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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN RDC 2011-10-01 PH-PAPAALOA2011 HAWAII COUNTY REDISTRICTING COMMISSION DISTRICT 1 — HAMAKUA PUBLIC HEARING Saturday, October 1, 2011, 9:00 a.m. Papa`aloa Gym 35 -1994 Government Main Road Laupahoehoe, Hawaii CALL TO ORDER: CHR. SIRACUSA: I'm going to call the meeting to order and introduce the Commissioners. ATTENDANCE: Present: Mr. Joseph Carvalho, Commissioner Mr. Patrick Kahawaiola`a, Commissioner Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Commissioner Mr. Jeffrey Melrose, Commissioner Mr. Mike Middlesworth, Commissioner Ms. Rene Siracusa, Chair Ms. Valerie Poindexter, Commissioner Ms. Linda Ugalde, Commissioner Absent: Mr. Craig "Bo" Kahui, Commissioner Also Present: Michael Udovic, Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeanette Aiello, Committees Supervisor Stephanie Tsunezumi, Committees Staff Maile David, Legislative Research Branch Karen Eoff, Secretary CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you for taking the time to attend. This is the public hearing for the Hawaii County Redistricting Commission for the district of Hamakua. Do we have any testifiers? Seeing none, we can take a five minute recess. RECESS: At 9:16 a.m. the Chair called for a recess. RECONVENE: The meeting was reconvened at 9:34 a.m. CHR. SIRACUSA: Good morning, thank you for taking the time to attend. This is a public hearing for Hawaii County Redistricting Commission for the district of Hamakua. The Commission consists of nine volunteer members, one from each council district. We have each shared our district's concerns with each other, so that we are all on the same page. Based on that, plus your input, we will decide the geographic boundaries for each of the nine council districts based upon census data as well as the criteria found in the Hawaii County Charter and Legislation passed by the Hawaii County Council. Please note that we are only concerned here with County Council districts, and not State or Federal legislative districts. Copies of the Hawaii County Charter and the Laws relating to the Redistricting Commission are available for your review at the sign in table. Also on the table are the close -up insets so that you can see the actual boundary lines. The commission is first and foremost governed by the principal of one person one vote. We are required by law to adopt boundaries which make each of the districts approximately similar in resident population. Both case law and the laws applicable to the Redistricting Commission allow for a deviation of a maximum of 4.99% above or below the ideal resident population of 20,462 residents per council district. This is after extraction of non - resident military, dependants, and students. Therefore the maximum number of residents in any district can be no more than 21,483 and the minimum number of residents is no less than 19,441. The Commission has reviewed approximately 40 suggested maps showing various configurations of the district boundaries. We have received and reviewed maps submitted by members of the public, staff at the elections office, and those produced at Commission meetings. The maps that remain suggest possible district configurations. Some of the maps contain deviations in resident population which are not acceptable because they are either slightly too high or too low, but the Commission decided to keep these maps for review because it appears that it will not be difficult to remedy the population imbalances. The Commission rejected many maps due to major population imbalances but did keep others which addressed many of the issues required to be considered by the law, such as road connectivity and communities of interest. Some of these maps are more `friendly' to certain districts than to others. None of them are cast in stone. We may very well end up creating hybrids, combining the best of several. We welcome your comments about the redistricting process and your suggestions about the adoption of district boundaries. We have 6 maps showing possible configurations. You are free to comment on any or all of these maps or make any other comments you wish relative to 4 redistricting. If you wish to see boundary details not shown in these maps, they are on the table. You will be asked to keep your comments to no more than 5 minutes. The commissioners may or may not have questions to clarify your testimony at this public hearing, but please do not expect us to answer your questions or engage in dialogue, as our job today is strictly to listen to your mana`o. If you have not done so and wish to offer testimony to the Commission please fill out one of the sheets at the sign in table. Mahalo for coming out to learn about this process and to share your thoughts. I will now call the meeting to order, and call the first testifier who is Lucille Chung. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC CHR. SIRACUSA: Our first testifier is Lucille Chung. LUCILLE CHUNG (At this time Lucille Chung came forward to address members of the Commission.) MS. CHUNG: Thank you very much for coming here and I'm sorry there's not a multitude of people here but my main concern was that you don't divide the North Hilo district because it's convenient to go through one gulch and put me this way or that way yeah. That the North Hilo District stay intact and I see that it does but the movements that are necessary either south or north, I think combining the rural culture of the Hamakua coast into Kaumana I think would be wrong. It should go that way but how you do it, just keep North Hilo intact. Remember the kind of people that live in the district and how they think because Hilo is urban, whereas we're rural. So, please consider that when you make your decisions. Mahalo. CHR. SIRACUSA: Thank you Lucille. Would you like to say anything? You sure? Okay, thank you both very much for turning out. Since there is no one else here to testify, I will accept a motion to adjourn. MR. MELROSE: I have a question for Mike. In terms of how long we need to be doing this, would it be better for us to give this community a little more time for someone to show up and like wait a little while or is there any minimum time that we have to be doing this for. MIKE UDOVIC: There is no minimum time. The meeting was noticed for 9:00 a.m. and since no one is here and it's twenty minutes to ten and it has been forty minutes and only one testifier has chosen to testify, I would just look at it like when the video feed or audio feed are down at council meetings we wait fifteen minutes and we have to cancel the meeting. So, it's not inappropriate to adjourn the meeting now, but it's up to the Commission. CHAIR SIRACUSA: Any other comments? 3 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, at 9:42 a.m., Ms. Ugalde moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Carvalho and carried by the following vote: Ayes: Commissioners Carvalho, Kahawaiola`a, Melrose, Middlesworth, Poindexter, Kanuha, Ugalde, and Chair Siracusa. Noes: None. Absent: Commissioner Kahui. CHR. SIRACUSA: Motion carries. Thank you. Respectfully Submitted, Karen Eoff, Secretary Approved on November 3, 2011: Ms. Rene Siracusa, Chair Hawaii County Redistricting Commission 2