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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-09-20 Veteran Advisory Committee MinutesPresent Absent VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, September 20, 2007, 3:00 p.m. Hawaii County Council Room (Hilo) and Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Don Bennett Penny Fox Roy Hinokawa Edward Lee George Mukai Delbert Nishimoto Gilbert Sampaia Norman Stahl John Young Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Antonio Gaspar Richard Highley Minoru Hanato Robert Welter Guests (Kona) Herb Lum - State Veterans Advisory Board - West Hawaii Representative Ex- Officio (Hilo) Patricia Engelhard, Director, P &R Also Present (Hilo) Nathalie Santos, Secretary Herring Kalua, State Veterans Advisory Board - East Hawaii Representative Keith Ribbentrop, Office of Veterans Services Barbara Cooper, Representative - Wreaths Across America Project Wendall Kekumu Richard Stevens George Yamamoto Swearing in Ceremony P &R Director Patricia Engelhard conducted a swearing in ceremony for newly confirmed members Delbert Nishimoto, Norman Stahl and John Young. (Fall to Order Chairman Highly asked Vice Chair Penny Fox to conduct the meeting in Hilo since he attended the meeting at the Kona Mayor's Office. Vice Chair Penny Fox called the meeting to order at 3:05 pm - (13) members present. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 2 September 20, 2007 STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC No Statements from the public. PREVIOUS MEETINGS MINUTES — July 26, 2007 • The minutes of the July 26, 2007 meeting were approved as submitted. • August 17, 2007 Meeting Cancelled - No Quorum REPORT ON CEMETERIES — STATE VETERANS ADVISORY BOARD Hawaii Island - East Hawaii Representative Mr. Herring Kalua Hawaii Island - West Hawaii Representative Mr. Herb Lum Appointment to State Veterans Advisory Board - West Hawaii Representative Mr. Kalua announced that Mr. Herb Lum has been appointed as a member of the State Veterans Advisory Board representing West Hawaii. Mr. Kalua read the attached Engineering Report dated September 1, 2007. (See Attached). Veterans Cemetery III - West Hawaii Mr. Lum referred to Engineering Report - last sentence under West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery Phase IIB - Waiting for the grading and stockpiling permits approval from the County of Hawaii before they receive Notice to Proceed - estimated date of completion is February 8th which makes it on schedule. Item IIC, the Preliminary Revised Master Plan is prepared for submission to VA this month, once VA approval is given, we will know the specific scope of Phase IIC which is forthcoming. During the last month Major Moses of the OVS received a check for $743,000 from the Under Secretary of Memorial Services to be used for the West Hawaii Cemetery specifically for the bathroom, parking area and additional burial spaces on Phase IIB. The monies received were based on the state application of July 10, 2007. They are proceeding with work. Phase IIC is 1 to 2 months behind schedule. Water Allotment from Kukio Mr. Lum said an item that is not on the Engineering Report, is that he was told that a water agreement has been effected beyond the 3,600 gallons per day. He is awaiting a written report confirming amounts and any other factors relating to agreement. He asked Director Engelhard if she knows anything, she responded that she will report on water later in the meeting. Graveliners Mr. Lum reported that OVS is purchasing graveliners (called vaults) for all veteran cemeteries on all islands costing approximately $43,000. He understands that the vaults for the veterans are paid for, but the families or next of kin need to pay for spouses' vaults. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 3 September 20, 2007 Veterans Cemetery II - East Hawaii Mr. Kalua reported on East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery II - M &E conducted the final inspection of landscaping checklist items on April 23, 2007 and approved to accept the project with consent of the HIENG and County of Hawaii. Process for final close out starts. County of Hawaii started maintenance of the cemetery, Phase 11 on April 30, 2007. M &E will process the final payment and close -out documents for this project upon completion of items discovered in the final inspection. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Veterans Cemetery I and II - Columbariums Director Patricia Engelhard reported that she's not satisfied with what was done to the columbarium at Veterans Cemetery IL A steel cover was installed for 12 vaults and its not going to work. She's asking maintenance staff to go back to the drawing board. The columbarium may be knocked down if it doesn't work, but we'll continue trying first. The way the columbarium is built, if an individual cover is made for each niche, they will all look off because the framework isn't good. Staff recommends installing a big frame around it and install smaller covers for the individual niches. We will have to see if it looks acceptable. We're trying to make do with something that we shouldn't have to do. Mr. Mukai later commented that he went to see columbariums at both Veterans Cemeteries I and IL He said that standard urns are 5" and 4 1/2" with a height of 8 ". The standard urn would not fit in the niche. It sounds like we will have to tear them down and start from scratch. Veterans Cemetery III - West Hawaii - Water Director Engelhard responded to Herb Lum that she has not heard anything about water allotment from Kukio, but she will contact them to ask if they have made an arrangement with anybody. She said she knows that personnel from DAGS working on the contract did need a commitment from Kukio for more water than we are getting. They were going to try and get something, but they did not report if they got anything. Director Engelhard will find out and report at the next meeting. Veterans Cemetery III - West Hawaii - Expansion Project Chairman Highley asked when the start date is and what the contract amount is for the expansion of Veterans Cemetery III. Director Engelhard reported that the project is being handled by DAGS and we don't know what the contract amount is. Mr. Lum said he believes the contract amount from a previous Engineering Report was $473,000. Chairman Highley said there may possibly be additions to that. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 4 September 20, 2007 Director Engelhard responded that the County doesn't have control over that - state funding is handled by the Office of Veterans Services (OVS) and State Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). Chairman Highley said that question should go to OVS representative Mr. Kalua, if he doesn't have that information, we'll go by those amounts and wait till he finds out. Particularly when the start date will be. Mr. Lum stated that the Notice to Proceed was given to the contractor, but it was pulled back because permits weren't received, so once the permits are complete, the Notice to Proceed will again be issued. Mr. Lum will find out specifics on Cemetery III since Mr. Kalua has the East Hawaii Cemeteries to follow up on. Reforestation Proiect Chairman Highley announced that the next planting will be held on September 29th and is being coordinated by Richard Stevens. Mr. Antonio Gaspar said the planting will be from 9 am to 11 am and lunch will be served at 11 am. Gravelinerc Chairman Highley said Herb Lum made an official announcement that we will be getting vaults as opposed to graveliners - we're still confused as to the definition of the terms. Mr. Lum said it's the same. Director Engelhard said that graveliners are not vaults, they are polyurethane, much less expensive, won't last forever, but will last long enough. Maintenance Funds from Legislature Director Engelhard said she called Major Moses to find out about graveliners since Representative Cindy Evans called to say that the legislature approved some funding for maintenance of cemeteries. Director Engelhard assumed that since the County asked for $100,000 the legislature gave that amount. It turns out that the Office of Veterans Services has kept those funds for graveliners so the County will not receive additional maintenance funds that has been requested for 20 or more years, although having more graveliners will help to some degree. We will be again requesting funds from the legislature during the next session and asking them to be more specific as to where monies go. Mr. Kalua reported that he thought all cemeteries were to receive the same amount of $70,000, and funding for liners was not suppose to be combined with maintenance. He will check with Major Moses and report at the next meeting. Veterans Cemetery II - Placement of Markers Director Engelhard said in response to concerns from one of the members that the markers don't line up right. She asked cemetery crew to be more conscious about lining Veterans Advisory Committee Page 5 September 20, 2007 them up as best they can. It is true that the dirt shifts and they end up not being aligned after awhile, but in response to that, we will do the best we can. Rule 7 - Review for Possible Amendments Chairman Highley said he reviewed Rule 7 and doesn't believe that a lot of the rules are adhered to. Doesn't know if it's a concern of this committee to have these rules amended and a public hearing held. Many of the rules leave a lot of room for discretion. Wanted to ask committee if some of these rules should be amended or an effort made to follow rules. He said he understands that the lack of funds the county receives to maintain the cemeteries is also a dilemma relating to the enforcement of rules. Director Engelhard asked Chairman Highley to be more specific as to which rule is not followed. Chairman Highley said that Rule 7 states: 1) The cemetery opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. (West Hawaii Cemetery sometimes is open and sometimes is not, it's a hit and miss as to when the cemetery opens and closes.) 2) The flag is raised and lowered at sunrise and sunset. (That's never been done at West Hawaii Cemetery.) 3) That urn burials will be in a separate location. (At West Hawaii Cemetery the urn burials and the casket burials are all mixed in at this time, which is what's always been done.) Director Engelhard addressed each concern 1) Opening and Closing of cemetery - We have no staff there so that's why we are opening and closing when we do. We've also thought about sending Freeman Guards out there, and tried to combine with State Parks, but it would probably cost about $25,000 a year to send someone out there just to open and close gates and that is an undue burden. Unless somebody wants to volunteer to do it, we're going to have to open at 8 am and close at noon as much as we can. 2) The same is true for raising and lowering the flag. In Hilo where we have electricity we are able to keep a light on the flag all the time. In Kona where there is no electricity, it's a problem, there was some discussion about trying to get a solar light there, but nothing happened with that or if it did it wasn't reported to us. The Pretsch's were going to see if they could get a solar light out there. (Chairman Highley said that the solar light did go on the top of the pole, but its very dim and the flag could be seen better with a flashlight.) 3) Relating to urn burials, P &R tried to set aside a place at the end of the cemetery closest to the Pu'u because there are a lot of big rocks in there, but it has been that there are urns and caskets all mixed up because the cemetery is new and its hard Veterans Advisory Committee Page 6 September 20, 2007 to establish working conditions when there aren't constant people there. The employees change. She will ask staff to continue to try to put the urn section in the place closest to the pu'u which is a raised area, but in the meantime there are also columbariums for urns. We will ask that people use the columbariums for urns rather than being buried in the ground. Chairman Highley again said if its important to the committee that we change Rule 7 so that Cemetery III is exempt from some of these things that we say we can't afford, then that would make things according to the rules instead of "it can be followed if it can and if not then the rule goes out the window ". Just trying to establish what needs to be done. As far as the burials and the urn burials, he asked Mr. Minoru Hanato to comment on the availability of burials. Mr. John Young commented that he doesn't think it's an undue burden to have people be able to visit the cemetery at decent times, it was an undue burden for these people to wear the uniform period. Mr. Norman Stahl said the question in his mind is why is there money to provide these services in Hilo for families of veterans and we can't find the budget to provide the same thing in Kona. Director Engelhard said this issue only recently came up, it hasn't been provided, and in the past it's been acceptable. If it's the committee's will that we spend an excessive amount of money to open and close the cemetery, then I will put it in next year's budget which we will start to work on in October. Mr. Young commented that if it goes into the budget we shouldn't be calling it excessive. Director Engelhard responded that she won't call it excessive when it goes in the budget. Veterans Cemetery III - Burial Space/Equipment Request Mr. Minoru Hanato said during last week's burial at West Hawaii Cemetery he counted 4 sets of graves left at the cemetery (1 Set = husband and wife). Employees at the cemetery asked if they could remove the ocean side fence in order to dig and make another half row for an additional 4 sets of graves. If we run out of space there, Director Engelhard said we can use area for urn burials which will be hard because the ground is harder, but that area can be used for full casket burials and will be able to hold 5 more sets. Lately burials have been pretty regular and unsure if the expansion side will be ready before area is full. A few meetings back Chairman Highley asked if the ocean side fence could be removed because the workers would like to avoid damaging other graves with the heavy machines. Even with plywood on it, the stabilizing legs and tires would probably go through the plywood and damage the graves. The heavy truck that hauls the dirt away will also have to go on the grave. Employees also asked if they could get equipment with tracks instead of tires, like an excavator or track loader with backhoe so the distribution of the load will not be a heavy burden on the gravesite. On the new side, Veterans Advisory Committee Page 7 September 20, 2007 graves will reach almost 9 feet down and a bigger backhoe will be needed and the weight factor is pretty high. Chairman Highley said they felt the time would come when West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery would be out of room and have to turn veterans away from the cemetery. That time has almost come. Many items discussed at this meeting are for record purposes so that people responsible are aware of situations that need to be remedied at the cemeteries. Director Engelhard requested two things from Mr. Hanato 1) send the report that was just read and 2) have the cemetery staff talk to their bosses. None of these requests are coming to us and it shouldn't be a surprise to me that they're asking for these things. NEW BUSINESS Wreaths Across America Ms. Barbara Cooper - Wreaths Across America - East Hawaii Liaison attended the meeting to meet members that weren't at last months meeting. Vice Chair Penny Fox suggested members review the statement from last month's meeting regarding the project and ask Ms. Cooper any questions. Chairman Highley said they participated in program last year and would like to know what to do for this year since they are very interested. Vice Chair Penny Fox said that Joy Hofer is the West Hawaii Liaison (Ph# 937 -9507) who is with the Hawaii Loa Chapter of the National Sons & Daughters of the American Revolution. The program will be held on December 15th at 12 noon. Ms. Cooper said she's attending again to make sure that all of the Veterans groups are informed of the program and aware that they are invited to participate in ceremony and help lay wreaths. Wreaths are coming from Maine for every grave if we get enough sponsorships and the ceremony includes (7) wreaths for each branch of the military plus MIA and POW. Currently in the process of developing the ceremony. Civil Air Patrol was asked because they have squadrons across the nation and it's a good project for the cadets and youth. Civil Air Patrol will provide the honor guard, but would like to get everybody else involved. Contacted ROTC groups, Hilo Middle School Key Club or Builders Club, Boy Scouts, etc. to help lay wreaths. Would like civilians and anyone else to help lay wreaths down. Barbara has information, brochures and has written letters to major businesses looking for sponsorships. They had a booth at the County Fair, will be at the St. Joseph Country Fair and in front of Walmart. Ms. Cooper said there is a video she would be happy to share with any of the veterans groups and a website link with a page for each sponsor to start posting information. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 8 September 20, 2007 Vice Chair Penny Fox said she viewed the very sentimental video with DAV Chapter 9 and strongly recommends members talk to Barbara Cooper to set something up. West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery Expansion and Development Association Chairman Highley said that the WHVCEDA meets monthly and last month there was a discussion on the water issue at the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery. It was suggested that a grant be secured to dig a well to supply its own water. Because if there will be turf there, his understanding is that when one row of sprinklers runs for 15 minutes, 330 gallons of water goes out. If there are 4 sets of sprinklers and they all run for 15 minutes, we would be up to the allotted gallons. If we expand the cemetery there wouldn't be enough water to add restrooms or water. It's very important for the cemetery to have a water supply or a commitment from Kukio who may not be monitoring the amount of water coming in. The reason we know how much water is being used is because we set our own meter up. WHVCEDA constantly works on trying to improve the situation and they are trying to work with VA and OVS in order to be a part of the development of the cemetery. The last time DAGS sent out a drawing of the master plan there was no space for the development of the county sponsored green house and area being developed by WHVCEDA. Chairman Highley would like to know who to get the message to that the Association would like to be a part of expansion project. WHVCEDA is a non - profit organization and has a grant writer who has obtained funds to improve cemetery. Association would like to coordinate with OVS and DAGS and ask them to give group more recognition. ANNOUNCEMENTS Memorial Service - Americans of Japanese Ancestry Mr. George Mukai announced that on Sunday, September 30'`' at 10 am there will be a Memorial Service for Americans of Japanese Ancestry at Veterans Cemetery I. EX- OFFICIO MEMBERS No Report. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on October 18th. Respectfully submitted, NathalielScwitos -, Secretary