HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-27-26 Meeting Transcript with additional notesPage | 1
February 27, 2026, Community Advisory Committee Meeting
Transcript with Notes
WEBVTT
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We got it. All right, thank you for joining us, everyone, on time. I'm
delighted that you're here.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: If I may, before we start the meeting.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I would like to, I'm actually privileged to,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: introduce Huihui, Dr. Huihui Kanahele Mosman, who's going to start us
out, actually to ground us in the right
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The right path forward on grounding this project, and
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Huihui, if you would take over, I would love it. Thank you for joining us.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Yeah, I'm not sure, but it… would it be possible to, share screen?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Can you… can… does it work on your…
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Let me check.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: All right, sorry, I was muted, I'm sorry.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Let me see…
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Yep.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay, good. Go right ahead.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: One second, one second.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Take your time.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Okay, there you go.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Yeah. I'm Huihui.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: I just wanted to, like Elizabeth was saying, start us off in the right
direction. This is a mele that, Grandma wrote.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Back in, when she… before she started to record Hakui Pele, Hawaii.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with it. It… the mele is, Nahoana
ihilo.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: I'm going to try my best, my voice is not…
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: 100% this morning, but I'm going to try and, verbalize it the best I
can.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: In the manner that she meant.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: hail.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: So in this, mele, she combines all of the waters, that feed into Hilo
Bay.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Into, Hilo One.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: from, Wailuku, to Kaipalaoa.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: From Wailuku to Wailua, Waiʻolama.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: Kavailpo, and all of those waterways that… and all of those
waterways that… that, feed Moku Ola and… and nourish Moku Ola. But…
Beth’s Note: please listen to the recording for the full mele.
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Huihui Kanahele-Mossman: That's… so, mahalo for having me this morning.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you so much. That was a wonderful start to the program.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: From the sublime to the mundane, let's do some housekeeping. We're
recording this. I will send you a link to the recording following the meeting, so you all will have
it.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We will have a question and answer period at the end. I'm going to try
to keep this meeting to an hour, because nobody wants to sit for a long time on a Zoom
meeting. I prefer in-person, but we have people from all over the place, and this is just the most
efficient way to get everybody together in one place.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But if you have questions, please do put them in the chat.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And we will have Charissa, Coles, my colleague in R&D, will be
monitoring the chat with questions.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And we will get to them at the end. I also… we don't have time to… we
have so many wonderful people on the screen, and we don't have time to introduce each other
to each other, so if you could, and if you're not shy, if you're shy, that's okay, you don't have to
do it, but in the chat, introduce yourself to everyone, and let us know who's here, because I
think it's really interesting to see the variety of people that are on
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: on the call.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Please keep yourself muted. If you can, keep your screens, your
pictures on, so we can all see each other, but sometimes, you know, the network is a little slow,
and you have to turn pictures off. I understand that. So, let's review the agenda. I sent it to you
all. We're going to, we already did our welcome and housekeeping.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And introductions. I'm Beth Dykstra with the County of Hawaii
Department of Research and Development. I'm an Economic Development Specialist. Nothing
to do with watersheds, natural resource protection, or anything like that.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But it's about community, well-being and quality of life, and so that's
why I'm here. I have some…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Colleagues here, Kevin Sullivan from Planning is my helper in all things
technical, as is Eric Lash from our GIS Specialist with the county. Hi, Eric, thanks. And Sharisa
Coles, of course, is in R&D helping me. She's also an Economic Development Specialist.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And also minored in Marine Science at University of Hawaii at Hilo. So
she's one of the Tracy Wigner alumni. So, what we're going to do is do a project overview and
timeline, and discussion about what this group does.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: That's gonna be in a boring PowerPoint, only so you don't have to stare
at my face for too long.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And then we will do Meet the Planning Team, who are here, and Q&A,
and next steps. And keep in mind that this presentation
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: This project is a huge one. It's enormous.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The watershed's the biggest in the state, there are lots of issues, there
are lots of pieces.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: moving around. This meeting is high level, so we're not going to get
into minutiae about a lot of stuff, but talking about the project in general, the timeline, what
we're doing, and started off on that path. So let me just…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Start with my…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Isn't that pretty? Hilo is gorgeous. Okay.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So we did this, the presentation, I'm going to talk about the issues,
what's been done so far, the grant that R&D was awarded to do this project, why R&D, certain
project elements, the timeline, and the role of the advisory committee.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So, the issue, of course, is water quality. That's why we're all here. We
know Hilo Bay water is impaired, as are all the sub-watersheds, or almost all of them, in one
way or another. And it's just been like that for decades.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We're also here because of coastal resilience. Hilo is low. We're, as you
can see, we've had highway closures, as usual, going on, and we're susceptible to all kinds of
issues with weather-related and climate change impacts.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Now, this is not an exclusive list of what's been done, but this is where
we're starting with the project. In 2005, the University of Hawaiʻi,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: worked with a local watershed advisory group of volunteers to put
together a restoration plan. And I'm not going to go into the minutiae of what's involved with
the
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: why we need a watershed plan to clean the water. We really shouldn't,
right? Who likes planning? Who gets excited about planning? But it's a regulatory step.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And it's a way to develop a roadmap for prioritizing what needs to be
done to directly address the issues to
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: pinpoint the sources of the impairments, and it just takes a lot of work,
and we need a restoration plan. Now, I think that group did a fabulous job. If you have a chance
on the project website, and I'll give you the link later, find the report, it's excellent, but it just
didn't have enough data.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: To pass muster to be accepted as a watershed management plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: to be available for Section 319 funding, which funds restoration
projects. And that's the purpose of this plan is to attract funding to make us eligible to get
money for all the different groups that are doing work in the watershed.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Now, regardless of that, people continue to work hard on cleaning up
the watershed, and all of them are here on this call. And we have watershed alliances, we have
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: NRCS, who works with landowners, and of course, Rebecca with Clean
Water Branch, and this is not an exclusive list, and we… that's just watershed. That's just water
quality, too. But when we talk about resilience, we have civil defense, we have…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Department of Transportation and engineers working on flooding
issues.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: There are a lot of people working on this, and yet we still have
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: impaired water. So it's… we really… Sorry!
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I don't know why that… So…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm sorry. Anyway, the PowerPoint is telling me to move on. So, what I
did was,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Jen Kagiwada, Councilmember Jen Kagiwada, asked me to write a grant
to the National Coastal Resilience Fund under the National Fish and Wildlife, to address water
Beth’s Note: Apologies,
I was having technical
issues with my
presentation and
became distracted.
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quality. And I did, and we were awarded! Yay! Now, the National Coastal Resilience Fund is
focused on coastal resilience, not necessarily water quality.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But it is focused on nature-based solutions, and resilience and fish and
wildlife benefit, Indigenous knowledge, which is important to this project, and community
impact.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And certainly, all of those elements feed into the water quality, so we
were able to build into the proposal not only a watershed management plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: project, but also a coastal resilience. So it's more than just a watershed
management plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Now, why R&D? Well, to start with, because Jen asked me to write the
grant, and we got it. But,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But we… this is our mission in R&D. We are an economic development
agency, but, you know, it's collaborative work that we do. Nothing can be accomplished without
collaborating with community and, honoring Indigenous knowledge and… and the,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Wisdom that they bring to the community.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And being an economic development agency, I have to just show you
these things. We have need. There is great poverty, in downtown Hilo, and these are some of
the census tracts in Hilo that show the, median household income compared with the state.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau. "Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2022 Inflation-Adjusted
Dollars)." American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables, Table S1901, 2022,
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2022.S1901?q=Earnings in
Hawaii&g=010XX00US_040XX00US15_050XX00US15001,15003,15007,15009_1400000US15001
020100,15001020202,
15001020300,15001020400,15001020500,15001020600,15001020701,15001020702,1500102
0801,15001020802,1500 1020900
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And poverty ranges, I know this is small to see, and I'll send you this
with the link to the data in the notes after the presentation.
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau. "Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months." American Community
Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables, Table S1701, 2022,
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST5Y2022.S1701?q=poverty in
Hawaii&g=010XX00US_050XX00US15001,15003,15007,15009_1400000US15001020100,15001
020202,15001020300,15001020400,15
001020500,15001020600,15001020701,15001020702,15001020801,15001020802,150010209
00.
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00:14:50.270 --> 00:14:55.009 - Beth’s note: a few moments of panic below
Dennis Lin: Hi, Beth, I just wanted to clarify, are you sharing a screen? Because I don't see a
screen.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Nobody sees the screen?
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Jasper Oshun (ASU, Hilo): I see it. I see it.
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Evana Newberry, EA: I see.
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Plannng Dept: I see it.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I won't…
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Dennis Lin: I just wanted to check.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Yeah. Okay, thank you, everyone, I just panicked. Okay, thanks, boss, for
panicking me! Okay, and also, you know, this aligns with, Ina Aloha Economic Futures, really. The
top priority, it's our biggest…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: asset is our natural resources, and we need to preserve it. So that's why
R&D is doing this.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The project elements for this plan are enormous. This is just a simple
numbered list of some of the elements. I have created a bullet point list of things that are
involved in these different elements that I'll send out with the notes, but it'll give you the idea
of the scope of this project and what the,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: consultant team is trying to work on. And it's enormous, and you know,
for, Hilo, unlike other districts in the county, we have not had, I guess.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Kevin, correct me if I'm correct, but since 1972 or 75, a community
development plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: For Hilo. And so, a lot of this land use and analysis has not been done
on a, you know, a unified manner. So this, this is really a huge project, and these are some of the
things that we will be including in it.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Timeline, so… What's been going on since we wrote the grant in 2023?
Actually, me just panicking, because…
See Project Status timeline up to today at https://www.rd.hawaiicounty.gov/economic-
development/hilo-bay
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: There was just, some setbacks, developing the scope, and we can talk
about that later, but
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: One would think that $2 million
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: is enough, but… but for this scope and for the technical studies that we
need to do to create a truly data-informed
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: management plan, it was not. And we're trying to make do with the $2
million, but we spent a year trying to develop the scope and trying to find additional funding to
no avail. So, hats off to… to the Linker team for
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: doing what they can with what we have, and we will try to make it
work, but that's where I was stuck
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: most stressful time of, my life, probably, waiting for this to happen,
because they're grant funds with the clock ticking. But luckily, the NFWIF people have been
gracious and gave me an extension, and we're moving forward. As of today, now here's…
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00:17:31.690 --> 00:17:38.969
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: a more, professional-looking timeline as of today, and I just noticed
something this morning,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: If you look at the focus groups in Winter 2025,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I think I… that's… that's my fault. I didn't catch it. Those have not
happened, so don't think you're missing out on them, but we will start some focus group
meetings.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But the… per the scope, the Lenker team has been doing the literature
review, and they're doing
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Watershed coastal characterization, that sounds simple, but it's huge,
and I'll send you kind of some of the bullet points of what's involved in that after the meeting.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And these are broad-based. This is a really high-level timeline. If we did
a real Gantt chart, it would be so confusing, it would be difficult to read.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But we will have some community information exchanges, listening
fairs, where we're going to have, you know, open the house and have people come and share
their knowledge and their ideas and their vision for the watershed, which will be part of the
plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And we will also have individual,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: outreach in the community, and I will be working, hopefully, we'll talk
about that when I talk about the Community Advisory Committee's role, but we can go out into
the community and talk story and have focus groups about the issues around
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: the watershed and life in Hilo, and all things, watershed management
and water quality.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So as far as the Community Advisory Committee is concerned, it's just a
collaborative working group of friends and colleagues, neighbors. It's… you are advisors to me
and the county.
111
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00:19:15.370 --> 00:19:19.859
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We're a learning community together, because there… this is a complex
issue.
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00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:22.620
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: It's not an official board or commission.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You don't have responsibilities of making decisions. Just share your
knowledge, and we will record it, and we're going to reflect
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: participation of the committee in the plan. I'm coordinating the group.
All communications will come through me.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I just want to share with you that I'm not going to share
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: contact information with people. If during meetings and we develop,
you know, relationships with each other, and you want to share your contact information, that's
great, but… but I'm not gonna… I'm just not going to do that, because some people's email and
phone just gets packed, and so when people want to talk about things, I can convene meetings,
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and we can have subcommittee meetings and discuss ideas, and I would welcome that and love
that.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And this all sounds kind of loose, yeah? But that's kind of the nature of
this advisory group. We find
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Things that we want to discuss, and hash out, and work out, and that's
where we begin, and it's really with you.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Finding things that you want to discuss and bring to our attention.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: or… Maybe…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You know, discuss with other community members and find ways that
you can work together right now on issues.
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00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:46.349
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: revolving the watershed. And so that's what I mean by subcommittee
opportunities. The first subcommittee I really want to convene is a community engagement
subcommittee of people who want to reach out to
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Small groups in the community, and talk story, and collect their, you
know, their wishes and values and hopes.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: for the watershed and for Hilo. I think that's really quite important. You
know, one thing I… when I got all excited about the different slides when Dennis asked me if I
was, sharing my screens, I forgot to mention, with the data, with the economic data and the
population data.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The Keaukaha-Panaʻewa census tract is the largest population of Native
Hawaiian alone in the state.
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Source:
https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/census/census_2020/data/reports/Native_Hawaiian_Population
_in_Hawaii_in_2020.pdf
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And so, we have an obligation to
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I guess, you know, the environmental justice piece.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: A lot of the watershed issues revolve around industrial and, you know,
urban use, and we just need to fix this together. We've waited 20…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: 25, 30 years to do this, and not that a plan is going to clean the water,
but it will set us in the right direction.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: there's a lot more to say, and I don't want to ramble on and on, and we
can discuss later who owns the plan, who… does the county do this? The county's never done
watershed management planning. It's not… it's not really a county plan. It's…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: It's the people's plan, and so we're going to work that out in the future,
how to keep this going, and how to get the plan implemented.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I do have the project webpage, such as it is.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And it's filled with resources. The wisdom of some of the people in this
group have written papers. Dr. Weigner, especially, has done so much work in the watershed
with her students, and thank you for doing that, Tracy. It's…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: It's just wonderful work that you do. So, that's the end of my
presentation.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I have notes, but I end up talking extemporaneously, you know, so,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I get lost, sorry, I beg your pardon about that. We have plan objectives,
I just wanted to let you know that it's a list of plan objectives, which is that the plan will operate
under the precautionary principle.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We're going to address long-term health.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And water quality issues in the region.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Meet the EPA's 9 elements of a watershed management plan that's
necessary, and that's humbug, but we have to do it. It's part of the plan. Meet Section 319
funding eligibility.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The plan will be informed by traditional Indigenous knowledge and
place-based approaches.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The plan will analyze coastal resilience strategies for the protection of
marine and coastal communities.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Human, fish, wildlife, those communities.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We'll integrate the Indigenous knowledge and coastal resilience
strategies to promote a suite of nature-based solutions. So that's the focus. I mean, there will be
hybrid solutions, there may be hard solutions, but we're looking for nature-based solutions.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Primarily.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Sorry for reading from the notes.
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00:23:57.510 --> 00:24:14.759
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The plan is supposed to be a living plan. It's going to be designed to be
able to be updated regularly, and as we implement, to track results. And with community
consensus, the plan will have a short-term action, an implementation period of 20 years, a
midterm period of 50 years.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And a long-term generational, like, visioning.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: 100-year, plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So at this point, that sounds like a lot, yeah? And it is. It's huge. And I
see raised hands, and we'll take the questions. Some of you may have missed the opening. Put
your questions in the chat, and we will, get to them at the end.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And we'll have a chat time, but I just wanted to keep this… we're at
9.30…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: 24, so I want to let the, Lynker team, our consultant team, do some…
introduce themselves, and then we can get on with the next steps and questions and answers.
So, I would like to introduce Chris Hawkins from Lynker Corporation, whom we've contracted to
do this plan.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: with us, not for us, but with us, and he can introduce his team. Chris?
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Chris Hawkins: Hello, Beth. Aloha, Kakou!
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Chris Hawkins: Hi everybody, Chris Hawkins, I head up all of Lynker's, sort of, coastal marine
fisheries.
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Chris Hawkins: resilience work, here in the Pacific Islands, and I'm based in and have lived for
many years in Waimea, here on Hawai’i Island. But as… I'm originally from New England, but as
Kimo Alameda likes to say, I don't care where you're from, I care where you're gonna die. And
for me, that's Waimea, so…
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Chris Hawkins: We're really, you know, happy to be here today to
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Chris Hawkins: introduce our whole team. I wanted to just say a couple of things before I turn it
over to our project manager.
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Chris Hawkins: First, you know, Lynker's no stranger to this arena. Here on Hawaii Island, we are
involved with Hawaii Wai Ola, the Citizen Science Water Quality Initiative. We actually employ
the coordinator as well, Hannah Puentes.
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Chris Hawkins: We have supported for many years Malamakai Foundation. I was on the board of
directors for Malamakai Foundation, and I serve now as the executive director via Lynker.
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Chris' Laptop: We're part of the team that created the Greater Pelekane Watershed Assessment
in 2021-22. We're just finishing up the Guam
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Chris Hawkins: 2050 Sustainability and Resilience Plan, which is a similar effort to this in terms
of the scope and the size and the team. We recently finished a monitoring, fishery monitoring
program
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Chris Hawkins: And plan for the nonprofit Malama Mauna Lua for Mauna Lua Bay on Oahu. And
we're just starting, I'm thrilled about this, we're just starting to support the Nature Conservancy
and their big coastal and marine
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Chris Hawkins: restoration effort in Kealakekua Bay, and so we've got teammates, including
RPM, on this call, who will be supporting that effort as well.
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Chris Hawkins: As I said, I'll be turning it over
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Chris Hawkins: to Stacy in just a moment, but I also wanted to wrap up with a couple of things.
First, our team, as Beth alluded to earlier in her remarks, our team understands and honors the
legacy of the folks that have come before us. We're standing on their shoulders to bring this
kind of home and across the finish line. There's a lot of great
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Chris Hawkins: Work and products that have been developed over the years, 2005, even
previously.
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Chris Hawkins: We have folks that understand and know that history, and we really do
appreciate all of the work that has gone into trying to improve the health and condition and
understanding of the Hilo Bay watershed. So, that's always first and foremost on our mind. And
then second, I just wanted to mention, as
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Chris Hawkins: Lynker is a big company. We're a Gloucester to Guam company, and we have all
of the kinds of folks that we could need to plug in for this project. We have hydrologists and
watershed specialists in our Boulder, Colorado office, and they do a lot of work
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Chris Hawkins: with municipalities on water, issues, distribution, mining, that sort of stuff. We
have
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Chris Hawkins: Coastal Education and Outreach specialists. We have really everybody in the
company that we could have kind of brought in and kept this internal, but that's really not the
way that, you know, my team operates. We find the most local, best people to partner with, and
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Chris Hawkins: You're going to hear from those folks in a moment, but that's why we've got a
broad range of academic and non-academic partners that we've brought under one umbrella.
We're just kind of
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Chris Hawkins: you know, working for that team and for the county at the Ly nker level. We
understand that they're doing the hard work in terms of
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Chris Hawkins: the analyses and the community engagement. So, we're proud and honored to
support them as well. With that, I'll turn it over to our project manager for this important
initiative, Stacey Kilarski.
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Stacey Kilarski: Thanks, excuse me, thanks, Chris. Aloha, all. Great to meet you. I'm, like Chris
said, the project manager for this particular project at Lynker. My background's in marine
science and coastal management, and I am based in Hawaiʻi and Honolulu. And I am going to be
the point of contact for Beth and her team, as well as coordinating our
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Stacey Kilarski: stellar, diverse team throughout this project. And with that, I'm going to turn it
over to the rest of our team to introduce themselves, let you have a chance to hear from them
and what their expertise are. I'll hand it over to Alyssa, who's our Deputy PM.
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Alyssa Garvin: Hi, everybody! I'm so glad that we can all be here today. I'll be supporting the
project as the Deputy Project Manager, and with Fisheries Immers Sciences Hawaii, which is a
partner of Lynker's, and I've worked throughout the Big Island with lots of nonprofits and with
the state.
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Alyssa Garvin: And I'm located on Oahu these days, but I'm just very excited to be here, and let
me see who I can turn it over. Let's turn it over to Cynthia.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: Aloha, I'm Cynthia Derosier with The Good Juju Company. I work
often with Miranda, she's my partner in crime, so together we're Eco Juju, and we specialize in
public events and collaborative events, relationship marketing, communications, and we're
excited to be doing the public engagement piece of this.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And hopefully we'll be leveraging some of the resources that the
CAC and Beth have to offer, and we'll be coordinating with Beth on that, and Miranda, and
taking it away to you.
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: I'll just say hi real quick. There's a lot of people on the call.
Cynthia's definitely the charismatic extrovert of the partnership. I still continue to be the science
nerd. It's great to see some familiar faces.
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: That, as you know, over the last few decades, we've
worked together on natural resource issues that have faced the entire archipelago. Specialty is
in watershed management and community conversations to improve public policy and decision
making. Grateful to be here, and I'm really excited to be part of your team. Thank you.
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: I will hand it over to Charles Lester.
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Charles Lester - UCSB: Good morning, everyone. I'm Charles Lester. I'm at the Ocean and Coastal
Policy Center at UC Santa Barbara, and I'm really excited about working on this project, with all
of you, and also with the Linker team.
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Charles Lester - UCSB: And Beth, I love planning. I've been doing coastal management and land
use planning for a long time, so I'm really excited about the possibilities of working on this plan.
I've been working with Chris and Stacy on the Guam sustainability plan, and so…
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Charles Lester - UCSB: I think there's a lot, a lot that we've learned there, and that we can help
bring to this project. I'm also fortunate to have some support at Santa Barbara with a great
Brent student who's just starting with us, and I'll pass it over to Meha.
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Meha Littlewood - UCSB: Hi everyone, my name's Meha Littlewood. I'm a Master of
Environmental Science and Management student at the Bren School at UCSB. I came back to
school to do exactly this type of work, integrating community decision-making
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Meha Littlewood - UCSB: into, watershed management and, focusing on coastal resource
management and pollution prevention here at Brenn.
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Meha Littlewood - UCSB: So, yeah, I'm really excited to be on this team, and look forward to
getting to know you all better.
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Meha Littlewood - UCSB: I'll pass it on to, who hasn't gone? Evana.
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Evana Newberry, EA: Aloha, I'm Evana Newberry. I am the manager for the EA portion of the
Linker team.
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Evana Newberry, EA: We are the science-backed engineering and science, modelers for the
flood hazard modeling, as well as for some of the coastal engineering ideas for nature-based
solutions.
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Evana Newberry, EA: I am born and raised in Mountain View and grew up surfing at Honoli, so
this is near and dear to my heart, and we put together as good of a team as we could to help
support this work. So, I'll hand it off to Luke, and then he can hand it off to Mike.
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00:33:11.300 --> 00:33:21.059
Luke Rief (EA): Yeah, this is Luke, I'm with EA, and I'm the civil engineer that'll be on the team
doing the hydraulic modeling for floodplain mapping, floodplain hazard mapping.
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Luke Rief (EA): Go ahead, Mike.
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Mike Foley: Aloha, everyone, Mike Foley. I'm the Coastal Engineer with the EA team. I'm born
and raised on Maui, and I love the Big Island, so I'm looking forward, looking forward to working
with you all in Hilo.
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Mike Foley: Thank you.
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Stacey Kilarski: Thank you. I'll pass it over to, the Arizona State University team, Jasper and Kelly.
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Jasper Oshun (ASU, Hilo): Hi everybody, I'm Jasper Oshun. My background is in hydrology and
geomorphology. I'm at the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science in Hilo, which
is a part of Arizona State University.
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Jasper Oshun (ASU, Hilo): And Kelly and I are co-leading the, basically defining pollutants, either
in surface water or subsurface flow, in and around Hilo. So, go ahead, Kelly.
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Kelly Hondula: Yeah, hi, nice to meet everyone. I'm Kelly Hondula, I'm an ecologist with a
background in biogeochemistry and water quality and hydrology, and like Jasper, I'm with the
ASU Global Center for Conservation
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Kelly Hondula: And Discovery, based in Hilo, and yeah, we'll be working on the water quality
technical studies.
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Kelly Hondula: Maybe pass it off to Lauren?
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Lauren Roth Venu: Aloha, Kako, Lauren Roth Venu. I'm, with Roth Ecological Design, supporting
the Lynker team, mostly relating to the green stormwater infrastructure, but Roth Ecological
Design has done about 20… this would actually be our 20th year. We're based in Honolulu.
We've done work across the state.
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Lauren Roth Venu: Relating to integrated water resource management, and a lot of constructed
wetlands.
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Lauren Roth Venu: That have been treating all kinds of,
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Lauren Roth Venu: different types of water issues. But yeah, we'll be mostly helping on some of
the modeling related to stormwater and trying to identify solutions, that are nature-based.
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Lauren Roth Venu: I will pass it to…
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Lauren Roth Venu: I don't know who's left. Maybe Stacey, can you help me?
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Stacey Kilarski: That's absolutely… I think Carolyn is the last member of our team on the call
today.
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Carolyn Stewart: Aloha, everyone. I'm Carolyn Stewart. I'm an environmental planner based in
Waimea, and I've
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Carolyn Stewart: spent the last 30 years, doing a lot of watershed planning in the state, polluted
runoff control. I've written a number of the watershed plans on the Big Island, on Hawai;i Island,
so I'm really happy to be involved in this project.
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Stacey Kilarski: We do also have an additional member of a team that had to jump off a little bit
earlier. She's our GIS specialist, Claire Mamura, and she's also based on Hawaii Island.
Unfortunately, wasn't able to, maintain the… to be on the call for the duration. But I think that
rounds out our team, and I'll pass it back over to you, Beth.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you, thank you so much. All right, so that's a huge team working
on this,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I want everyone to keep in mind that the important knowledge is
going to come from community.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And that's… I don't mean to… I…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm honored and humbled by the collected genius of all these people
on this call, my contracting team, all you wonderful people who have jumped into this scary
project.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And all you Community Advisory Committee members who are willing
to take the ride with me. It's really humbling, and I thank you for that. And we need to keep
community in mind.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And what they need to get out of this. So that's my… that's going to be
my focus. I'm not a hydrologist, as some of you experts who have tried to deal with me
understand. I don't know. But that's why I have help, at the county level. Kevin and Eric have
been wonderful. I'm going to talk, you know, high level about next steps, and these are very
basic next steps.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm going to, put notes together about this meeting, and send you the
link to the recording, and then reach out to you about getting a community engagement group
together to start that on-the-ground work. That's going to be my next step. As Lynker produces.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Some of the products that they're working on, these different elements
of the plan, which are highly technical.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Some of you may have different interests in them. Some of you may
have actual watershed management interests and want to look at that watershed,
characterization and things like that, and some of you may be engineers and want to get
involved in the, you know.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: the hydraulic engineering piece and review some of these, work
products along with us. Let me know, and just email me.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: let me know what you're interested in. You're open to do that anytime.
There's no rules, you know? I will just…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We will just develop this together, but that's going to be… I will send
out an email, summarizing all that for everyone, what our next steps will be. And then keep in
mind, we'll be planning for a community listening session.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Down the road, which will be a big event, and will be, manning stations
and collecting input from the community. Now is the time for questions, and I don't know,
Cheresa, do we have any questions in the chat?
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Cheresa Coles: I don't see any questions yet.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay.
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Cheresa Coles: Please, if you guys do have questions, post them.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Please raise your hand! I know this was like a fire hose of information,
and it was so high level, it may be a little anticlimactic, because there's not a lot of detail.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But we're just starting, and that's why. And we didn't want to develop a
plan and then give it to you, you know, so we're starting at the beginning.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Any questions?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm looking for hands.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: No!
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi:
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You know, I just want to thank some of you. How this Community
Advisory Committee started was when I wrote the grant. We needed letters of support.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And I developed this concept of the Community Advisory Committee
and asked the letters of support to include commitments to serve. Now, that was, like, 3 years
ago.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And I'm looking at Maria Haas.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And Susie Osbourne, and people who were there from the very
beginning and said, we're in.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And Tracy and Steve… Steve Colbert wrote letters, we're in, we're in,
and they lasted for 3 years while I floundered under that pile of paper, and they're still here, and
so I really appreciate that, and that shows how important the project is.
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Chris Hawkins: A couple of hands up, Beth, just to let you know, Erik and Rebecca, for example.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay, Rebecca?
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Rebecca Candilasa (DOH SWPB): Oh, I think Erik had his hand up first. Do you want to…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Erik, do you want to ask?
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Erik Lash: Sure, I just want to ask, could you please, for my benefit, maybe the benefit of other
people on the call,
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Erik Lash: Quickly or briefly go over, kind of, the flow that we're gonna follow with community…
246
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Erik Lash: engagement and, and the CAC associated with that community engagement?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Well, I'll talk… I'll let Cynthia take the big meetings that they're
managing.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: As far as the flow with the direct community engagement, that's going
to be with Community Advisory Committee. Can we find another name for CAC? That's just a
terrible… I have feral cats outside, and it just reminds me of them. We need to find a different
name for this group. I will give a subcommittee to that, too.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We need to reach out in small groups to community members.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And, you know.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And I'm going to look at the Community Advisory Committee for links
to those community members. I will go out in person, and with a team, and talk story, and
collect, input and values from them, and that's my approach to it.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Then, the big public events are going to be for collecting
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: broad scale, you know, for 300 people or so from around Hilo Town. I
mean, some of the community groups that I… that I want to talk to are the ones directly coastal
resilience.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: That's…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You know, the people involved on the water.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And that's going to help focus it, and of course the Keaukaha
community and downtown Hilo community.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And then the whole Hilo region can come to the big groups. But
Cynthia, do you want to describe some of the large… for me? Do you want to? Would you be
willing to describe some…
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: No! Yeah, of course I will. Hi, everyone! So, I know it's a little
confusing, right now, but we're really in that… the… the broad, high-level… gonna take you to
the 10,000-foot view. So, what we have coming up, and we're aiming for May.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: is it's going to be very fluid and open. We're literally going to bring
our team on the ground, we'll be at a location, and we're going to have what's called a listening
fair. This is rather different, it's kind of unique. We'll have some focus questions, and people can
show up
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: at their leisure, during a specific period of time, so imagine sort of
a coffee shop feel, right? Come in, look at some posters, add your input. We'll have facilitators
there to help document this. We haven't figured out what that's going to look like, but
oftentimes we have graphic tools to make it fun and approachable.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And that'll just be really to harvest some general information.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: for Beth and the Lynker and the technical team to kind of massage
and chew over. We're keeping it very fluid and open because this is sort of the first event, and
we want to give people the space
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: to bring up topics or content that we may or may not have thought
about, right? And when I say we, I mean us all here in this Zoom space, and some of the other
CAC members who haven't been able to make it. Does that make sense so far?
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: I know it sounds kind of loose, but just imagine, like, hey, I'm
gonna walk into this place, and oh, look, there's all these places where I can give my input, and I
can talk to people. I know, I might be able to grab a donut on my way out, right? So just a very
open, relationship-building, hangout, talk story space.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: Then, what happens after that, we're going to collect all that data,
we'll put it into a summary, but we're also going to give you all of those materials, and that'll go
to the linker slash CAC team for you guys to process and massage and do with what you will.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: After that, we're going to have a few series of meetings with the
technical team to understand what they might need from the community. Beth will be telling us
what the CAC is saying, hey, we… we're not sure, you know, we think it could be A, or it could be
B, but what does the larger community think?
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And then we're gonna put together what's called an information
exchange.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And we've done these before, we were in Hilo… gosh, Miranda,
was it, like, a year and a half, two years ago?
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: When we were in Hilo last? Three years ago, oh my god, I'm getting
old, time is going too fast. So, what these information exchanges look like, it's a chance to sort
of share Manao, right? So we go in.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: We present the ideas and the thoughts and the potential plan
elements that the CAC and the technical team have come up with, and we say to the
community, hey, here's what we've learned, here's what we're thinking, what do you guys
think?
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And we get their feedback on that.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: So then all of that data gets collected, compiled, and then it then
gives you guidance on how to structure the plan.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And then the third part we do is, once the plan has been put
together, we then do, online presentations of it.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: And that's sort of the high-level view of the big components that
we're doing.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: I do have a question for, the, the CAC, and what I'd like to ask is.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: What have you heard about this project so far? What makes you
excited? What are you looking forward to happening in this next few months?
Beth’s note: we did not have time to collect responses to Cyn’s questions. Please consider these
questions and send me your responses via email at elizabeth.dykstra@hawaiicounty.gov, this
will help develop our engagement activities.
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Chris Hawkins: And I just… sorry, I want to jump in real quick before… give folks a second to
think about their answer to that. I'll add…
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Chris Hawkins: to what Cyn said, that Stacey and Alyssa and I, in a… kind of in a parallel, track to
Sin and Miranda's efforts, Stacey and Alyssa and I are committed to working and assisting Beth.
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Chris Hawkins: with anything and everything that she might need with engaging the CAC,
including the small group meetings that Beth mentioned a moment ago. You know, I'm happy to
drive down as many times from Waimea as I need to, to…
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Chris Hawkins: sit in as many coffee shops and present to as many Rotary Clubs and chambers of
commerce, etc, so that we make sure that, you know, we're supporting the entirety of the
engagement process, because Miranda and Miranda are
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Chris Hawkins: you know, very good at the types of things that Cyn just described. They're very
good at the types of things I just described, but, you know, we're going to, you know, kind of
divide and conquer here to support Beth and the rest of the county folks. Sorry, to jump in right
after you asked a question of the cats, and I just wanted to add that.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: That's okay, they had time to think, but I would love to hear a
temporary name CAC. Do you guys have anything that you're super excited about, or are there
things that you're looking forward to? Because I'd like to be able to kind of leverage that, if we
can, in some way.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Let's, try to put that in the chat. You guys, if you can put that in the chat
for Cynthia while we talk, because I know some people have hands up, and so we want to get to
their questions.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: But I think… Thank you.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I want to know, too, and I also am dying to talk to Carey Yost.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: and Kanani, about the Envision Downtown Hilo, because I was there
with them, too, and I remember the Hilo Bay Watershed Advisory Group, too, Carey, and they
were friends, and we did a lot of work for that, and…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We want to give, recognition to that, to that group, Carey. So I want
to… I can't wait to catch up with you. But Maria, Maria Hawes, Dr. Haas, please ask your
question.
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Maria Haws- Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC), University: Oh, aloha.
Well, first of all, I just want to express my gratitude to the county for being willing to tackle such
a huge initiative. You know, obviously, we have a lot of chronic long-term projects that need
addressing.
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Maria Haws- Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC), University: You know,
you did mention the Keaukaha community, so I'm wondering if there's official representation
from that community, either in the proposal development, or do they… how are they going to
be…
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Maria Haws- Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC), University: Closely and
authentically involved in how the work gets carried out and what recommendations are made.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I've reached out to the, Keaukaha Action Network, who's involved with
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: legislation right now at… at the Capitol.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I need an intro, you know? I'm… I need an intro to the community
to meet with them. And, I mean, certainly we have…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Hui Hui here, who is…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: She's just everything. She, she's a blessing to us, but she can't do it all,
and
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So, point taken. I tried. I wasn't getting answers.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You know, this is an issue. People are tired of the county coming to
them for stuff.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And abusing their time.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: To be honest with you. And so we have to be careful of that, and the
thing is.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: this is an issue that affects that community so closely, and so, they
need to be part of the solution, with their knowledge and experience. So I appreciate that,
Maria. I know you've had experience reaching out.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: In that community, because that's where you're located, and that's my
goal.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I'm not just going to barge in and demand that they… that they
belong. You know, it's got to be that… a hope that this speaks to them, and the planning process
is really kind of dry and hard to…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Convince people that it's important, but it is an important first step.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So I need help with that, and I'm the first one to, Just say that.
Beth’s note: I had tried to contact the Keaukaha Community Association and received no
response. During this meeting, in the Chat, Huihui graciously offered to make an introduction for
me.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Any other hands up? So, yeah.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Oh, I'm… yeah, Ray, thanks for the note about,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: DOT. There are a lot of improvements, and I'm trying to get them. I'm
not… I always have trouble getting DOT.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: For whatever I'm working on, so I want to thank everyone else, who
joined us, Department of Health, but we need to try to get Department of Transportation and
harbors, and I know the new harbormaster, and I know he's busy, but we need to get them
involved also in this solution finding.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Who else?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We have time, we're on a… Anybody about, Cynthia's question?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: What is it about the project?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Okay, so you're talking about…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Yes, we'd love to align with other upcoming events. I would love that.
Please, please let me know. I love to leverage things that are already happening, and including,
you know,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I asked Cynthia at our listening session, can we invite some of you folks,
and we're still talking about that, to come and have a table, you know, like NRCS, or…
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: some of these groups that are doing the work to show people all the
work that's being done in the community, because I want this plan to celebrate this community
of people who work hard on this issue. So, thank you! Thank you, Sherry!
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you for, Cherie, for joining us. I didn't think you could, but, I
appreciate that.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm reading comments and talking to you all at the same time. I know
that's confusing. I'm so sorry.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I haven't lost anybody yet, everybody's hanging on. Any deep
thoughts? Any concerns?
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: I might take this opportunity to ask for clarification. I am
reading the comment from Cherie. Mahalo, Sherry, for that. Will you folks consider aligning
these events, thinking of these large-scale community engagements, aligning these with
upcoming events for the listening session?
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: This is a perfect opportunity for the CAC to better inform
how we go about it. So if you are aware of which events
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: would best align. You know, if there's something coming
up, that information is gold to informing the large-scale process.
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Miranda Foley/ ecoLOGIC Consulting: And again, as Beth said, she will be your point of contact,
but if that's in your mind and your heart as a good thing to do, and you've got some input there
that can inform us on doing it the right way, please, please share that with her.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you.
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Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: Sorry, yeah, I'm actually cutting and pasting this and saving these
notes, so… Miranda and I are tag-teaming, you just got to see that.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Oh, Huihui, thank you so much! I would love to. Huihui, thank you.
Beth’s note: me responding to Huihui’s offer to introduce me to the Keaukaha Community
Association.
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: And… Beth, or Cherie, maybe.
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: Might want to address, will there be incentives for
community engagement?
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: Clarifying that question, Sherry, as far as incentives.
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: What you meant by that.
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Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: Aloha. Yeah.
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Cherie Kauahi: Yeah, aloha, everyone, it's Cherie. Hi, I'm… I'm grateful to be here and, to see so
many people who are…
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Cherie Kauahi: who love Hilo one the way that we all do. Incentives, just kind of thinking about…
I work with community members in Kona, I know… I don't know what the budget looks like, but
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Cherie Kauahi: Sometimes we give them stipends, honorariums, if there's ma'ai, that is always
wonderful. And then also, I was kind of alluding to…
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Cherie Kauahi: aligning it with upcoming events. I know a lot of times it's hard for people to
leave their jobs.
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Cherie Kauahi: During different times that these meetings are held, so if we can align them with,
events that are already happening, I think that would be…
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Cherie Kauahi: That would be great, and I'd be happy to share that list.
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Cherie Kauahi: With the… the CAC team. Who is the CAC team, if I might ask?
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: It's all of you, anyone who wants to join.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: See, this is my, my contractor team nervous.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm not gonna limit anybody. Anybody who wants to join can. If they
have the spirit and the energy and want, and care about the bay and the watershed and our
home, you're on it. You're on the team. And, so that's why it's kind of loose.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But it's a community advisory committee. Please, someone who's
poetic and good with this, find a new name for me. I don't like CAC. That's just terrible. It's just
awful. But yeah, anybody and all of us.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: it's anybody who calls it home, right? I mean, it…
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Chris Hawkins: And I'll just add, you know, Beth and Stacy and I and others have talked about
this, as this evolves, certain people will have different
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Chris Hawkins: specialized interest on the CAC in different things, and certain people have more
time than other people, and you know, as these things usually go, it'll suss itself out, and there
will be…
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Chris Hawkins: You know, there'll be a big pack of folks who are interested in being part of and
informed, but there'll probably be fewer of those people that will have the time, the energy,
and the specialized interest to be
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Chris Hawkins: part of, sort of, everything. So, Beth and her folks at the county will be able to,
sort of, massage this as we go with regard to
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Chris Hawkins: what, you know, the exact and precise roles of every CAC member.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Yeah, you know, this kind of work is huge, and I'm looking at Carey Yost
and at Kanani, who worked with me on Envision Downtown Hilo 2025, and that was just for the
commercial district, downtown Hilo. It was an enormous job.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: It was all volunteer. We didn't have funding, we just… I didn't work for
the county. Then we all just in Kanuni, and we just volunteered, and did the work, for the
downtown. And it was really,
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: rewarding, but it's hard work, and it's time consuming, and not
everybody can spend that kind of time and energy, but they still support the project, so if it's
word of mouth.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: If it's Facebook or, you know, Instagram, whatever, spreading the word,
any kind of help like that is community engagement for me and involvement from the
Community Advisory Committee. So whatever you can do, just putting in a good word for what
we're trying to do is helpful.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Yeah, we want to partner, Carey, with, NOAA.
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R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We're thinking of that as a location for one of the Community Listening
Fair. That'd be great.
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Kanani A.: Yeah, I'll say a little bit about Envision Downtown Hilo. I think that was, like, 20 years
ago, and it was the first attempt at CDP,
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Kanani A.: for other districts on the island, and it was specific to downtown Hilo. And I just recall
lots of, meetings in different venues in downtown Hilo,
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Kanani A.: Like, even under, you know, houses and buildings and, like, in basements and, just the
same groups of people coming.
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Kanani A.: And trying to get more and more, even I remember, like, little flyers being put into
grocery bags at the local shops, just to try and get more engagement. I was there because
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Kanani A.: I knew that my kupuna, my elders, were getting older, and I wanted them to have
their voice in. So when I kept trying to get them, they kept telling me, that's why you're there.
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Kanani A.: And then I realized, oh my goodness, yeah, I guess I gotta stay engaged. It wasn't me
just sharing with them, it was them saying, no, you go for us, because we're in the middle of all
the things we're doing just to…
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Kanani A.: just to keep our lives afloat and going. So, it is a luxury to be able to engage
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Kanani A.: In efforts like this for people who we really want to hear their native voice, but at the
same time, our people are surviving, you know, and trying to…
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Kanani A.: to do their best. And so, I think aligning with the upcoming events, like Merrie
Monarch… I mean, if you're gonna have stewards who really love the watershed, who dance
about it, who chant about it, who sing about it, who write songs, who compose, and do all the
things that.
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Kanani A.: That try to uplift and teach through art.
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Kanani A.: We should have…
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00:58:21.350 --> 00:58:38.119
Kanani A.: we should have efforts that engage our community in that… one of the largest, if not
the largest, festival event, for Hawaii Island through Merrie Monarch. And then there are other
festival events on the west side, etc.
367
00:58:39.060 --> 00:58:44.050
Kanani A.: We also have canoe regattas, like, people who are already making time.
368
00:58:44.160 --> 00:58:53.689
Kanani A.: Creating their lifestyle around the watershed, as you guys know. But there's, you
know, Canoe regattas that we can align with.
369
00:58:54.140 --> 00:59:03.010
Kanani A.: And beyond, you know, a table with flyers and things like that, what are… I do agree
with the incentives.
370
00:59:03.120 --> 00:59:10.360
Kanani A.: How do we get magnets up on people's Refrigerators.
371
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00:59:11.310 --> 00:59:13.180
Kanani A.: You know,
372
00:59:13.670 --> 00:59:33.100
Kanani A.: interesting children's books about the watershed. Last night, I was at Friends of First
Responders. There was a children's book on every table, about when my hero comes home for
the first responder, who children live with, who are… the first responder is their parent.
373
00:59:33.300 --> 00:59:49.359
Kanani A.: And so, like, things that really, tie into people's love and stewardship for the
watershed in ways that speak to the future generation, we can get really creative. But yeah, it's
nice to be here.
374
00:59:49.770 --> 01:00:06.370
Kanani A.: It's nice to see the continuity between friend… I mean, between, Envision Downtown
Hilo 2025. That was the official name. It was Envision Downtown Hilo 2025, and back then, it
was 25 years away.
375
01:00:06.490 --> 01:00:25.210
Kanani A.: And look at where we are today. Some of the signage, some of the trails, some of the
hiking paths and things that were part of that, original community desire to design what
downtown Hilo was going to look like in 25 years.
376
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01:00:25.210 --> 01:00:33.299
Kanani A.: For me, my desire was to see my children in their 20s, walking downtown Kilo, and
knowing
377
01:00:33.460 --> 01:00:41.530
Kanani A.: Knowing what it felt like for me in downtown Hilo at age 25 at the time. Now my kids
are past 25.
378
01:00:41.820 --> 01:00:50.740
Kanani A.: So, anyway, aloha maikako. I do have some ideas for the name. I was thinking about,
379
01:00:52.100 --> 01:00:57.619
Kanani A.: Like, an aha, or like a gathering, like a, a council, or like a,
380
01:00:58.280 --> 01:01:07.640
Kanani A.: a group, an aha… Kanaloa, because Kanaloa is, the oceanic, companion.
381
01:01:07.820 --> 01:01:15.050
Kanani A.: as well as Kanaloa, It has relationships with the water… with the aquifer.
382
01:01:15.530 --> 01:01:19.629
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Kanani A.: And so I was thinking about Aha Kanaloa because…
383
01:01:19.790 --> 01:01:27.570
Kanani A.: It includes such a large part of our watershed, and our partners are,
384
01:01:27.920 --> 01:01:38.269
Kanani A.: not only Hilo, which… I was thinking about AHA Hilo Oni, which was specific to Hilo,
but then I was like, no, we have partners from everywhere on the island.
385
01:01:38.460 --> 01:01:45.020
Kanani A.: and other islands, and the connecting factor would be Kanaloa. So, just a suggestion.
386
01:01:45.220 --> 01:01:50.839
Kanani A.: But, just only, like, light thinking about it. Okay, mahalo, aloha.
387
01:01:51.360 --> 01:01:57.019
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Kanani’s the best. I just have to tell you, we've worked together for
years, and she just is just…
388
01:01:57.580 --> 01:02:02.630
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: the best, I, I just… Kanoe Lee Loy
Page | 81
389
01:02:05.530 --> 01:02:06.260
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Up.
390
01:02:06.880 --> 01:02:17.780
Kanoe Lee Loy: Sorry. Hi, hi, Beth. I was just going to ask, so, with these, like, community
engagement,
391
01:02:18.040 --> 01:02:19.230
Kanoe Lee Loy: events.
392
01:02:19.340 --> 01:02:28.229
Kanoe Lee Loy: are they… are they focusing… they're focusing on hearing from the coastal
community? Is that… is that the first… the first kind of group that's…
393
01:02:28.460 --> 01:02:30.410
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: The watershed is huge.
394
01:02:30.610 --> 01:02:31.300
Kanoe Lee Loy: And…
Page | 82
395
01:02:31.470 --> 01:02:45.120
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: events is for everyone. It's for the entire ahupuaʻa. You know, it's just
everything. It's… it's enormous. For my small group meetings and, you know, the… the people
who are the coastal resilience factor, and,
396
01:02:45.570 --> 01:02:54.180
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: you know, I just… we need to… to talk as a matter of environmental
justice, you know, and talk to the communities that… that are underwater.
397
01:02:55.040 --> 01:03:08.379
Kanoe Lee Loy: Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm… that's what I'm thinking, was… was what type of
information is gonna be, you know, are you looking to receive from them? Is it, like, how the
impaired waters is, you know, affecting their, like, daily lives?
398
01:03:08.380 --> 01:03:15.829
Kanoe Lee Loy: Maybe things that have changed from the past to the present? Is it… is it those
types of things that you folks are looking for?
399
01:03:17.130 --> 01:03:23.849
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you for offering them, because I was stumped, you know, and
the first time, I'm thinking, community engagement. Are you going to ask people
400
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01:03:23.980 --> 01:03:33.620
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: do you want clean water? You know, what do you… what are they going
to say? You know, yes, we want clean water. We should have had it 30 years ago. So…
401
01:03:33.620 --> 01:03:45.510
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Perhaps this community engagement subcommittee that I have, we can
develop some of these talking points, and the right questions to ask, because what we need to
get, and we're getting near the end of the… oh, we're going past 10, I'm sorry, that's…
402
01:03:45.510 --> 01:03:50.390
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'll try to hurry up, but we need to create a vision, and that's a one big
piece of this.
403
01:03:50.780 --> 01:03:52.690
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: We need a community vision.
404
01:03:52.850 --> 01:04:04.920
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: For the watershed. And that's what a lot of this input will help design.
So, maybe if we can get that group together to brainstorm and think about this and develop a
plan of how we're going to
405
01:04:05.060 --> 01:04:10.229
Page | 84
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: talk to people, and what questions to ask. The incentive question, I
know we didn't respond to.
406
01:04:10.570 --> 01:04:20.259
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And I'm sad to say I have no budget for anything, but we're gonna try to
find a way. I keep looking for more money to do things. I understand…
407
01:04:21.790 --> 01:04:31.850
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: you know, we need to get this 319 approved plan in place, and I'm not
out… we need the community engagement desperately. It's required, it's a necessary piece of
this.
408
01:04:32.090 --> 01:04:41.289
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I only have so much money to spend, and I was hoping that the
money could go farther, but I just cannot. And so we'll have to find a way
409
01:04:41.840 --> 01:04:45.510
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: somehow together to make that happen, and I keep thinking and
looking.
410
01:04:45.620 --> 01:05:00.330
Page | 85
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: So sorry about that, Cherie, but that is just a fact, and that's part of our
community. We have to be honest with each other and let us know what we're trying to
accomplish. But that doesn't mean I'm not trying. I keep trying.
411
01:05:00.560 --> 01:05:14.050
Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: Can I just jump in real quick? I just wanted to reaffirm that the
community engagement is happening in multiple levels, in multiple ways, right? Interacting with
the community engagement committee, which is what I think CAC stands for,
412
01:05:14.050 --> 01:05:24.240
Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: is one way. The small groups and the committees that you have is
another, but I think, Beth, correct me if I'm wrong, that you're going to be relying on the
Community Engagement Committee, the CAC,
413
01:05:24.300 --> 01:05:40.019
Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: to be helping you do some of that one-on-one outreach. And then
the events that our team is doing is the really wide open, everybody can come. So there's
multiple ways that that interaction is happening. Is that a good way of sort of framing it?
414
01:05:40.020 --> 01:05:44.749
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Yes, so before we get confused, CAC is a Community Advisory
Committee.
415
01:05:45.810 --> 01:05:58.539
Page | 86
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You're all my advisors, because I need your advice and your guidance.
And hopefully in that community advisory committee, we'll have a subcommittee about
community engagement, and that's where we develop these outreach
416
01:05:58.720 --> 01:06:04.260
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: efforts, and maybe try, if somebody has a non-profit, we can try to hui
and get a
417
01:06:04.630 --> 01:06:11.209
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: a grant from Hawaii Community Foundation, or something to do
some… you know, we gotta… to work on that together, and I…
418
01:06:11.420 --> 01:06:14.789
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I will work with you on that. I'm a decent grant writer.
419
01:06:14.950 --> 01:06:21.379
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I can't get foundation grants. NFWF was one of the only foundation
grants I could apply for.
420
01:06:21.520 --> 01:06:22.460
Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: the…
Page | 87
421
01:06:22.460 --> 01:06:25.620
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Government to apply for it, but,
422
01:06:25.890 --> 01:06:29.989
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: But I'm gonna work with the… yes, Cynthia, long answer, rambling
answer, too.
423
01:06:29.990 --> 01:06:31.990
Cynthia Derosier- Good Juju: Okay.
424
01:06:32.230 --> 01:06:35.360
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Ziegler-Chong, you've been waiting. Bye.
425
01:06:35.720 --> 01:06:44.700
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: Aloha, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, it's quite a room to be involved with
this. I think, having been involved with this
426
01:06:44.800 --> 01:06:46.170
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: program…
427
Page | 88
01:06:46.430 --> 01:06:57.100
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: talk about a bad name of CAC. I've had a CAC before, and B-Wag, the
HBWAG, remember the Hilo Bay Water Advisory Group? It was… we never could get away from
that name.
428
01:06:57.420 --> 01:07:15.289
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: I think it's important within that naming, mahalo Nui Kanani, for… for
thinking about that, is that that's the name not of this project, but the name of this group that…
that we want to put together. And I think that for… for Linker and for folks that are here as
consultants on this.
429
01:07:15.500 --> 01:07:17.020
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: project.
430
01:07:17.190 --> 01:07:34.270
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: for me, this Community Advisory Committee, I mean, we're the… we're
the people who are here. We're the people who… who have been working and caring about this
place. It's a pretty technical group that you have, technical from knowing… knowing Kahuna and
the stories of this place, and knowing
431
01:07:34.270 --> 01:07:44.039
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: the watershed intimately and deeply from all the way to the top of
Mauna Kea to… to Hiloone, and…
432
Page | 89
01:07:44.040 --> 01:07:49.729
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: I… so I think that, for me, this committee is really important for us as a
community.
433
01:07:49.750 --> 01:07:57.050
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: Not just to serve something to check off in the 319. And I think, Beth,
you're…
434
01:07:57.110 --> 01:08:06.770
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: I so appreciate your leadership within this. I think the county of thinking,
the more broadly the county, perhaps the Oscar office, etc.
Beth’s note: the County’s Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity, and Resilience was asked to
manage this project but did not have the capacity. They are members of the CAC and received
invitations to this meeting.
435
01:08:06.770 --> 01:08:25.220
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: of the, you know, the Office of Sustainability. I always forget what OSCAR
stands for, but I'm looking at, you know, who… how we as a community, and I'm looking to the
community, not the consultants, of, like, how we want to engage within this, and how do we
work together to care for this. Because this is going to have a report at the end of 27,
436
01:08:25.220 --> 01:08:33.799
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: Hilo, we're the ones who are going to help, you know, continue to carry
it, and, after that. So I think that's an important thing.
Page | 90
437
01:08:33.910 --> 01:08:49.149
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: flipping it around a bit, we're not just here to offer information, we are
that advisory group, because this is really important. We're the ones here and wanting to be,
really, grounded and involved, because we'll be involved with those… these solutions.
438
01:08:49.200 --> 01:08:57.119
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: And I think there are different events. I would love to work with people,
and maybe I could, reach out with you, Beth, too. I'm looking at
439
01:08:57.149 --> 01:09:12.739
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: Hilo used to run this effort of, the, Ocean Day Kamaloa Festival, and it did
what Kanani was talking about. It was really focusing on how do we get people and their stories
from, you know, Mele and Oli to
440
01:09:12.740 --> 01:09:21.199
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: To the projects and the students that were involved with it, to the faculty
here from Hilo who were engaged with those researchers.
441
01:09:21.200 --> 01:09:36.779
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: Or with that research in the place. So I think that there are efforts that
maybe that's the… one of the things that this group can be talking about, not just how do we
meet, you know, the needs of a consultant, that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I care
about this place.
Page | 91
442
01:09:36.779 --> 01:09:55.639
Sharon Ziegler-Chong: So how do we do that, and how do we engage? So, I'd like to kind of flip
it around. We're the community, we're… we're wanting to connect, and this is an important
thing, so thank you so much for taking on this project, and this is, this is a great another step in
caring for this place. So I just wanted to add that in.
443
01:09:55.880 --> 01:09:59.359
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you, Sharon. And those are the words we really want to hear,
because
444
01:09:59.600 --> 01:10:05.330
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Who's gonna take this? Who… that's the ultimate question, right? It's
the community.
445
01:10:05.510 --> 01:10:20.109
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: that's been doing the work is going to move it forward, and so that's
why we have to develop this ability to work on this together. The plan is what we need, and
that's why we have the consultant team to do it, to put it together for us based on what we're
446
01:10:21.170 --> 01:10:31.790
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: saying and wanting, and then we move it forward. So, thank you. You…
you just penciled in that first step in developing a stewardship
Page | 92
447
01:10:32.580 --> 01:10:35.769
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: plan for the future, and I really appreciate that.
448
01:10:36.370 --> 01:10:44.300
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Any other questions? We've really… we're past an hour. I can't believe
how many people showed up and stayed for so long.
449
01:10:44.300 --> 01:11:00.260
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I wish I could speak with every one of you. Roy Takemoto, thank you for
joining us. I'm sorry to put you on the spot like that. Roy, I have a lot of background with. He
used to be managing director of the county, and Deputy Director of Planning, and worked under
Chris Yuen , and I worked on
450
01:11:00.260 --> 01:11:13.330
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: with Hilo Bay Front Trails with me, and he's been my guru for that
project. Roy, thank you for being with us. Bob Nishimoto, I'd love to hear more about your
experience, because you have vast experience in this kind of world, and
451
01:11:13.330 --> 01:11:26.320
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Hopefully, someday each of you will be able to, contribute your
knowledge and experience to this process. And those who I didn't call out, forgive me, there's
so many, thank you.
Page | 93
452
01:11:26.620 --> 01:11:32.230
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And do we have any other questions? Or I'm going to close the
meeting, and you can all start your Friday.
453
01:11:32.410 --> 01:11:35.590
Cheresa Coles: Okay, Beth, there is one more question here.
454
01:11:35.740 --> 01:11:37.270
Cheresa Coles: From Emma?
455
01:11:37.510 --> 01:11:47.089
Cheresa Coles: As far as community incentives, having a finalized watershed management plan
opens up funding opportunities for landowners.
456
01:11:47.400 --> 01:11:50.280
Cheresa Coles: Oh wait, sorry, that's not the question.
457
01:11:51.420 --> 01:11:52.659
Cheresa Coles: Where did it go?
458
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01:11:53.870 --> 01:11:54.760
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Oh, boy.
459
01:11:55.300 --> 01:11:56.250
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: That's okay, hi, Sharon.
460
01:11:56.250 --> 01:11:56.950
Cheresa Coles: Okay.
461
01:11:57.260 --> 01:11:58.350
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you for…
462
01:11:58.500 --> 01:12:00.289
Cheresa Coles: That was a good comment, thank you.
463
01:12:00.290 --> 01:12:03.350
Emma Stierhoff: Say it if that's easier. I had a question comment?
464
01:12:03.480 --> 01:12:05.990
Emma Stierhoff: Okay, there, okay. Thank you.
Page | 95
465
01:12:06.250 --> 01:12:25.449
Emma Stierhoff: So, I know Three Mountain Alliance is an island-wide organization that has
been working specifically on watershed management. I wonder if you've been in contact with
them at all, and if there's a way that this watershed management plan can build off of the
foundation that they've laid to kind of lessen the load for the county.
466
01:12:25.670 --> 01:12:39.470
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: You know, that's an excellent question, and both the Three Mountain
Alliance and Mauna Kea Watershed Advisory Alliance are members. They've signed up to
support this project. They just couldn't make this meeting today.
467
01:12:39.610 --> 01:12:52.079
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: And Corie Yanger's on the call. Thank you, Sharon, for pointing that out.
I'm trying to keep all these… and maybe, Corey, you want to say something about this. You
know, they have a full plate of work to do, as does NRCS, and they work with landowners, and…
468
01:12:53.050 --> 01:13:08.390
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: and hopefully we can all support each other's work, because I think it's
clear, we have so many people working on this, and I mean, a lot of the three mountain guys,
they're up the mountain, you know, putting fences up, and tearing down invasives, and getting
rid of pigs, and it's a battle in itself.
469
01:13:08.540 --> 01:13:11.530
Page | 96
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Corey Yenger, are you available to say anything about.
470
01:13:11.530 --> 01:13:14.149
Corie Yanger: Yeah, sure, thanks, Beth. Can you hear me okay?
471
01:13:14.550 --> 01:13:32.939
Corie Yanger: And thanks, Emma, for, calling… calling attention. Yeah, I'm… I'm very interested in
staying engaged with this process and looking forward to working with folks, in the ways that we
can, and to the extent that we see those overlaps in areas where we can collaborate and
support, the effort.
472
01:13:33.090 --> 01:13:44.089
Corie Yanger: And, whether it's lessening the load or just, you know, collaborating on a project
together, I'm very interested in doing that with you all. So, thanks for the invitation for this
effort.
473
01:13:44.300 --> 01:13:46.120
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you for joining. Thank you.
474
01:13:49.400 --> 01:13:52.100
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: This is awesome. Okay!
Page | 97
475
01:13:52.290 --> 01:13:58.850
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Alright, I'm gonna count down, and I made it through. If I was slurring, I
apologize. I'm not starting pau hana early.
476
01:13:58.860 --> 01:14:13.609
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: I'm clumsy. I was chasing a stray dog outside and ran into one of those
sticky spider webs, and totally freaked out and fell and bit my tongue. I'm just not doing well,
but I made it through, and thank you all for joining us.
477
01:14:13.680 --> 01:14:26.070
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Please email me with any questions, any volunteer ideas. I'm gonna get
Community Engagement Committee Subcommittee together. I will… next week, I will send you
notes and everything. I… I have other…
478
01:14:26.550 --> 01:14:38.329
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: obligations this afternoon, so I can't get to it today, but you will hear
from me next week, and we will hit the ground running, and I'm really looking forward to this
project. Thank you so much. Kanani, thank you.
479
01:14:38.510 --> 01:14:40.850
R&D, County of Hawaiʻi: Thank you, everyone. Bye!
480
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01:14:40.850 --> 01:14:43.180
StaceyKilarski: Thank you, Beth. Thank you, everyone.
481
01:14:43.890 --> 01:14:45.059
Kevin Sullivan- CoH Planning Dept: Have a great weekend.
482
01:14:45.060 --> 01:14:45.500
Kanani A.: Aloha.