touch with us, reaching out in this recovery process, yes there are families and farms that want to return to their property and want to rebuild. There are also families who are waiting for some assistance to be able to rebuild their lives or to really square there either their housing situation, their financial situation, as part of this recovery as well and I think these questions and concerns came across in this spread of topics. So just to wrap up and help us transition to the next part of todays meeting. What are some of our next steps? Were here befo... today before the Hawai `i County Housing Agency for approval on this plan. We also are... have... are anticipating subsequent meetings with county council for the appropriate approvals to enter into an intergovernmental agreement between County & HUD and also to appropriate these grant dollars. Our next steps are staffing and operations, policies and procedures, really standing up programs which I think we're as a county and as community familiar with what that takes to stand up these types of programs. To really provide public information and outreach around what ... what documents folks need, what people really need to weigh and consider, being available to answer folks questions about their choices and Page 22 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 whether they want to explore this voluntary buyout program with a program start of April 2021. With intake and processing of applications. Just a fine point, you know the, of the $83,000,000 we have six years to spend those dollars and so as part of the HUD action plan they ... a key point for us, but for all grantees, is what they call timely expenditure. How are we going to ensure that we spend the money on time? And so their projections that are really a base line but essentially we can spend these program dollars in the service of applicants, right? And so if there is significant up take early on, we can process that as we can process the applications and how folks get to the closing table on this buyout program. If we feel like ... or if we observe that there's drop off in the program there's less interest, we all like share responsibility for allocating these dollars to recovery and so it is not uncommon and also actually part of HUDs process in administering this program to address substantial amendments, right? to see okay, where are we against spending and prioritization of these dollars to where they need to be prioritized. If the initial program is not meeting its mark in terms of spending were still helping folks there's no question about it, who are participating, then substantial amendments are important part of the process. Any substantial amendment would go through public comment review as it relates to an allocation of funding more than 10% of the grant, any change in eligibility criteria, or any change in programs or projects, the use of the funds. And so these are detailed in the action plan but I think its important to really call out just what the life cycle of this grant looks like and for grantees who have been receiving these dollars since the 90s amendments are part of the process and its really indicative of the recovery process. And as we acquire knowledge on these properties and where they are and work with the communities, where the buyout activities are being proposed, really developing a management plan for the long term management of the acquired properties is an on-going next step. I'll pause there but really appreciate everyone's time and thoughts on these really important issues. Eoff: Thank you so much Mr. Le. I think I'll open it up for discussion now. Councilmembers, I mean Housing Agency members, in Hilo? Richards: Chair? Eoff: Go ahead. Mr. Richards. Richards: Thank you. Douglas, as always thank you very complete. Question on your comment on page four the program funds must assist low to moderate Page 23 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 income 70% of the program funds. Please define that for our county as what low to moderate ... is that 80% AMI or what is that? And then what is the AMI? Le: So low to moderate income, and these are HUD definitions, are 80% of our area ... of our Counties Area Median Income. And so it, essentially for a household of 1, 1 believe the ceiling is roughly $45,000, and it escalates from there. I can ... sorry I don't have the figures memorized but we do have them on our website where we address some of these issues ... but it is 80% of our area median income. Richards: Thanks Douglas that's as much for the public as that is, cause it's very confusing as you all know, so yeah if we could get those numbers put out so people understand what that means and that we have the lowest AMI, Adjusted Median Income, in the State, I think that's an accurate statement, correct? So I think that was ... and it is 70% of low to moderate?...is the 80% considered moderate? Or is that considered low? Le: So essentially 80%, anything 80% or lower is within the... Richards: that ... the framework... Le: .... very low income to moderate income. Richards: Okay. thank you. Le: Yes. Richards: And then further question concerning the funding here. You've heard the public testimony the ?? I think this was during our conversation previously the specificity of these funds being used, I don't think we are disagreeing with some of the public testimony but the specificity of these funding going to the program that your laying out, could you speak to that please? Le: Sure. So the ... this grant application essentially, the action plan represents funding that will be going to address housing recovery needs as parts of this eruption. And so all of the funds between the more substantial voluntary housing buyout program to the housing relocation assistance are directly addressing housing in this context and really the important decisions that the agency is weighing today is about moving forward with the resources for this housing program. Richards: Thank you. And I think if ... this is a great power point, Deanna is this available to the public some place cause I like how your spreadsheet has laid it Page 24 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 out where fundings come from, where fundings going and why it has to go that way. Sako: So there's actually a lot of information on the county's recovery website that Douglas and his team maintain, including the AMI information... Richards: okay. Sako: .... he was referring to and if this isn't there already we'll make it available because I forgot this Housing Agency and not Council. So if its not already up we'll make sure it gets up. Richards: Okay cause I think there be a lot of answers in this information so with that chair I yield. Eoff: Thank you Mr. Richards. Any other comments in Hilo? Kierkiewicz: Chair. I have some questions please. Eoff: Please Ms. Kierkiewicz. Kierkiewicz: Thank you. Thank you Douglas, Deanna. Really appreciate your continued effort and hard work to help Puna recover cause sometimes I feel the recovery process ... no ... this is, please don't take this personally but I feel that were just limping along, and I don't want limp along, you know I certainly want to help the community fly to a place of thriving and prosperity so it's not personal its just the constant bubbling frustrations of community, I feel that I'm engaged with them pretty often. Anyway, getting to the meat of this, what is the deadline to submit this for HUD ... to HUD? Are we under any time constraint here? Is there any possibility to pause with where were at? Take another look at this plan and re -work it based on consistent community feedback that it doesn't align with their vision and values? Sako: So if you want to hit the pause button were going to continue to limp along because basically we would have to go back out, once the action plan is revised it has to go back out for public comment and we start the process again. So, you know, right now, we have ... HUD has approved the action plan, there sent us the grant agreement to be signed, and so we need to move forward. We can amend at any point in time, but I don't know how patient HUDs gunna be with us if decide to amend the entire action plan before we even sign the grant agreement. Page 25 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Kierkiewicz: So here's the issue. I'm reading through the action plan and it says it aligns with a number of documents, including the resilience and recovery plan which we still don't have. We also don't have a copy of the economic development recovery strategy for our island. These were promised over a year ago. Yet this action plan somehow aligns with those documents. Its very frustrating and concerning because I feel like your dolling out cards one at a time rather than putting it all out on the table. Hard for people to make a decision about, should I go for this voluntary buyout program? I don't know if my roads gunna be restored? If it is, they may not want to go after it. If it isn't, they may want to take advantage of the program. Do you see the predicament the community is in? Le: Yes. I think we can appreciate where things are... Kierkiewicz: I don't want you to appreciate it. I want you to sit with it.. Le: Yeah. Kierkiewicz: .... and really address it. How come nobody has showed up to support this action plan? Out of the 93 people that submitted comments. I only had one e-mail in support of the program. Everyones pretty outraged. Sako: I thought there were several written testimonies that were submitted but I could be wrong. Kierkiewicz: There were a couple of duplicates. I'm not counting those. Le: Yeah. So I ... I can't speak folks who chose to par ... to come out today. We did inform anyone who has reached out to us about interest in the buyout program as well as everyone whose submit public comments as part of this action plan process about todays meeting as well as the subsequent council meetings. So we wanted to make sure that folks have that information and the available... available to speak to it. Kierkiewicz: So you noted earlier 1,579 parcels impacted by the eruption. We have their information on file with real property tax, did you send them letters about the action plan and buyout program? To get their feedback? Le: Specifically no. Kierkiewicz: and it was an island wide call I saw earlier for public comment? Le: It was not limited in that way, yeah. Page 26 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Kierkiewicz: and the percentage of folks making comments? 100% impacted area? or no? Le: from the details that folks may have provided in their testimony or their contact information, the vast majority of folks were in the impacted area. I can think about 1 or 2 just from the comments we received that were not. Kierkiewicz: Who or what exactly informed this program? I'm not saying I'm against it, there's absolutely a need, I have been in conversations where in the very same room, got people saying I want a buyout, others saying, you know what ... I wanna move back ... that I can appreciate, were gunna agree to disagree. But I'm just wondering whose informed this? because in the action plan it also notes about the task force coming to a consensus around supporting this. And in my interviews and follow up with task force members, I going be real frank, they said we were caught off guard by this, we were given no heads up that this was being published. So I just don't understand, are we just writing, oh community's on board for the sake of writing it? to check the box for HUD? Le: No, absolutely not. In terms of work with the task force specifically and the question that was ... that you brought up around who informed? who was engaged? In this decision right around the program so in terms of understanding what types of housing solutions could be supported with the CDBG-DR funds we looked at where folks had run buyout programs around the country, you know with HUD support, success that they had but also challenges and things that they learned from the process as well. That was a starting point. Another piece was understanding, given the framework around policy and regulation, what types of programs could be proposed with these specific funds. In the spring we had a series of task force meetings where we took these building blocks and brought them together because the building blocks really informed the choices that we would then have to make. And where there was consensus on the task force it was that around some of the key take aways, choosing to prioritizing low and moderate income beneficiaries before we serve non low to moderate income folks. Thinking about the opportunity around the future land ... use of and management of these properties after people voluntarily get bought out. Really what the program is trying to achieve and so consensus was more around, from what we distilled from the taskforce and followed up and documented in our meetings, was around the shape of the program that we ended up proposing later in the summer. Taking all these pieces and bringing it together. I think that whether the taskforce which is comprised of both community and county folks all completely agree that this is the ... the solution for our recovery from this event, I know that the profectors abroad just as they are in the community as you have spoken to but is this one piece of the solution for families? Then, we feel like it is and we did hear from community members about what this would Page 27 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 mean for them, how it would serve their needs, really the impact that a program like this would have as part of the public comment process as well. Kierkiewicz: Douglas to follow up on your meetings with the task force were they presented with the fact that this program was going to make up the entirety of the action plan monies? Le: We did explain in those ... those workshops where we talked about it, where housing had to be the primary allocation of funding... Kierkiewicz: 70% does. Le: I'm sorry? Kierkiewicz: You said 70% does ... of the funding needs to go to LMI and housing. Le: Oh so 70% of funding needs to benefit low to moderate income individuals and households. All of the allocation of funding needs to support housing. Sako: So we have to follow the Federal Register Notice. So all of the unmet housing needs have to be met before it can be used in any of the other categories. So once all the unmet housing needs are met, then we can determine if other uses ... we can use it on other things. Like infrastructure and other things that keep coming up. But we have to meet all the unmet housing needs first. Kierkiewicz: What is going to trigger a reassessment of needs to see if thigs are changing? And if all the unmet needs have been met? Le: So like I mentioned earlier if these grant funds apart of reducing the unmet need right? In terms of how they will be used towards housing. Something that we worked on early on and continue to work on is understanding from like an aggregate level the types of insurance payouts that folks received as part of this eruption. We have been able to get that full picture yet from the State regulator folks but as part of the application we will be seeking information about all systems that folks have received. And that will also contribute to essentially reducing our unmet need because we are documenting assistance that has been received. So this needle will move over time in terms of what is our unmet recovery need related to housing. Kierkiewicz: Is there like an annual audit that's gunna be conducted to see how needs are being met? Page 28 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Sako: There's many different audits throughout the course of this. We have to actually we're mandated to hire an internal auditor specifically for this prog... excuse me for this program. So there's a lot of different checks throughout the way but we also know that Douglas and his team are going to be monitoring it each month as applications come in. Because either there gunna come in or there not. And so each step of the way they can be monitoring to determine if this is the particular program to meet the unmet housing needs or if we have to change it to meet them in another way. Because you know right now the unmet housing needs are $239.5 million dollars and you know we have 79.6 million going towards that so that still leaves a lot of unmet housing needs. So its just in which way we can meet those need is really the only decision we can make at this point in time. Kierkiewicz: And I'm taking a look at that same matrix and it talks about economic development and very, very little available to support that and I really truly believe that if we build up our economy people will have housing. Sako: And I don't think anyone disagrees but right now the way the Federal Register Notice is written we have to apply it to housing first. This particular pot of money has to be applied that way. Kierkiewicz: How is this plan aligning with our general plan? And which version of the general plan? The existing one or the one in draft? Le: So in terms of how it addresses housing patterns, right? and where development currently is and the shift that we anticipate with voluntary participation in this buyout program, there is over all alignment, I mean I think we you know we could have a phone conversation about the specific cross checks on it. We have been looking at the current existing general plan in terms of those points of alignment even as the update to the general plan worked its way through. But it is I think a lot of the takeaways and this recovery process right was started with even the CDP action committee as well in terms of alignment around finding opportunities in town centers for economic growth, access to services, thinking about farms and agriculture and other types of economic activity that could grow in the district. As well as looking at housing and settlement patterns. I think one thing I didn't bring up earlier but was a consideration it is a choice that other grantees have made is to build a brand new neighborhood and to have folks who may have been displaced to move to that neighborhood. Like a county building a subdivision. I think one of ... and its discussed in the action plan as an alternative, I think one of the key considerations, or several considerations essentially was around individual choice in this whole process, right, in terms of providing options for folks which we feel access to the resources from this buyout program will enable. One other piece was around just the costs for that scale development in whether the Page 29 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 dollars available under this CDBG-DR grant would be adequate to serve buyout needs as they arose but also address the infrastructure needs and vertical development for any new subdivisions and I think the other key consideration was in some of the land use mapping understanding the eruption area relative to other areas of Puna because clearly no matter how folks may feel about their own choices about returning or leaving the home that they lost there's a strong interest to stay local, yeah, among the families and individuals that we've spoken to along the way and so you know in the subdivisions in lava zone 3 for example just north of Pdhoa there are 5000 platted developable parcels in residential subdivisions, so within this choice and really think about land use and carrying capacity on the general plan side folks have choice to take opportunities to purchase new homes if they haven't already started the process of buying or building a home but with these resources and they also ... there's development potential right, in these other subdivisions that folks could choose to take part in. It really kind of ... we really felt like this program addresses both this land use ... these land use decisions... but also this issue of individual choice. Kierkiewicz: and so because everybody gets a choice what I'm concerned about is this checkerboard appearance of some people staying, others leaving and how are we going to resolve all that? You know I was reading through the action plan and it talked about if you acquire a property, if there's a structure disconnecting utilities and demo'ing the actual structure. Is that demolition cost gunna to be covered under this grant program? Le: yes. yeah. Tha'd be considered a project activity. Kierkiewicz: Okay. Le: ....and you know disconnecting utilities to the home or the site closing a cesspool, those types of actions. Kierkiewicz: And the county's going to manage all of those properties that have been bought out? Who? Finance? Sako: The ah ... until such time as we determine what were gunna use with it, whether it becomes an ag park or something else, yes, we'll help the recovery team inaudible... Kierkiewicz: That's assuming that parcels are contiguous, that you can have an ag park. Sako: Correct. But ah, until people come in for the buyouts were not going to know specifically which parcels. So that's part of the monitoring every month Page 30 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 and determining where things are and being able to make decisions to move forward. Kierkiewicz: Any interest in the National Park managing these lands? Has that conversation been had? I know a number of folks in the community have talked about that in the past. Sako: I think there was some preliminary discussions, not far enough to get anyone to commit on either side. Because at the time they were going through their own challenges with recovering from the earthquakes and other things that damaged the park as well. Kierkiewicz: Is HUD requiring you to provide a management plan for the properties that have been purchased by the county through this program? Le: It is part of the program administration to really have a management plan. I think as Deanna mentioned some of the parcels can be managed out right in the way that we receive donated properties, or other types of ways that residential properties fall under, our ownership. Whether there are opportunities based on what comes our way, the assemblage and the quality and the characteristics of these parcels the county still owning it but having stewardship partners, the county owning it leasing it for ag, and if there's interest in capacity to transfer title to local HOAs or other entities with the same restrictions that the county would have to live with but an opportunity for folks to own and manage these site in their community. So that's the continuum of some of the best practices and I think solutions that we feel could fit our needs on our island as we navigate this program. Kierkiewicz: We have a lot of squatters in Puna. I'm just concerned about there being an uptick with where we are with COVID and now these opportunities for folks to potentially be squatting in assets that are now under county's kuleana and activities that could happen there that have adverse impact on neighbors that choose to remain. Deanna you mentioned earlier a lot of time and energy has been put into this and if we hit the pause button that its only gunna further delay the communities ability to recover. I'm gunna disagree with you a little bit on that one and I use the CARES funding as an example of our county being able to very quickly mobilize and put a plan together and spend down $80,000,000 in less than six months. I know this program is different and its complicated because its not an actual program of the federal government. There isn't a mandated framework for it, is my understanding, and that there are Federal Registers that are informed by previous registers and lessons learned and so you don't really know what you gunna be working with until that notice is published... Page 31 of 36 HCHA meeting Sako: Correct. November 5, 2020 Kierkiewicz: .... so I ... I feel for you, there's certainly empathy here in that this is a very very challenging program to under take and manage but I'm gunna ask my colleagues for some time to defer this because we are gunna get another mayor and a new council and its just so late in this administration to be making this decision specifically because we do not have other documents and data that we have been begging for that would help us to make an informed decision. Le: So specific to the overall recovery plan ... the recovery zones plan and also the economic recovery plan our teams needs to work to finalize it and were standing up a meeting with the task force to do a final review and discussion on it before we re are prepared to release it publicly that's in about 2 weeks from now. I understand the concerns about how the decision before the agency today around these funds and this program, how without the broader plans being black and white for everyone that really leads to question right about how does this all fit into the bigger picture. I think with the work that we have been able to move forward, the grants that are helping folks rebuild, this options around a buyout that will give folks flexibility and options about rebuilding their lives whether where they were or not it speaks to this balance that were really working to drive around choice and thinking about affordability, these are real top of my concerns for our communities during as disaster, or even not during a disaster and they are different pieces of the broader puzzle, I understand those plans will help to knit the full picture including some of the actions that aren't ...haven't come before us but just know that we are working really hard to kind of fill in that picture and get those plans out so folks have that direction. I think one of the challenges has been like with all the different federal funding streams we're constantly tracking eight different types of timelines or even lapse of timelines on the opposite side unfortunately sometimes and so we've really had to keep all the plates spinning at the same time relative to being able to make progress to help the folks in the way that these HUD funds could and we hear from one or two folks every single week asking where could I sign up? how do I learn more? What action can I take? what document do I need to put in? so we know that the need is still there to be able to be able to move proactively and meet HUDs requirements and there expectations while we also work to paint the full picture as part of this recovery process. Kierkiewicz: Thank you Douglas. Thanks Deanna. Again I'm gunna ask my col ... I gunna my colleagues to weigh in on this but I'm just asking for a bit more time. I'm sorry its probably its not what you wanted to hear form me but just in really thinking about this and evaluating where we are it just is critically urgent for us to get this long term vision set so we know where this program fits in and if there's Page 32 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 any flexibility to rework this document. And you know Douglas as you were speaking I appreciated your honestly around where we are with these plans I just wish we knew sooner that there was a problem with these documents particularly because we spent over $1.4 million on this brilliant recovery and resilience plan and a quarter of a million on the economic recovery strategy and we still don't have it. I'm shame you guys ... I'm really embarrassed that we don't have it. Were here to support. I don't want the council or the community to be viewed as a burden. Were here to work together and again its gotta be this process that's community driven and government supported. I've been saying that from the beginning. And so I'm gunna be with my community on this one and ask for bit more time to see if we can resolve some issues. Chair I really appreciate the latitude this is proa... this is singularly the most important issue in my district so I appreciate the extra time. I yield. Eoff: Thank you Ms. Kierkiewicz and I realized what your saying and this is very important and we ... I'd like to get your feedback a little bit right now though because I'll need to recess this meeting until after finance if we want to go forward with discussion because this meeting is not being live streamed so people waiting on WebEx are expecting finance to start about 15 minutes ago so I'd like to ask you whether it might be better to recess it till after finance or whenever its most convenient for us to come out of recess on this issue in order to not make a hasty decision right now but to continue the conversation. Do you think that would be a wise move? Kierkiewicz: Yes Chair thank you but I do want to make sure that finance Director Sako and Douglas Le are available to participate. Eoff: Okay, so can you ask them. Inaudible discussion Le: yes. Kierkiewicz: Their schedules are flexible. Eoff: Okay, so we'll try and reconvene this as soon as possible for now... Poindexter: Chair? Chair? Excuse me this is Val. Eoff: Yes. Poindexter: You know I'm just really curious because our council chair had his light on for some time now so I'm just curious to hear what he has to say if he could do it real briefly so that we don't lose that continuum in our discussion and Page 33 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 take into consideration what he has to say cause usually he comes up with some you know... Eoff: solutions Poindexter: ....good questions or ideas, or sometimes its crazy but its mainly good. (laughter) Eoff: Okay let me check then, Mr. Chung would you like to help us out here and then keeping in mind that I've been advised that we may need to take a recess if were gunna go much longer. Mr. Chung? Chung: Yeah, I'm thinking now whether you know its ... Eoff: Oh oh ... okay. You know I didn't want to rush this discussion... Chung: ....right... Eoff: ....cause I realize its important. Chung: Well you know, I'm gunna go off script now and basically its gunna come down to this. Whether we want to go into the nuts and bolts of this plan or discuss the possibility of deferring it until the new mayor can weigh in on this thing, and that's my preference, you know were so close to the inauguration. Both of the candidates for mayor were really good outreach people particularly as it relates to Puna so now we know who the Mayor is, its gunna be Mayor -Elect Mitch Roth who again has a great reputation for connecting with the community, I'm not saying that he community hasn't been a part of this discussion... this matter just like COVID or not unlike COVID its really damned if you do damned if you don't, you cant please everybody and Douglas you had laid out a lot of the constraints and requirements of the HUD grant and I think these a disconnect, there's some disconnect between the communities expectations and what these constraints are but at the same time why don't we just let the new mayor, what's another two months? We've been waiting for a long time, I mean the community has been waiting for a long time. and I don't want to sound flipit or anything like that but two months more to allow the next mayor to come in and weigh in on this thing I think is the best thing we can do. And I don't think its gunna require, you know if we press the pause button right now, its not gunna require us to go out and have more public meetings or anything like that. I just, you know, let Mitch come in and give a strong pitch one way or the other on this. Page 34 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Sako: I don't think we disagree with any of that but we do need to check with HUD because if it puts the funds in jeopardy then that could impact all of your decisions. Chung: Well, then... Sako: so, I mean, were just saying... Chung: ....right... Sako: .... go ahead and defer but we will check with HUD because you know if there's other consequences we just want you guys all to be aware of it. Chung: ....right and then you can always let us know... Sako: .... yeah ... Uhum... Chung: ....and we can put it back on the agenda. Sako: yeah. Chung: And you know I see arguments on both sides, I mean you could approve this and amend it later, but you know, will that happen now ... I don't know. So if, just for the sake of expediting matters, I'm gunna make a motion to defer this ??: Postpone. Chung: ....or postpone. Eoff: Okay. then we have a motion... Kierkiewicz: Second. Eoff:....if everyone else is agreeable ... a motion ... we'll find out, a motion to postpone from housing agency item number b and... Kierkiewicz: Second Eoff:.... a second by Ms. Kierkiewicz and I'll go ahead just ask council ... ah housing agency members all in favor please say aye. Kierkiewicz: Aye. Page 35 of 36 HCHA meeting November 5, 2020 Eoff: Are there any opposed? Okay I believe that is eight ayes, is Ms. Lee Loy out of the room? Kierkiewicz: Yes Chair. Eoff: Okay eight ayes. Motion carries and this items been postponed do we have to say to a date? or just postponed? I know our clerks not here I'm just gunna say postponed. And Ms. Sako will or Doug Le will get back to us if there's... Chung: Or to the... Eoff: .... need to put it back Chung: ....call of the housing agency chair. How's that? Eoff: Okay. Chung: would that be alright? Eoff: Okay. okay. I think that sounds right. We'll put it on ... postpone it to the call of the housing agency chair. Eight ayes. Motion carries. And now I need a motion to adjourn. Kierkiewicz: So moved. Inaudible Eoff: Moved by Ms. Kierkiewicz, second by Ms. David. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Thank you very much we are adjourned. Meeting adjourned at 10:49 a.m. Page 36 of 36