HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-01-24 (draft) Cost of Government Commission minutes
COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
c/o Office of the Mayor, 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2603
Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720
COST OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
(DRAFT) JANUARY 24, 2019
HAWAI‘I COUNTY BUILDING, PUNA CONFERENCE ROOM – HILO
25 AUPUNI STREET, SUITE 1501, HILO, HAWAI‘I
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Jones called the meeting to order at 9:13 a.m.
ATTENDANCE
Present: Jenipher A. Jones, Chairperson
Margarita “Dayday” L. Hopkins, Vice-Chairperson
Lenard Allen, Commissioner
Barbara Ann Bongo Arthurs, Commissioner
David A. Buehler, Commissioner
Gregory Dale Larson, Commissioner
Harry Lee McIntosh III, Commissioner
Genevieve Puanani Woo, Commissioner
Excused: Ross E. Birch, Commissioner
____
Also present: Dennis Kauka, Jr., Office of the Mayor
Roy Takemoto, Executive Assistant to the Mayor
J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
(none)
Jones: Is there a motion to accept the agenda?
(1:18:02) So moved.
Jones: Is there a second?
David: Second
Jones: Are there statements from the public on the agenda items. No statements from
the public today. We were going to review the minutes. Let’s try to get through. We’ve
thth
got a correction to the December 27 notes. From the December 27 meeting that I
was not here for. So uh Hopkins (? Can’t really understand ?)
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
th
Jones: Has everyone had a chance to review the December 27? If there is no further
discussion is that right, all apposed? All in favor?
All: I
thth
Jones: Motion carried. Okay so that was for the 27 want to try to do the 10 or should
we save it at our own measure and move on to today’s work? What do we think?
(2:14): I move to save it until next meeting.
Jones: Okay several pages not really to review it since it is our first one (??). So we are
going to postpone that and so we will get the final done next time. Postponed. Attendant
number 4 we are going to move on to the subcommittee reports. Um I would like to start
with Mr. Buehler because of the extent of your report.
Buehler: Uh yeah I emailed (??)
Jones: I have copies here if anyone wants hard copies. Here take one and pass it down.
(Crosstalk)
Buehler: Okay so this is a really rough draft. And uh 2 things and I did it so quickly 2
things are deduction costs, parts and supplies to maintain vehicles not to replace them
but to maintain them. And then the unknown quantity that could add significant savings.
I assume the first part is not eligible to do it now because we don’t have a plea if
anything happens to some of those cars grants a subsidy provided by federal and state
sources and we will try and qualify that in the next couple weeks but uh there is 406
sworn officers and for personal vehicles 480$ a month? So that is an annual cost of
about 2.4 million after its estimate cost per plea vehicle I have researched $400,000. So
the idea is that and I included in the email that the departments study and assume that
all officers get a plea fee the biggest difference in our proposal is that is it cut down to
1/3 plus the margin for the vehicles that are being payed (?) per vehicle. So lee is 40%
or 406 so that reduces the number of vehicles from 406 is higher than 62 that’s where
we were where you are going to see your big savings.
(5:23): What page are you on
Jones: Last page of the report.
(5:29): oh last page.
Jones: Very last page.
Buehler: So the initial cost for 162 vehicles for $40,000 each is about 6.5 million
hammer ties to over 5 years is about a million and 3 so the projected gross and savings
is about 90 dollars then we have to add in maintenance personal the assumption is that
2
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
we are going to use the existing county garages. And that needs to be verified. For our
additional maintenance personal $60,000 each that is $240,000 that reduces that
savings. And then what I forgot to add in is parts and supplies. Well filters, air filters, oil
you know things like that. So we need to put that in there. Based on this probably like
$838,000 annual savings. And I don’t know I just picked 10 years so that is easy to
figure out. So the assumptions each shift uses the same vehicle if someone brings in a
personal vehicle or just dropped off or uses uber and takes a fleet vehicle and goes out
comes back it is a great (?) vehicle, they park it for the fleet vehicle. So there shouldn’t
be a parking issue. I don’t know the distribution based on the report of vehicles by
officers like for instance Naha Leihu they have 4 well you kind of have to have at least 1
vehicle you can’t have half of a vehicle as a spare. So if we need to quantify that um.
Cruisers (?) without safety features mainly SUV types that’s normally how the county is.
Support and detective native Sudan’s that would reduce the cost at large. And of course
our proposal would be for this to be phased in over a period of time I don’t know I would
use 3-5 years. We can qualify for our benefits but that would significantly improve safety
for the officers obviously save money for us counting tax payers. Larger vehicles can
accommodate 3 or 4 more officers if they need to go out in fours right now the four
runners. Hyundai’s you can hardly get 1 person in them. And then of course as I
mentioned we need to add the benefits of state and federal subsidies that we could
probably get. And a we need to reduce that savings by the parts and supplies which I
was going to estimate $100 a month so $1200 a year times 162 vehicles that’s an
average. I am not sure what is going to happen if a vehicle get damaged or destroyed in
a line of duty if there is insurance for that to replace it. (?). You don’t know if there is
anything in the, what do you call it? collective party uh union details I have not asked for
that, that is something that the chief of police needs to figure that out.
Jones: It is my understanding from (?) council that there is wiggle room for change. That
is my understanding which is why I think the is absolutely about recommendation
Buehler: (?) get the assumptions card, a little more accurate.
(9:22): The benefit of improved visibility um I don’t know how many people have heard
people say on work well there is no police on here. Until the lights are flashing.
(Crosstalk)
(9:34): They even trumped the lights down, Why don’t they have them on all the time I
don’t understand
(Crosstalk)
(9:43): I took the guy to the airport in Kona it was the president of the police union in
San Francisco.
(Crosstalk)
3
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
The painted vehicle that says police has a psychological effect on criminals. Because it
gives the law abiding comfort it was the not law abiding pause. So that’s some things
we can embellish on this.
(10:34): Great Report
(10:36): Thanks did you see the pretty pictures?
(Crosstalk)
(11:15): Those figures for the projected maintenance personal these will be the four
additional ones.
(11:28): I just want to get a line in there, I don’t know if it is four, six, two or eight. It is
just that we now recognize the offsets to the cost
(11:38): How many vehicles 167 right? 167 vehicles?
Jones: 162 is what I looking at.
(11:45): If you do 5 a day or 4 a day you should (??)
(11:50): and it should cost $60,000?
(11:53): That is benefits too.
(11:59): Is there a cost of insurance that the county pays to protect our police
department insurance.
(12:07): I don’t know.
(12:13): For the vehicles and the police offers is there a cost?
(??)
(12:20): The county is self-insured I don’t know if you guys have a separate (?) for
vehicles.
(12:28): The vehicles are covered though right? County vehicles they must be insured.
Takemoto: Well yeah they are I don’t know if it is a separate insurance policy of if it is
under self-insurance.
(12:40): But either way it will still increase the cost by that number of vehicles. Either
which way it goes there is still going to be a cost.
4
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
Takemoto: I guess another problem to the question is how is insurance, if they are using
personal vehicles how is that going to work.
(12:59): I was thinking of that to.
(13:00): We don’t have all of that information. And the other one that is not in here if fuel
because (??)
(13:12): But if you get vehicles that are more fuel efficient then that is going to add to
that savings
(13:18): That 2020 hybrid interceptor.
(Crosstalk)
(13:35): That would be 2 vehicles per day. Per person that’s like
(13:39): 5 days a week
(13:40): That’s nothing yeah.
(Crosstalk)
(13:57): Standard County maintenance is going to be oil changes and cleaning kind of
like detox. Usually 2 possible 4 a day couple hours per vehicle. If I would have to
number per maintenance vehicle.
Arthurs: Do you we know how much counting as a fleet of vehicles right? I will have a
logo on (?) County vehicle. Do we know how much it costs to maintain each of those?
Takemoto: I can check with (??) who is the vehicle maintenance person.
Jones: On a more general level I would also like to ask, I am not seeing a blue
recommend line. I see a nice report and it is thorough. I just want to see it start with a
recommend.
15:08: I was going to put it in your format. This is just a working document.
Jones: Well we need to somehow incorporate this into a working document because the
information contained in here really is going to support
(??)
(Crosstalk)
Jones: Is there anything else you would like to add?
5
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(15:45): I am talking to the corporate of supply of vehicles. He said you are the only
state in the U.S. that does lost personal damage vehicles.
(Crosstalk)
(15:58): Is that right?
(16:04): Yeah, no one else does it
(16:05): There is a reason for that.
Jones: See that’s what I was thinking.
(Crosstalk)
Jones: Okay are we ready to take the report from the health education welfare.
Everybody have a copy of that? Copies here if you need them.
(16:38): Hang on I will catch up looks great.
Jones: We will note that Greg is going to be speaking for Hopkins
Larson: We are talking about sanitation. Okay so we skipped ahead on it so.
Jones: Right we were going to do the senior housing and health issue first.
Hopkins: okay at our last meeting I think we may of came before we emailed. What we
want to see (??) from the housing department. He gave us the request that we have
presented to the County Council just prior to our meeting with him. And in that report,
He included all of these senior residential or senior housing options. Anyway I went
back to his office because in the quadrant reports that were received there was only 1
report for 1 senior housing that came under Hawaii County, and I thought it can’t be
right. But actually it is. The department of housing has only 1 and only 1 so that is the
basis of realizing that although the increase in the senior population is going to continue
that the housing the county itself coordinates those duties but does not really fund the
properties. So it comes down to only 1 and that is the (?) housing project. So many of
the recommendations that we came up with. Are not necessarily nailing down the cost
but just by the fact for example, if we have more continued housing cooperation branch
profit organization, these foundation housing foundation that actually establish these
other places that were listed in the report that puu and I were given. So if you look at
that we tried to narrow it down to the 2 opposites that we visited. The department of
housing and community development and the other one the office of aging and
disabilities resources. The office of aging and disabilities they don’t have any funds for
housing none at all. But there resource is they have information ad referrals that they
can provide so you want to encourage them to do that. And then when we went to see
keimo almeta he mentioned that he went to the mainland and became aware of this
6
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
particular arrangement and on page 2 the recommendation number 2. And as the
collaboration between a recommendation collaboration between Hawaii community
college shield and service program and um the office of again in other works keimo
followed up on this one and he was thinking that that might be a possibility I think if I
remember it correctly he was looking at Hawaii community college taking the initiative to
establish the program. What (?) human services to see if they can program they will see
if they can provide a practical or a student. That a college student would be pared with a
parent or senior and either for day interaction or maybe even for live in situation. But
anyway the possibility of not occurring common cost for senior housing, we believe can
be accomplished by this kind of collaboration so the cost to the county at the same time
is going to provide service and assistance for the seniors, the growing number of
seniors. I want to point out something that is really really important I was jumping all
over the place. It says here.
Jones: What page are you 1 or 2?
Hopkins: go back to the first page I should have started there. Just know that the senior
foster rating is growing. And so the percentages of growth is there. However if we say
that nearly 40 up to 90% of undergraduates over 65 wish to remain in their homes as
long as possible I think the county can facilitate that the preference. Not necessarily by
providing the housing but means of collaborating with um (?) the house of seniors to
stay in their homes. And so if you look at the department of housing and community
development the recommendation number 3 and 4 yeah okay number 3 there is
currently this county program called residential routare program. What it is and I didn’t
put it down but what it is is for families by income qualify for a low interest rate so they
can do repairs to their home. So in that recommendation is that um maybe the
department of housing could recommend to the and I don’t know how these are done
but to establish something similar for seniors that there will be a low interest rate
program for seniors who want to do not necessarily repairs but changes to their homes
to facilitate their physical ability and needs. So if the county does that then it is a good
way of minimizing the cost of living for seniors that want to do this but also it relieves the
panic of actually having to provide a physical facility the other one for the housing
department is recommendation for, what we learned about mia who is the (?) when a
developer submits their application to develop housing areas 20% of that has to be set
aside for affordable housing and that mean affordable to families basically so what we
are thinking is maybe the county could set aside 3-5% of that 20% for senior rental
housing and for (?) so we don’t have the figures established because we only have 1 for
the seniors but I think that a recommendation like this would be very very helpful not
only to our growing senior population but to reduce the cost of any kind of financial
break that the county might need to think about as the population continues to grow. (?)
you want to add anything?
(25:37): No good job!
7
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
Jones: I have a question on recommendation number 4 on page 1 under department of
health and community development. Are you saying that this 3-5% would be built with
seniors in mind so they are already (?) with things like Rams and
Hopkins: Yeah
Jones: so that 3-5% is going to be at a higher cost for the developer. That small amount
that would really help.
Hopkins: Yes it would be encouraged by the developer obviously but that is a kind of
deal that you make with the developer who developers don’t go into the pacific to be a
non-profit developer. So I am sure they are going to look at the cost but the facility the
housing combination would have to have the graph bars and stuff like that and probably
be on the first floor so they don’t have to travel by stairs or elevator so anyway right now
20% that is a nice figure for affordable housing so even if this 2-5% is part of the 20% or
you tack it off so you now have 23%-25% for the population of this kind of access
Allen: Question, do seniors do they tap into the section 8 system
Hopkins: you know what section 8 is based on income and I think that some of them do
because I think I didn’t include some of them there are vouchers as well so we probably
should add that. I am going to check up with (?) on section 8 because when we talked
to him it was like section 8 would be for the family but it could probably include seniors
we need to verify that but that is a good question.
(27:52): For one of the things to that we are thinking about it this report is really based
on the needs of those who need housing as renters but we also know that there is older
people with family members on feasible properties where there may be buildings
structures added to that housing which is not certified by the county, so that is another
problem, so that is another situation of housing that we did not get into because another
thing when I read Wilbert Lee’s comments a few days ago using copy planner he is
talking about people who updated old housing but the add-ons are not county approval
and are renting so I thought oh yeah I been here a long time I know a lot of people who
live like that on feasible properties yes and so our research did not get into that aspect
(29:06): That is a lot of garages that has an elder
(29:09): Yeah all for extra space for it. And that is kind of easy to do when your living
you know? Were we live on the big island.
Jones: any other questions for the senior welfare healthcare committee?
(29:33): and we did not get through the education part because when we, ok very good.
Because the news is telling me they say “hey!” that is a state. So we said ok. And I got
to thank Barbara the is such a scarlet. Thank you
8
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
Barbara: We did the research together.
McIntosh: The other thing I guess it will be kind of hard for you but the other thing you
could consider for the um 3-5% is there enough for people to grab ramps and stuff for
free for seniors that need it so for existing homes that they own or I guess if they are
renting they have to get permission anyways but that exist out there so you have to
necessarily. Ok that is just one of the many things that we do now. So that is also
something you can include in your report. Partner with non-profit atleast steer people in
that direction let them know they exist give them information.
(31:16): What is the name of that? Is that a community non-profit organization?
McIntosh: yeah kauka
(Crosstalk)
(31:31): The president said walk 100 miles to Honokaa to (?) wearing slippers. About a
year ago (??) Honokaa to (?) he walked slippers to make a point
(31:55): Thank you for bringing that up because the community out there is growing yes
thank you,
Takemoto: just some quick notes (?) the quick term for that is universal design. I don’t
know if you have heard that term. So it is part of the recommendation that we include
that this contact for universal design we promote it. I don’t know how with the building
division getting the permits whatever. To make people aware that it doesn’t cost that
much more to incorporate this kinds of features and there is this non-profit that does this
kind of education so we can embarrass your recommendation with (??)
recommendation 3, 2 to enable people to aging place. And your recommendation
number 4 had 20% affordable housing maybe once they can look into it is a tweak on
your recommendation is the bonus credit because one day calculate the 20% is based
on a credit system so you get more credits if you build a unit that reaches is affordable
to someone lower who makes less so they call that their threshold is 100% of their
income. So once they go below 100s and they are at like 80% of their real income set
the sales price affordable to and if 80% they get double credit. So they build half as
many units so we can do a bonus credit if it somehow someone offered or designed or
something for a senior compilation
(Crosstalk)
(34:59): And the other thing we didn’t really get into is um to pull the information of care
holds for you know private care holds. We did not have the time to get into that yet
Takemoto: Yeah um, (???)
9
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(36:41): So is that why the attached ohana is much more rentaly available then a
separate ohana because of the septic
Takemoto: the way to get around the septic upgrade is not to include. I think there is 3
components to consider (??) The kitchen, bathroom, sink. If one of those 3 are missing
then it is considered a guest house
Jones: oh yeah I come across at least only has a stove is one of the things or an actual
oven. That triggered (??)
Takemoto: That is a guest house and not a public dwelling. Then it doesn’t trigger (?) so
we can kind of forward these off into your recommendation.
(38:06): so if the family wants to build an addition to the house for the senior as long as
there is no kitchen or toilet
(Crosstalk)
(38:41): plans approved for a home that didn’t have a restroom drawn on it and they just
left it out completely accidently, got a crew
(39:00): Thank you all for the suggestions yes. Thank you.
Jones: One thing I would like to mention is when you review this do try and move your
main recommendation to the very front of your sentence. So your recommendations 1-4
here under housing because you have your header housing community and
development. Yeah community development we are going to assume that these
recommendations are about apartments so you don’t have to mention it every time. You
know what I mean? Just to save words to bring down the number of words. I saw
somewhere else that it was pretty much the second thing mentioned in terms of saving
money. So try to move any money lines that begin with the sentence as well. Just to
keep the goal is cost of government. Okay?
(39:55): Okay, Thank you
Jones: Is there are comments questions for this particular sub-committee? Okay, so can
we now do public safety and miscellaneous or sanitation whoever wants to go next.
Ross isn’t here but he said he would have his report in for the next meeting and who
was Ross working with? Mr. Buehler and Greg aren’t you working with Ross on what
Public Safety?
(40:30): Public Safety, what public safety mostly is, is the um vehicles and also a brief
recommendation on the planning commission. The difficulty with planning is that they in
a major change and we don’t know what that result is going to be for their couple
quarters and making recommendations for them to move somewhere because they are
actually in the process of upgrading all of their software and implementing this new
10
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
method that the cost savings basically to the budget is to simply being able to approve
projects and getting more of that tax based off of the books so the county can have the
funding it needs especially with the 700 homes pretty much that came off of the books
that’s a horrible hit for our budget and how do you and how do you recommend, if you
really want to put a recommendation in there for savings you know if you lose 700
homes you got no choice but to save. But that is not the way we want to go about it but I
think move their. They had a really nice article in the paper just the other day regarding
how they are moving and gave a better description than I have heard as yet in that
article as to what the new software was going to produce. And then also they are under
the realization that they are accepting. That not only is there the software that needs to
be changed but there is staffing issues and funding for that staffing. Um you know
having singularly 2 approvers, 2 reviewers for the whole county is probably one of the
biggest problems they have. They are in the process of making those moves. My
recommendation was very brief saying follow those steps because we really don’t have
something to grab ahold of here. When I first started looking at it, it was horrific and
getting worse and they recognized that and they are moving in the right direction. And I
see if we can get this thing functional in the what is the last quarter of this year is what
their plan is then we should see some improvement in their funds available because
those things will go on the tax rolls and you know what when a million dollar home or a
5 million dollar project or 20 million dollar development I mean there is a lot of stuff that
is just held up. And not moving at all, and companies are stopping they are giving up
because of the time. We don’t have the time or the effort because of the delay costs
those companies money so they are just stopping the thought of doing any of that
development. While improving that time frame and improving the quality of service will
give us significant increase in our available tax base which will save across the board.
Because we won’t be having to cut or adjust budget losses which we are looking at right
now which are really serious. Keep going the way they are going is my
recommendation.
(44:18): I would be interested to know right now because all I hear is bulldozers
happening in my neighborhood in HPP how many permits are out there for new homes.
ththth,
I know that around 7, 8,9 avenue down in paradise park there is a section of it that
they are calling (?) and all of the people that lost their homes in (?) they all had
relationships as neighbors and all are trying to move to this one little block of area so
they can reinstate their old neighbors build and or move in to existing houses and live in
trailers until they get something built.
(45:04): That is interesting, I know you can clear less than an acre with a bulldozer
without a permit and all of HPP is pretty much 1 acre lots
(45:18): Yeah there is 8200, 1 acre lots. Second largest sub division in the United
States
(Crosstalk)
Jones: Okay, are we ready to go sanitation?
11
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(46:05): The graphed recommendation is not complete yet. Waste water division has
not set the information it was promised last week. But they need another follow up in
hopes to get it today or tomorrow. And we will complete it for next week. Is that pretty
close? I don’t think I missed anything is there something else?
Jones: So when you do have your draft ready you can just copy me and I will always
bring hard copies if I can. If you send me something I am going to bring hard copies to
the meeting. Okay so we move on now to culture and recreation I have to say I was not
very productive these last 2 weeks with culture and recreation. What I did do was do a
little research on the past (?) in particular and I accidently pulled up something from
2009 that had a really impressive number of individuals that were working at the zoo
that it made the paper the mayor went out, at that time I think it was (?) I believe. As
well as people from garden societies the (?) club, san fran California. So there was a
super enthusiasm in the past to make the zoo a really wonderful place for people of our
island. And visitors of course so I am thinking that there is an opportunity to turn it back
and make it paper itself by improving it. So that’s where I know we are kind of headed.
And how can we spread out some of the needs they have in terms of groundskeepers
um can they be barrowed 1 day a week here 1 day a week there rather than increasing
the costs since grounds keepers although may need particular skill should be able to be
transferred pretty well when you are just talking cleaning up an area. I know that we are
now because of Mr Allen’s work the both prisons are sending people over once a month
each I think is when the schedule is. So hopefully that will be turned into a rhythm (?) so
that can continue um as well as we know we are going to recommend fees absolutely
plausible fees and more elaborate petting zoo situation where people will actually be
motivated to bring their children in than Mr Allen mentioned you know the (?) you know
where you turn in get a little handful of something and you pay a little money for it and
that money goes back in. so there are several different things um as far I want to let you
go ahead at it.
(49:44): oh uh. What I felt that would be a good recommendation was the zoo staff
which is small is also responsible for the (?) center which is very minimally used. Than
so they have to spend part of their day over there trying to contain that just to sit there.
(50:10): What is the (?) center?
(50:13): As you go into the zoo it is immediately to your right up on the hill and they got
the horse corals they got the arena and all those things maybe that I know it gets used
for maybe a yearly rodeo but there is 1 or 2 people that store horses in there but most of
the corals or vacant and so my recommendation was to sell it. And get it off the books
make some money on it and let the workers just focus working at the zoo than 5 people
rather than giving them 2 facilities to take care of give them 1 facility that way no other
employees need to be added.
(51:14): What would the equestrian community say about that?
12
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(51:17): well equestrian friends are all in Waimea and they all are very excited about the
rodeos and what is done in Waimea and there is just not a lot of rodeos going on in
Puna and I will go watch somebody ride a bull just for the heck of it just so I feel better
about myself. And I just don’t see anything I think that last rodeo was 5-6 years ago.
Jones: if it is not being utilized it is not a big deal to me. (?)
(52:03): I went there 2 years ago it is a heck of a good rodeo. And if there is an interest
possibly a group of equestrian people in the area can.
Jones: If they can make use out of it.
(52:23): They could make a riding school. Then they could do whatever they want if they
want to privatize it.
McIntosh: What they did in (?) is the county at one point owned a rodeo that was next to
the park. And they sold it and then a group bought it that puts on the rodeo every year
so they just bought it and they use it for themselves.
(Crosstalk)
(53:26): I kind of wondered about the equestrian community um Nancy Kabob she is a
real big she is a horse lady
(Crosstalk)
Yoshimoto: I also advise parks and so then my understanding is that the rodeo is once
a year and it is coming up I think in February (?) Just as an FYI, the horse stalls are
rented.
(Crosstalk)
(54:19): I saw 2 with horses under it.
Yoshimoto: 2? I see both contracts and I think every 6 months or a year they have to
pay a rental fee.
Jones: How much are they paying?
Yoshimoto: I could give you a number but I am not positive I thought it was either 300 or
500 a year I think
(Crosstalk)
13
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
Jones: Yeah I would like to see where that comes in. It is a little hard to figure out. I
want the numbers of where it comes in and where it is showing as you know a (?)
against the zoo.
(55:03): The part of realization I know 1 rodeo (??)
(??)
(55:23): They recently put on (?) on the bleachers they needed to put in money to help
the spectator.
Jones: The other parts of cultural recreation that we were looking at there was a few
others but basically right now is also the golf course. And of course what we are trying
to figure out is with we don’t have any input so we don’t have anybody else’s opinion on
what would be a reasonable increase or series of increases to bring the golf course to a
net 0 where they don’t cost the county anything. It is tough because you know a number
of people that utilize it at 1100 people you are going to have to the rates are going to
have to go up pretty significantly what did we say the 750,000 or so a year. I think that
was the golf course but you know now that they have that nice new room which we
were able to tour I think before last meeting utilizing that getting rented out full time is
difficult because there is no staff to take care of that room and right now the way they
rent it out is and say you are 100% responsible for whoever rents it for cleaning it. And I
am sure that works pretty well there are many things like the windows they are high high
high and I don’t think that have ever been cleaned according to the course manager
Troy because there is no one willing to do it and there is no equipment dedicated to do
it. Things are just gonna even though it is a pretty brand new facility it is already starting
to roll a little downhill because of issues like that there is no way of planning in terms of
when it this going to be maintained there is also no staff. So the manager of the golfers
are dealing with the contracts and keeping people in and out of that room and it needs
to be closed at 10:00
(57:39): It is open from 3 to 11 because they don’t want to take away parking from the
golfers. Because there is only so many stalls out there. So he has to come down and
lock it up at 11:00.
Jones: And do the checkout with the people that have rented it (?) So the motivation to
have that facility bring in more money might be utilized more fully advertising that type
of thing. There is no motivation because all that is going to do is generate a whole lot
more work. And not a lot more money revenue, you know. It isn’t helping I don’t think.
(58:22): How many rounds are played in a month.
Jones: Ask Buehler, I have not got that number and I have actually asked for it but what
I got was how many people utilize it and that is at 1150 total men and women and that is
the number a people a year to utilize it. Now that does not include the occasional visitor,
and we get a lot of visitors on this island.
14
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(58:53): What if you charged for the number of rounds instead of people and would you
charge a membership.
Jones: right and that is the thing, if you are talking membership because the people that
are buying memberships at their peak if they are really utilizing their membership they
are paying 1$ a round.
(59:09): That is once a day? Is a round 9 or 18
Jones: 18 is what the numbers are coming up to but yes I would ask that question, I
haven’t had that much feedback.
(59:20): you can’t do 1100 people in 1 day
Jones: No that is the total membership. 1150 people utilize the golf course that are
members and I think the minimal I have is somewhere in this large stack of paperwork I
could get a crisis to go take a picture of their board they have up. Because they have no
handouts there is not a line it seems like a closed roof
(59:55): Is there an annual membership is it not on the board?
Jones: It is on the board but it is hard to (?) their numbers. It seems like they know them
and they tell you when you walk up to the window. The few times I have been there
people walk up and they are very familiar with the whole process. But I don’t see any
new blood coming in even though they have programs. Trying to reach out the youth of
our community bring them in to the golf course start different things but um I just do not
see utilization so the money really needs to start coming out of the players. Rather than
out of our community. No cards are separate.
(1:00:31): and how much are they?
Jones: That’s an outside
(Crosstalk)
Jones: I would expect that we have our next graph by cultural recreation by next
meeting I would expect. There might be a few other generic things that are going to
come up of this sub-committee that we will continue to look at I want to look at the
parking as well. The parking at the beach parks and the other parks. You know we
charge parking here we don’t charge parking there. You know I would like to see some
good systems of that. And that is it for me. Anything else Allen that you would like to
share?
(1:02:02): I have a question for the equestrian facility, do we know if the county owns
that facility or if it is the state that owns the land.
15
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
Jones: That is county owned. We are maintaining it.
(??)
Jones: (?) borrows it as a favor she gets someone to come in with their big machine and
mow it on a regular basis I don’t remember what department she borrowed it from. Well
the first time I was there there was an individual with a boom truck to fix something I
love to see it because (?)
(1:02:53): And the people willing to do that, the businesses or whatever that are willing
to do that.
Jones: The other departments in the county not individual (?) she doesn’t have
dedicated staff
(1:03:16): Probably doesn’t sound like there is enough there to have dedicated staff for
it mowed once a month or even if they were too mowed twice a month. The dedicated
staff they are short of everything. The staff could be multi-purpose and apply to many
different things do tasks, fill in the blanks. Concern was whether it was state or county
owned if it could revert back to the state if it was no longer used for county purposes. If
it is county owned it is not a concern.
Takemoto: Good point (?)
Jones: Well in that case would it be its not to our benefit to keep it to let the state have it
back. Any questions about the botanical gardens complex. Nice short name and there is
no botanical gardens that I know of do you know of any botanical gardens? Okay do we
have any other notes, words, questions, comments on the reports?
(1:05:02): I am looking at the 2014-2015 cost of government commission report and in
anticipation of what we need to (?) Is it going to look something like this?
(Crosstalk)
Jones: We are going to address the apartments that we have all focused on
(1:06:23): So what I am suggesting is that not so much we will put our stuff in here when
we actually research (?) for like the introduction you know. And someone mentioned in
the appendix you put down what was interviewed? Somebody needs to go over what a
final report will look like.
Jones: Exactly, and that’s why I am asking everyone to try and follow the money comes
first on your recommendation, that is the first thing you want to address, at the end
anyone you spoke to that is and I think we are okay with saying that is an employee of
the county needs to be mentioned in this. Do we need to mention them if they were
outside? For example I spoke to the she runs with the zoo, she doesn’t work with the
16
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
county but we put in $350,000 a year towards our zoo I thought it was important to
speak with her, do I need to mention that?
(1:07:38): We should mention every individual
Jones: That we spoke with. Please make sure you spell their names right because I am
not going to since I am doing them all I am not going to have time to look up every
person. So please double check the spelling of their names. Please double check their
title. They may not work for the county they may not be a company they may be an
individual whatever but I need to have something to work from. You don’t need to say
your discussion with them that is coming out of your recommendation. So just keep it to
a simple list. I don’t think we need to save the dates we spoke with people. (?) I expect
it to.
(1:08:34): When is out next meeting?
Jones: Our next meeting is 2 weeks from today. From now our meeting are every 2
weeks until the end.
(?)
Jones: Oh it is 3 weeks, valentines day, I will bring treats. Is there anything else we
need to cover? Is there any announcements? That is where we are at in the agenda I
believe. No announcements today? I would like to bring to the next meeting here is my
announcement copies of everybody’s drafts.
(Crosstalk)
Jones: So we are looking at keeping it as simple as we can, too the point and use as
few words as possible. That is our goal. So as you review our drafts and send it in to me
at least 5 days before the meeting so I have time to put it together type it out print it. I
will print copies for everyone and I will try email PS whatever I do type up please don’t
think that that is a final corrections will be great. Word by word because I really want this
to be clean and easy to understand. And easy to read for whoever is viewing it
(Crosstalk)
Jones: okay anything else to cover today?
(1:10:59): I got an addition I just looked up the property and it appears that it is owned
by the state and leased to the boy scouts.
Jones: If it is leased to the scouts why are we taking rent from it?
17
Cost of Government Commission
January 24, 2019 meeting minutes
(1:11:27): The best I can tell This is current of the public website. The equestrian facility
I was just looking at the map on the county website for property taxes and it appears
that that property is owned by the state and leased to the estate.
(Crosstalk)
(1:13:26): The follow up I was checking so the horse stalls leased 500$ annually in the
past they were heavily utilized so now they are checking in how many stalls are actually
being rented. My understanding is they are not as utilized as they were before. I don’t
know why that is but they did cost a lot $500 a year but I think it was significantly
cheaper.
(1:14:00): (??)
(Crosstalk)
(1:14:38): 31 stalls are rented out right now
Jones: and then that money should be able to go to the zoo.
(1:14:50): They could have an annual fee a monthly fee or a daily fee, so it kind of
depends.
(Crosstalk)
(1:15:38): Do we know how many transfer stations there are on the island for waste?
(Crosstalk)
Jones: Anything else for today’s agenda?
(1:16:13): Move to object.
(1:16:16): Second.
Jones: Seconded, all in favor
(All): I
Jones: opposed? We are adjourned.
18