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Home My WebLink About2010-11-19 Veteran Advisory Committee MinutesPresent Absent VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, November 19, 2009, 3:00 p.m. Prosecutor's Office (Hilo) and Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Carolle Brulee- Wilson Penny Fox Edward Lee George Mukai Delbert Nishimoto Norman Stahl George Yamamoto Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members David Carlson Antonio Gaspar Minoru Hanato Robert Welter Guests (Hilo) None Guests (Kona) Boss Hanato Thomas Leone Ex- Officio (Hilo) Robert Fitzgerald, Director, P &R Clayton Honma, Deputy Director, P &R Joseph Flores, OVS Ex- Officio (Kona) None Also Present (Hilo) Nathalie Santos, Secretary Renee Schoen, Deputy Corporation Counsel Don Bennett Wendall Kekumu Gilbert Sampaia Emile Wery John Young Call to Order Chairperson Penny Fox called the meeting to order at 3:08 pm - (9) members present. Dr. Norman Stahl arrived late. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 2 November 19, 2009 STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES — October 15, 2009 The minutes of the October 15, 2009 meeting were approved as submitted. REPORT ON CEMETERIES — STATE VETERANS ADVISORY BOARD Hawaii Island - West Hawaii Representative Mr. Herb Lum Absent Chairperson Fox said that Mr. Lum is recovering from surgery and unable to attend the meeting. Hawaii Island - West Hawaii Representative Dr. Norman Stahl Arrived late to the meeting and did not have a report. Dr. Stahl told members he submits a report to the State Veterans Advisory Board at their monthly meetings. He asked East side members to send him any issues, complaints, concerns and events from their organizations so he can forward it to the State Veterans Advisory Board. Mr. Herb Lum will handle West Hawai'i issues. The next State Veterans Advisory Board meeting will be held on December 16th via videoconferencing. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Veterans Cemetery III - West Hawaii Reforestation Project (Dr. Richard Stevens submitted a written report dated November 2009 - copy attached.) Chairwoman Fox asked members to read report and asked for questions. Members did not have any questions.) Chairperson Fox shared that her daughter participated in the major planting on November 7th which went really well. She planted 15 trees herself and there were hundreds of people there. Veterans Cemetery III — West Hawaii Move Columbarias and Urns Director Fitzgerald reported that everything went well as they did not encounter any problems. He shared that he received a Thank You Note from Mr. John Grogan, WHVCA President, complimenting on how well movement was handled and a note from the contractor thanking the County for assistance. According to Mr. Minoru Hanato movement was completed in one day. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 3 November 19, 2009 NEW BUSINESS Veterans Cemetery III — West Hawaii VA Cemetery Grants — PhIIB — Erect Upper Entrance Gate Communication 14 -09 Director Fitzgerald said that OVS Director Mark Moses contacted him to discuss projects that could qualify if there were additional grant funds left. One of the items is a gate so he asked Mr. John Grogan, WHVCA President if they could pursue the gate project. Director Fitzgerald asked if there were any comments. Copies of the gate sketch were distributed and Mr. Delbert Nishimoto asked if that type of gate would keep the animals out. Mr. Minoru Hanato said the proposed gate is goat proof unless the goat can jump over it. Chairperson Fox asked if members approved of the proposed gate and Mr. Hanato said it looks good and he likes the walk in gate. Director Fitzgerald said he will note that if there are additional grant monies, members approved installation of the gate. ELECTIONS Election for Chairperson Penny Fox Selected Elections were held. Delbert Nishimoto nominated Penny Fox to continue to serve as Chairperson. Her nomination was seconded by Ed Lee. Members unanimously voted for Penny Fox to continue to serve as Chairperson. Election for Vice Chairperson Carolle Brulee- Wilson Selected Delbert Nishimoto nominated Minoru Hanato to serve as Vice Chair and Ed Lee seconded the nomination. Minoru Hanato declined the nomination. Penny Fox nominated Carolle Brulee- Wilson and Ed Lee seconded her nomination. Members unanimously voted for Carolle Brulee- Wilson to serve as Vice Chairperson. SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS FOR 2010 A proposal was made to hold meetings every other month to avoid not having a quorum instead of every month and having to cancel due to a lack of quorum. Mr. Ed Lee asked if less meetings would save funds and the response was no. Mr. Minoru Hanato felt members would forget the dates and Chairperson Fox said that Nathalie would still be sending meeting reminders. Ms. Carolle Brulee- Wilson shared that the serious agenda items would have to wait too long if meetings were held every other month. Dr. Norman Stahl said if the meetings are held monthly there is less of a chance to forget about meeting. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 4 November 19, 2009 Following discussion, members decided that topics would have to wait too long if meetings weren't held monthly. Therefore, meetings will continue to be held monthly from February to November. There is a break in December and January due to the holidays. Chairperson Fox asked people to notify Nathalie in advance if they will be unable to attend meetings so it can be cancelled ahead of time if there won't be a quorum. This would avoid people driving a distance only to discover the meeting is cancelled. EX- OFFICIO MEMBERS None ANNOUNCEMENTS Veterans Cemetery III - West Hawaii Mr. Joe Flores asked about procedure for opening gate at Veterans Cemetery III in West Hawaii. Mr. Minoru Hanato told him the gate combination is "3552" and that people should be informed that they must open the gate and lock it behind them before traveling up. Wreaths Across America Mr. Antonio Gaspar reported that on December 12th at lam the Civil Air Patrol will participate in the Wreaths Across America program and will be placing wreaths on all of the graves at the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery. DAV Chapter 7 and American Legion will perform the 21 gun salute. The cost for each wreath is $15. They are doing fundraisers and getting close to their goal of putting one wreath on each grave and 4 for each columbaria. They should have close to 300 wreaths. Veterans Cemetery I and II — Columbarias Mr. Nishimoto said that Mr. Richard Ichikawa contacted him and shared that he is very concerned about the columbaria set up at Veterans Cemetery II - East Hawaii. The columbarias are getting damaged by skateboarders. The facility is now enclosed. He is looking for upright columbarias space for himself, his wife and buddies in the future. When Mr. Kalua served as a member of the State Veterans Advisory Board he said there was money and they were looking into it. Mr. Nishimoto would like to look into designing a columbaria committal court like the Punchbowl design. Maybe something like that could be done at Veterans I and II. He said that when he visited Cemetery I recently someone burned rubbish in one of the cubicles. He suggests either demolishing it or going back and putting granite on it. It looks really bad. Mr. Nishimoto asked Dr. Stahl to look into it. Dr. Stahl said he met with OVS Director Mark Moses who said OVS received funding for all 9 pending projects for the state cemeteries. $194,000 for design and $96,000 for construction and $1 million for future construction and was primarily focused on Kaua'i Veterans Cemetery and Kaneohe, but if there are that much funds floating around maybe we could be lucky. If not, this is the kind of issue we can forward to the state. He will make a special effort to report on it. Veterans Advisory Committee Page 5 November 19, 2009 Past reports state that Veterans Cemetery I would receive - 1 columbaria and Veterans Cemetery II — 2. Dr. Stahl will follow up on columbaria. Chairperson Fox said since it's not on the agenda we need to put it on for the next meeting which will give us time to investigate status of those columbarias for East Hawaii. Veterans Day Ceremony Minoru Hanato wanted to thank everyone for their very successful Veterans Day Ceremony gathering held at Veterans Cemetery III in West Hawaii. They had approximately 400 people in attendance including Cub Scouts. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 3pm at the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and video - conferencing at the Kona Mayor's Office conference room. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 3:35 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nathalie Santos, Secretary