Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES for 12-04-2018 FINALVETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Tuesday, December 4, 2018, 2:00 p.m. Office of the Prosecuting Attorney (Hilo) and Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Present Members Emile Wery Michael Doolittle George Sheridan Debra Lewis Isaac Nahakuelua Marcia Brinkley Kona Mayor's Office (Via Videoconferencing) Members Antonio Gaspar Carolle Brulee-Wilson Minoru Hanato Guests (Kona) None Ex -Officio (Kona) None Ex -Officio (Hilo) Maurice Messina, Deputy Director P&R Roddy Sueoka, Office of Veterans Services Counselor Also Present (Hilo) Brittany Iyo, Secretary J Yoshimoto, Deputy Corporation Counsel Absent None Call to Order Chair Michael Doolittle called the meeting to order at 1:59 pm. Quorum met with nine members present. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None OLD BUSINESS Expand Scope of the Powers and Duties of the Veterans Advisory Committee Chair Doolittle introduced the topic by stating that the letter from Mayor Kim gives the Committee the authority to expand the scope but would like to make it official and wants Council to specify in Hawaii County Code. The next reading will be next week Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 2 (December 11) which will also be the last reading and then Council will vote. He then asked if there are any comments. Vice -Chair Carolle Brulee-Wilson thanked Chair Doolittle for doing this saying he did a good job. Chair Doolittle responded this was part of his agenda when he submitted his application for the committee. When he went through the minutes of past meetings they only discussed West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery and an irrigation water line. He is happy there is a charter that expands that. Update on Cemetery Projects Chair Doolittle asked if anyone wanted to add an updates on the cemeteries. Secretary Brittany Iyo explained the project at East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery II is underway. Deputy Director Maurice Messina added that the contractor poured the concrete for the building today and the walls are also going up. Concrete should be cured in a couple days. NEW BUSINESS Report on Cemeteries Mr. Messina introduced homeless at the cemeteries. The amount of homeless at Veterans Cemetery is causing problems there. On Sunday night/Monday morning, someone took feces and smeared it all over the walls of the restroom facility. He's been brainstorming ways to secure the cemetery, maybe a fence around the pavilion. He talked to P&R Park Planner and maybe the committee can discuss and recommend putting a fence around Veterans I like Veterans II. They've discussed ways like roll down cages to secure it but nothing will be visually appealing. Isaac Nahakuelua asked what about lighting? Mr. Messina said lighting is not the issue, it's the accessibility. Mr. Nahakuelua but if there's more lighting, it may deter the homeless from doing drugs there. Mr. Messina answered that Police can see inside because of the lighting around but there's a couple of corners and alcoves that you can hide out in. The drug deals are happening in the parking lot right next to it. Those are all the issues. Chair Doolittle asked if there's a similar problem in West Hawaii? Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 3 Mr. Messina explained that the homeless at Veterans I were guys who were afraid to be at other places and they knew if they were at Veterans I they were safe, they've now moved on. Big influx of homeless coming from Oahu, from what the Police are telling us. The guys who are now there have no respect for the place. Debra Lewis asked if everyone saw what Wailoa Art Center did. Because they had a horrible problem. Not sure if that's possible with the pavilion at Veterans I but they have it on a track and its wood and they've painted beautiful pictures, but they lock at night. Chair Doolittle commented a fence around the pavilion wouldn't look very nice. Mr. Messina explained, we are looking at a fence around the whole cemetery. We're also having an issue with people stealing flowers and stealing the copper vases and they'll trade it in at the recycling centers for money. Just wanted to bring that up. Chair Doolittle asked who would do the improvements. Mr. Messina explained State did the improvements at Veterans II so that's who were going to bring up the issues to. If they need something official, maybe this committee could send something and possibly even bring it up to the Mayor. Emile Wery added we can put a fence but if they want to climb over the fence, they'll climb over the fence. Mr. Messina added but for some reason we don't have the same issues at Veterans II. George Sheridan suggested to put up a gate first. Chair Doolittle explained there is a gate but it's a vehicle gate, people can still walk in. A fence and gate may slow the problem, not sure it will ever stop the problem. If someone is really determined to get in there, but then it would only be people who are seeking safety rather than a convenient place to hide. Mr. Nahakuelua added majority of the homeless population are out of shape so he doesn't see them climbing a fence. Chair Doolittle suggested this is something that should be addressed sooner rather than later. Mr. Messina added especially because our homeless population is growing and there is no place for them to go. We know in our department, they are in every park and every facility that we have. Chair Doolittle asked if anyone has any ideas on how to address this. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 4 Mr. Nahakuelua explained there's a large population of homeless who are hooked on meth and then they have a psychotic break and they get sent to the State mental hospital. Some come down through the channels of adult mental health and some are violent and make threats to the case managers and they're combat qualified and when they're in a psychotic state, then paranoia kicks in and fear kicks in and then fight or flight and Veterans will fight. Chair Doolittle acknowledges that mental health is huge part of it. Ms. Lewis stated there's also a group in the community that's working on the homeless issue and tapping into that might be beneficial. Hope Services, Catholic Charities and they have regular meetings. We don't want to reinvent the wheel, but from the Veterans perspective we can see some of the unique things we are talking about that we really need to pay attention to. Chair Doolittle asked where the homeless Veteran's home is. Ms. Lewis replied, it is near Puainako, heading towards town, first left about an acre, a big property. We can go together but there is someone we need to coordinate with. Mr. Messina stated it's for homeless so one of the things Hope Services does is set them up with an exit plan. Kind of like a group home but no one enforcing rules. There's one guy in charge kind of like a chaperone. Ms. Lewis added that they can use a lot of items also, like toiletries, VFW gets some requests from them. Mr. Wery added the old St. Joseph Convent across St. Joseph's school is also a homeless shelter, run by a non-profit and they have a lot of Veterans come through there. Ms. Lewis explained, she's thinking the parade is a good start, but there's a lot of other services and groups doing things and we need an integrated solution. She knows for Washington State, if you're on meth you're not allowed to be in the home, but if you're not in the home you won't ever get off meth, it's a catch 22. Mr. Nahakuelua explained, here we have two types of homes, wet houses and dry houses. Wet houses they can do drugs in the home, they have a safe place to do the drugs. There are some other places, dry houses where they can't do drugs in the home. Veterans Services Counselor Roddy Sueoka asked if there's a shelter in Kona that's been trying to accommodate Veteran specific groups. Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson stated only one place she knows of is Hope Services but we may want to check with the Vet Centers because she knows from past experience from doing homeless standdowns, Vet Centers have a pretty good count on homelessness. But Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 5 the problem with Vet Centers, she doesn't know that information is shared appropriately to other groups. Other than Hope Services she is not familiar with what is going on for homeless Veterans. Mr. Nahakuelua replied there is another group called Mental Health Kokua (MHK) and they're a group home, they have in Kona. Supervisor's name is Milo (961-2054), can ask her how many veterans are in their facility. Ms. Lewis added to find out what they need. Mr. Wery added there was a woman from VA in Honolulu who was planning to create homes for homeless veterans. But he never hear anything else about it. Mr. Sueoka stated Jamal is supposed to be working on homeless population. Chair Doolittle replied we should identify what the scope of the problem is and what we might be able to do about it. What services are already functioning for us to have knowledge of what we're doing? George Sheridan suggested we should invite them to the meeting. Mr. Nahakuelua added Jamal Mayhew (sp?) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works with the VA for VASH. (896-3926). Ms. Lewis added Mark is an important resource also, he is a contractor who works primarily for National Guard but is available to work with any Veteran. But because of his experience he's a good resource. Are we allowed to have a separate meeting to consolidate this information? Are we allowed to have a sub -committee. We need an inventory of what we've got. Not necessarily a shortage of resources, but more matching the right group with the resources they need. Are we still struggling with getting people IDs? Chair Doolittle added Carolle spoke to Tulsi Gabbard and that was one of the subjects and she said she would do what she could to move that forward. Mr. Sueoka added it's taken care of. You can go on Rapids today and he just made an appointment for a Veteran. There's appointments open for the rest of the month. There are people on extra duty and tasked some people to man it. Ms. Lewis pointed out that from two meetings ago we got this solved. Chair Doolittle added going back to resources, the problem is a lack of consolidated directory of resources and agencies. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 6 Mr. Nahakuelua has access to a lot of resources and agencies and can get it to Chair Doolittle and he can get that list out to various people. Ms. Lewis added the idea is to have one session that lays out all the issues, homelessness, drug addiction, etc. and bring it together to have a systems integration. If we fix it for the Veterans piece, everyone can benefit from it. Hoping that by doing this, we can take care of the Veterans. The Vet Center is one that has a lot of information. But the problem is with HIPAA, they aren't able to share information so there's no way to connect people with resources. If they could sign a consent form that would allow access to certain information. We don't need the mental health information. Mr. Nahakuelua shared what he knows about consent forms, it is implied that you only share the information that is necessary and not all information. Chair Doolittle confirmed the Vet Center is Federal. We should be able to enlist them, bring them into our meeting and discuss what we can do, what we can share. This dovetails into town hall style meetings around the island. We can provide Veterans with a data resource as well as talking about other issues that we're not aware of. Ms. Lewis introduced that Puna Neighborhood had an integrated system for the lava flow and it was geared towards action items, what is the need. Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson stated there is a town hall meeting put on by Pacific Island Healthcare. Town hall meetings are supposed to be a resource information type of thing. Ms. Lewis asked Isaac Nahakuelua to talk about case management. Mr. Nahakuelua explained that interface would be a walk-in to the office or if they get arrested they go to Hale Hoola, the mental hospital in Hilo. They will have to go through Adult Mental Health Clinic for case management services. Care Hawaii is a case management service, they are a contractor of the State, they take overflow of the State. Mr. Sueoka mentioned that we just have to continue to connect dots. Ms. Lewis asked if Isaac sends her the list/information as a start, have we answered all of old business. Chair Doolittle confirmed yes, we have. Vietnam Memorial Mr. Wery brought up the Vietnam Memorial near the Wailoa Art Center, someone put flags and it's still there. There shouldn't be any flags there, you can put it up for an event but need to be removed after. The memorial is best when it is clean. They will be going there to remove the flags. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 7 VA Director Visit Mr. Sheridan asked if we can get the VA Director come down and talk to us. We want to make contact and set up meetings so they know what's going. Mr. Wery stated, sometimes they don't want to know what's going on. Mr. Sheridan agreed but they need to know what's going on so they can fix these issues. Mr. Sueoka mentioned, Wally Camp in Kona had a meeting with the Director about a month ago. He is accessible, he hears some of the issues. This meeting actually lends a bridge to the process it just takes time. Ms. Lewis mentioned we need to confirm with what we are wanting. What are these things that we are asking? Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson confirmed everything is all over the place. Chair Doolittle mentioned it would be to our benefit to have anyone who is in charge of Veteran's issues through the VA come in and talking to us. Mr. Sueoka said the Vet Centers role is rehab. As far as the separation of services, it depends on what we're asking. Mr. Nahakuelua suggested for case management services the priority is housing, medical and income. Maybe if we should focus on those three things, housing, medical and income. Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson asked if Veterans Services has to be included. Mr. Sueoka confirmed yes, Veterans Services takes care of benefits side. They connect the dots and they work on a little bit of everything. They have to work with all sides. Diane Ramsey is Kona OVS Counselor and she can help with all of those benefits. Ms. Lewis suggests that she at one time put together a field SOP. A little picket handbook for what you're supposed to do or where to find the information. There's a lot of data out there but it's not helpful. Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson introduced her own situation, she's going to have surgery, will spend a couple days in the hospital, a couple of weeks at Kona Life Care and then what? She lives alone, where does she go for help after she leaves those facilities? Mr. Nahakuelua suggested if anyone is over the age of 62, the Office of Aging can assist with chore services. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 8 Vice -Chair Brulee-Wilson added that she was told to contact the State who provides chore services, but again it's connecting the dots. Mr. Sueoka stated Barbara Fujimoto retired and there is someone new. Mr. Nahakuelua confirmed Kevin Iwasaki is the new person (934-3003). Mr. Sueoka stated Kevin signs off on aid and attendance. Carolle reiterated rural issues are important especially for Veterans who have serious medical conditions. Weekend Burials at West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery Minoru Hanato brought up when we started this committee he asked why weekend burials were stopped and County said can't do it because they don't have enough workers. In the past, weekend burials were convenient because families who come from far don't have to stay long. Families used to pay for the overtime charges. But we should start this again. Ms. Iyo explained that we may not necessarily be short staffed but that employees may not want to work overtime. Because overtime is not mandatory, if an employee declines to work the overtime there is no one to work. The County has specific staff assigned to the Veterans Cemeteries. If we ask other employees who are not assigned to the cemeteries to work the overtime, it could become a union issue. If anyone has any suggestions. Chair Doolittle explains working with P&R to remediate and if not possible, the committee can try to address this. Mr. Sueoka agreed that overtime can't be mandated. It is voluntary so no one can be required to work it. Ms. Lewis asked if the County has a program called "Retired Annuitants" where current workforce has dibs on overtime but you have retired employees who are willing to work if current employees deny. Ms. Iyo confirmed no, County does not have this program. Mr. Sueoka restated that it will become a union issue. Ms. Iyo spoke to Wally Camp who said he could find people who are willing to work, County employees. But then it triggers the union's involvement. But the retirees is something we could look into. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 9 Mr. Wery said the unions will not allow it. If there's someone else who's willing to do the work for free, a union member should be getting paid to do it. He doesn't agree with the unions but they won't allow it. Mr. Hanato stated there's a lot of County employees who are willing to do the work. Ms. Iyo stated, although there are a lot of people who are willing to do the work, the cemetery staff have a specific position description. Park Caretakers who are probably the one's willing to take the overtime have a different position description are not trained to do work at the cemeteries. Ms. Lewis confirmed, we need to find a viable solution and no is not an answer. She's worked with unions so it needs to be figured out. Ms. Iyo also explained that in 2016 the cemeteries were audited by the National Cemetery Association, Song Yi stated we are the only cemeteries in the nation that conduct weekend burials. Spoke to Ron Han who said, there are a couple of States who are conducting a pilot program to see if weekend burials are viable across the board. She will pass on the information when it becomes available. Mr. Sueoka also going back to the unions, if something takes place on the weekend, the union is coming back to say if something is done on the weekend, it's taking away from the employees doing this same job on the week day. He understands the struggle with families flying in and staying longer because the burials have be done on the weekday, but there is enough slotted times available during the week to do the burial during the week and not force the overtime on a Saturday. Chair Doolittle recommended adding this topic to the list of items we work on over the next 6 months to a year. Department of Veterans Affairs Van Drivers Needed Mr. Hanato introduced the need for van drivers to service veterans going to the clinic. Kona only has two drivers. There are four vans at the clinic with only two drivers. Some people don't want to drive because the requirements are so stringent. Mr. Wery confirmed the requirements are that way because of liability. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Hanto announced that the West Hawaii Council had a meeting this morning to have one location that CBOC and the Vet Center is in one place. So veterans can go to one central location. Mr. Wery announced he heard, CBOC is supposed to be moving into the old Urgent Care building on Mohouli Street in Hilo. Veterans Advisory Committee Minutes December 4, 2018 Page 10 NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for February 26, 2019. Ms. Lewis motioned to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Sheridan seconded the motion. Chair Doolittle confirmed meeting adjourned at 3:34 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 3ritt-ou iy Iyo- Secretary