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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/24/2011 Special Council Meeting� Y SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING August 24, 2011 The Special Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by the Council Chair at the Council Chambers, 3371 -A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 8:44 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair Excused: Honorable KipuKai Kuali'i Honorable Mel Rapozo APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Councilmember Chang moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by Councilmember Bynum, and unanimously carried. COMMUNICATIONS: C 2011 -240 Communication (08/16/2011) from the Director, Office of Economic Development, requesting agenda time to provide an update on the APEC 2011 Hawaii and the Iwaki Sister City Agreement. Chair Furfaro: Thank you. On that note, I'm going to ask that we accept these communications by suspending the rules and having a presentation by Mr. Costa from Economic Development. Mr. Costa the floor is yours. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. GEORGE COSTA, DIRECTOR OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Thank you. Aloha and good morning, Council Chair Furfaro and County Councilmembers, for the record George Costa, Director for the Office of Economic Development. Today I'm here to provide all of you with an update of APEC, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, what the Hawai'i Host Committee has been doing, what the Neighbor Island Committee has been doing with regards to APEC activities. With APEC 2011, Hawaii Leaders Week just a few months away in November will mean that the United States will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, for the first time in 18 years. Hosting will mean that the U.S. will organize various official meetings, informal meetings, bilateral meetings, media events, and the 2011 Leaders Meeting. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 2 - August 24, 2011 I would like to provide an update of the work that has been ongoing for more than a year. The APEC at the Administerial level, organized in 1989 and over the years APEC has grown to become one of the world's most important regional groupings. It is made up of 21 member economies, and accounts for 2.7 billion people, and represents approximately 54% of the world gross domestic product, and 44% of world trade. The 21 members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, People's Republic of China, Peru, Phillipines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. This slide is a good indication of what these 21 economies represent. In this slide, in 2009 out of 2 million international visitors to Hawaii, and this doesn't include the United States visitors, 88% came from APEC economies. APEC is not just the Leaders Week in November, APEC 2011 meetings take place throughout the United States during the year. The U.S. began its hosting duties last December in Honolulu, with the Informal Senior Officials Meeting. There are four main meetings in 2011, these meetings are called Senior Officials Meetings or SOMs, and approximately 1,000 -1,500 delegates will convene at each of these Senior Officials Meetings. The schedule for the SOMs are, they had a meeting back in February in Washington D.C., and then the second meeting was held in Big Sky, Montana, the third meeting will be held next month in San Fransisco, and then all culminating in Honolulu in November. Leaders week is compromised of 6 different meetings. APEC Business Advisory Council Meeting will be held from November 7 through the 9, then the concluding SOMs or Senior Officials Meetings will be held from November 8 to the 9, then Finance Ministers will have their meeting on November 10, then the APEC Ministerial Meetings will be held from November 9 through the 11. CEO Summit which includes CEO's from major companies throughout the 21 economies, they will have their meeting on November 11 through the 12, and again everything culminating during that week with the APEC Economic Leaders Summit on November 12 and 13. What does it mean to Hawaii? On the short term, over $120 million based on 15- 20,000 delegates support, support staff, and workforce participants along with the media. It'll give Hawaii much needed media exposure for the long term, economic development, increase access to capital, new investment, enhance trade. It'll also position Hawaii as a destination for high level and global meetings. And for our community, it'll initiate sustainable programs to benefit Hawaii after APEC 2011 is done. Key themes for APEC Hawaii, a place of discovery, connection, and the quality of life. Key industries are focusing on clean energy, ocean, earth, and sky sciences, health and life sciences, meetings, incentives, conventions, and events, SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 3 - August 24, 2011 otherwise now known as MICE. It's amazing to see the list of Hawaii companies that are being showcased in the areas of clean energy, ocean; earth, and sky sciences, and health and life sciences. For the MICE - Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events, Hawaii is truly playing the host role for APEC and will prove to the world that it can host and accommodate any type of meeting and has the natural host environment with the aloha spirit of its people. The Hawaii Host Committee works closely with the NSSE, which is the Homeland Security designation of National Special Security Event. Back in August 2010, the Homeland Security Department designated the November 2011 APEC Summit in Honolulu as the National Special Security Event or NSSE. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano informed former Governor Lingle, by letter, that the event had received a special status. The designation means that the event, which will be hosted by President Obama, and attended by numerous other Heads of State, will have its security plan overseen by the U.S. Secret Service. It also means that Federal Funds will offset some of the costs incurred locally. Former Governor Lingle was quoted as saying, "APEC allows us to maximize our resources to ensure that Hawaii is able to showcase our State to the international community as a high level business and meeting place for the Asia - Pacific Region." The other group that the Hawaii Host Committee works with is the NCAPEC or the National Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, and is the only U.S. business association focused exclusively on facilitating American private sector input to the APEC process. For Hawai'i's involvement there are as I mentioned earlier, various media opportunities, there are going to be media supplements, virtual exhibits at the Hawaii Convention Center displays, as well as tour activities throughout Honolulu. We're also hoping for pre and post convention opportunities, not so much the delegation that will be there totally focused on the Leaders week, but the entourage that follows or comes with the delegation, their support staff, the media's staff that comes with them. We're hoping that either before APEC leaders week or after APEC leaders week, they'll find their way to Kauai and the other neighbor islands. There's also a call for a lot of volunteer opportunities to work the APEC conference and also to help in the preparation of APEC. There's also going to be an Asia Pacific Business symposium and I'll talk about that a little later. Also call for stories. A lot of what we want to do here with APEC is develop relationships so that when APEC is long gone, it doesn't end there. We'll have these relationships with people and companies from these 21 economies to foster long lasting business relationships. And also there is the social media, Twitter and Facebook which you can go onto APEC 2011 Hawaii. I also have a handout there, 5 things your business can SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING_ - 4 - August 24, 2011 do to prepare for APEC 2011 that we've circulated to various businesses on Kauai and throughout the state. As I mentioned, there's also going to be business opportunities, there is an Asia Pacific Business symposium that'll be held on November 7 through the 11. It's sponsored by the Pacific Basin Economic Council East -West Center, and again the APEC Business Advisory Council. There is going to be a special edition of Hawaii Business Magazine that will focus on APEC and it will also showcase some of our business innovation showcase applicants and the finalist that are part of this initiative. The Honolulu Star Advertiser will also have a section dedicated to APEC. Then there will be virtual exhibits, again, at the Hawaii Convention Center, at Ala Moana Shopping Center, and at Honolulu International Airport. To include the neighbor islands, Barry Taniguchi who is part of the host committee and from Big Island, he's with KTA Superstores. He encouraged the host committee to get the neighbor islands involved and thank you to Barry who contacted myself and the other directors of the Offices of Economic Development from each county plus the City and County of Honolulu_ We came up with several initiatives, one of them being the business innovation showcase, which will recognize an awardee from each county and one from an overall state awardee. As part of the process we also formed the APEC 2011 Stakeholders Committee. Initially this was convened by former Councilmember Derek Kawakami back in December, and we've since been meeting once a month. Part of that committee is Randy Francisco - the Kauai Chamber, Sue Kanoho Visitor's Bureau, Mattie Yoshioka and Susan Tai - Kaneko of the Kaua'i Economic Development Board, Kirk Nakamoto - Bank of Hawaii, John Latkeiwicz with Small Business Development Center, Bruce Getzan - Kaua'i Community College, and your own Christiane Nakea - Tresler with Council Services. I just want to thank all of them for their dedication and time as we went through these various initiatives especially when we went through the whole business innovative showcase, not only reviewing the applicants, but doing the judging and coming up with the finalists. I really appreciated their help in that whole process. The Business Innovation Showcase for Kauai throughout the state was launched on May 3, a statewide announcement was made. The objective was to develop a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the four counties. This was to recognize leading edge innovation and achievement in Hawai'i's business community in order to reinforce Hawaii as a place of strong economic opportunities, and also to engage and involve Hawai is business in the APEC 2011 Hawai'i process. The showcase was open to all Hawaii businesses and organizations. The County recognition based on the number of registered businesses came up with a number of awards from each county. So based on that and the registrations with the SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 5 - August 24, 2011 DCCA, Kaua'i had up to three finalist awards that we could provide. Kauai County and Maui County each had six, and the City and County of Honolulu has 20 awards or finalists. For Kauai these were our applicants (refers to powerpoint slide). Aqua Engineers, Aunty Lilikoi, JCH Hawaii, Malie Inc., National Tropical Botanical Garden, Oceanit, Solipsys, Trailing Edge Technologies, and Trex. And I must say, I've known of all of these companies, some of them I've never taken a tour of their actual business and what they do. I've been very impressed that right here on Kaua'i we have some amazing technology that is locally grown. They are going to be featured in the upcoming Shanghai Media which I will discuss. The finalists out of the nine for Kauai are Aqua Engineers, Malie, and Trex. Last Monday, I went to Oahu and we combined the three from Kauai, the 12 from Maui and Big Island, and the 20 from City and County of Honolulu. We have come up with each island finalists and the overall state awardee, and that's going to be announced on September 6. So I'm sworn to secrecy. Any other case, any one of those three are very deserving of the award. We are going to have a celebration. Randy Francisco and Kauai Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Stephanie Iona and Waimea Plantation Cottages will host a business after hours event that will recognize the nine Kauai applicants and we will also recognize the three finalists. This event will take place on September 8. By then we'll know who the Kauai awardee will be and we'll also honor them at this event. You will all get a formal invitation but I just want to extend that invitation out to Council Chair and all of you to attend the event. Again that's September 8, right now I believe it'll start at five at Waimea Plantation Cottages. We also did the sister city initiative which was launched back in February and again the objective was to establish long lasting relationships with cities of the 21 APEC economies from both an economic and cultural perspective. For Kauai, Iwaki City, Japan was proposed. We've always had a long standing relationship and cultural exchange with Iwaki. We've had hundreds of hula dancers come to Kauai between 1996 and 2001 for the Kaua'i Hula Festival. In 1999 a commemorative hula tree planted at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall to honor Kumu Hula Kaleinani Hayakawa. If you haven't met her or know her story, it's a quite interesting one. The City of Iwaki was a mining town and back in the 60's as coal mining became harmful to the environment, and Iwaki is also known for its natural hot springs. The combination of mining and hot springs in that area didn't go well because a lot of the mines would fill up with water. That plus the fact that the mining industry had to shut down. The Joban Company that ran the mines had this innovative idea to create this Hawaiian Resort. Iwaki, if you look at Japan, it's situated right in the middle of Japan. It was quite an idea and quite an SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 6 - August 24, 2011 undertaking. They built this Spa Resort Hawaiian, a Hawaiian Resort with a big covered stadium or event center where they have an indoor water park, they have hula shows. I had the good fortune of attending or staying at Iwaki and it's an amazing place because they pump Hawaiian music. I took omiyagi and macadamia nut candies and when I got there in the lobby, they have more Hawaiian items than we have here in Hawaii. It's really amazing. We think it's a really good fit, at this time, to enter into a sister city agreement since we've had this long lasting relationship with Iwaki. The former Mayor of Iwaki, Mayor Shike, also planted a tree at the convention hall. Iwaki, Japan's tenth largest city, population estimated to be about 350,000, again it was a forming mining town. Influx of 7.6 million visitors. On September 11, we will be hosting a delegation of six Iwaki city officials that are coming here to Kauai for a sister city agreement. We're looking forward to a positive agreement later on today. The delegation will later on travel to Honolulu for the APEC and Asia Pacific Clean Energy Conference summit and expo where we'll have the reception on September 13. Again an invitation is going out to Chair Furfaro and all of you if you can attend the reception of September 13 and then the official signing on September 14 at the Hawaii Convention Center. Besides Iwaki for Kauai, the other City and County of Honolulu has Chengdu, China as their sister city, Maui is going to have an agreement with Seo -gu, South Korea, and Hawaii County, Ormoc, Phillipines. The Shanghai Media Fam tour will be here between September 14 and the 16th. They will arrive on the late afternoon of the 14th, they will be going out to Waimea Plantation Cottages where they'll be staying overnight. Then the next day, hopefully visiting as much as four or five of the companies I have mentioned, some of the finalists for our business innovation showcase. It'll give the Shanghai media not only an opportunity to tour some of these innovative companies but also to experience Kauai itself. They're here for a short period but we want to take advantage as much as possible the exposure for Kauai. 1, myself and the Kauai Stakeholders had to really lobby to get the Shanghai Media because the Beijing Media Fam Tour came through a few weeks ago, they were very enamored with not only the research facilities of University of Hawaii on Oahu, but when they got to the Big Island, it's got the Mauna Kea Observatories, the renewable energy facilities, Nelha in Kona and they got their own wind farm. That's what they're looking for right now, is a lot of these renewable technology based companies. We lobbied hard that Kauai has its own story to tell so we were fortunate enough to be included on the media. They will go back to... actually the Media Fam Tour will be there during the Asia Pacific Clean Engery Summit. They're going to be touring the UH research facilities and on the 14th right after the sister city ceremony I'm going to leave and return with the Shanghai Media and be with them on the 141h 15th, and then when they leave on the 16th they'll be going to SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 7 - , August 24, 2011 the Big Island. I guess I'm happy to say their Big Island portion was cut short so that the Kauai portion was extended. More information for those out there in the viewing community, there is the APEC website — APEC2011hawaii.com. I encourage all of you out there to go to the website, there's a lot of information on it, a lot of stories have been posted. There's a lot more to happen between now and November when APEC is here. Social media Twitter and Facebook.. Gregg Yamanaka, President /CEO of the Hawaii Host Committee and also here's some additional information on how to obtain for APEC 2011 (refers to power point presentation slide). Mahalo. Chair Furfaro: George it was a really nice presentation and I just want to say if you have an opportunity you might want to put there were 12 page 15's. So September 6, we can't get it out from you until September 6. Mr. Costa: No. I've been sworn to secrecy. And I know the finalists are also calling wanting to know where they stand. I've had to say they have to wait till September 6. Chair Furfaro: Members do you have any questions for George? Thank you very much for the presentation George, thank you very much. Mr. Bynum? Mr. Bynum: I don't have a question, I just have a comment if that's okay. I just want to thank you for the presentation and your involvement. You got a great job George. Involved in so many important things for Kauai and the sister city relationship makes a lot of sense, it's amazing to me the cultural exchange particularly around hula between Kauai and Japan and how many people in Japan probably have way more hula dancers than we do in Hawaii. Mr. Costa: A million. A million hula dancers in Japan. My understanding is you have to be well off to be in a halau because it's like golf. I guess it costs money to be in a halau. Mr. Bynum: So Iwaki City is the heart of that. I think this is a good move for us and I just don't think people of Kauai understand how big hula is in Japan, it's huge. That's all to our mutual benefit, thanks for a great presentation. Mr. Costa: You're welcome. Chair Furfaro: Just on a note before I recognize ... I would like to ask Councilmember Chang who's the Chairman of Economic Development and SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 8 - August 24, 2011 Councilmember Kuali'i, who's the Chair of Intergovernmental Relations, I would like to make sure we have some continuity with the Council Representation, since representative Kawakami has moved on to his new duties. I would suggest if you have a talk with these two gentlemen, once of them might step forward and take that piece because our representative from our staff is on maternity leave. I would like to make sure you have a conduit to the Council. Mr. Costa: Okay, thank you. Chair Furfaro: Any other questions? Mr. Chang. Mr. Chang: Chairman thank you very much for that suggestion. I actually wanted to be a part of that, but I realized that when the Shanghai contingent comes in I don't speak Chinese, I thought I would fit right in there, but I don't speak Chinese, so I can't do any interpretations. George, thank you very much for the presentation. You were mentioning also that you folks were also pursuing a sister city with Russia? Can you tell us about how that conversation went? Mr. Costa: Initially when I attended my first APEC meeting, and the idea of a sister city initiative came up, my counterparts thought it would be a great idea that Kauai adopt Vladivostok, Russia. One, because we have the Russian Fort, and there's history with the Russian country or economy, but also the 2012 APEC Conference will be held in Vladivostok so we thought it would be natural to do that. With Mayor Carvalho, we sent out, extended an invitation to the Mayor of Vladivostok back in February and we tried very hard, but finally he responded in April and said because of the planning for APEC, he really doesn't have the time. Interestingly enough, you saw the other sister cities from the other counties, everyone had a different city initially, and I guess sister cities aren't that easy to arrange especially with some of these countries... like a year of process. Maui just got their agreement last week, right acknowledgments right now they're going through the process of getting the actual agreement. But that's how the Russian idea came up. Mr. Chang: Perhaps we can continue that attempt after 2013 or 2014. Mr. Costa: That would be a good idea. Vladivostok, I've always heard of Vladivostok, but once we were actually looking at it becoming a sister city, it's a quite interesting city. They're pouring a lot of money into Vladivostok on the infrastructure and I believe they're building the world's longest suspension bridge to connect one of the islands in the harbor. Interesting. Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Nakamura. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 9 - August 24, 2011 Ms. Nakamura: Hi George thanks for the presentation and thank you for being an advocate for businesses and non - profits here on Kaua'i. I think the more exposure we can bring to Kauai businesses through the APEC process, the better it is for this island's economy and the more that we can export our creative knowledge. I think it will benefit our economy at home, so thank you. Mr. Costa: You're welcome. Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Yukimura. Ms. Yukimura: I also want to thank you for the report and for your advocacy for Kauai and for getting the Shanghai team over here. I think that's a big connection to make and it's nothing like having people actually present to experience Kaua'i. It's hard to really convey it to them unless they come here, so thank you for that. I wanted to ask about our sister city strategy. In terms of, I think Iwaki is a fabulous fit, and is a continuation on a long standing relationship that we've had, but I'm concerned about our ability to service our sister cities that we have. Do we have a strategy about it of how many we add, or what criteria we use for deciding where we go with it? Mr. Costa: I've been personally involved with the Laoag city which was done last year and now Iwaki. I'm not too familiar with the strategy. For Iwaki, being a part of the APEC Host Committee and the idea of Russia, I thought that was a great idea and I don't know if it's still valid, but at one point there was a Russian businessman that was looking at helping to restore the Russian Fort and he was willing to spend some money there. That was the other point, we thought, this would be a good opportunity to connect with Russia. When that didn't materialize, for me, I thought from a strategic perspective, one Iwaki because we've had this long standing relationship and there are opportunities on the economic side with hula, there's an idea right now circulating about an international hula event. Again with our relationship with Kaleinani Hayakawa but also because this would be during the Asia - Pacific Clean Energy Summit, we thought it would be good for the Iwaki Contingent to be a part of that and share some of their experiences with what happened with the nuclear power plant. I think it's only fitting that we focus more on the renewable side of energy and how the nuclear power plants are something.... here's a live situation where they can share it with the rest of the world while at the Clean Energy Summit. We thought that would be a good combination at this point in time. In looking at some of the other sister cities and with the counties, we all agreed that we try and select a different country because, believe me, China is another one for an opportunity. I understand where you're coming from as far as having many too many sister cities that we can't service them or accommodate them, but also maybe going forward for Korea or China because that's where a lot of the opportunities are going to come from. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -10- August 24, 2011 Ms. Yukimura: Yes. I think it might be useful to discuss with those involved in sister city relationships what the major criteria for selecting a sister city should be. There's the issue of tourism and the potential for tourism, for business exchange, for cultural exchange.You can't do it with everyone so where would we get the most in terms of what we want for our island. I want to say the idea of an international hula gathering of sorts makes a lot of sense. I'm aware that Puna Dawson has done a lot of work internationally, and Roselle Bailey, kumu hulas, these are kumu hulas, Leilani Bond. Mr. Costa: Kapu Alquiza, they're all going to Japan. Ms. Yukimura: And it's not just Japan, there's Europe, just a lot of connections, so that's a thought, although it will take a lot for travel. That's part of our business and they certainly know how to do it, those who have been involved in it. Thank you. Mr. Costa: You're welcome. Chair Furfaro: Members, any other questions for Mr. Costa? No? George again, thank you very much, I do want to make special note to the Councilmembers that the event on September 14 in Honolulu, we have also made the 14th available for councilmembers to travel because that is the week as we begin to move from this facility to the new facility that we do not have a council meeting that day. Just, members that would like to participate with the actual event in Honolulu on the 14th, it is not an invitation just to Chair, I believe it's an opportunity for all members so I just wanted to point that out to you folks, the 14th seems to be a pretty flexible day. Any further questions? If not, Mr. Costa, thank you, very, very much. I believe it is our intent to receive this item for now. Are you handling the communication 234, the actual narrative before we get to the resolution on the sister city status? Mr. Costa: I'm here to speak to that Iwaki City agreement. Chair Furfaro: Well why don't we then receive your presentation after I ask for public comment first. So let me see if there's any public comment, if we can see a raise of hands. We do have. So this is item number 240, Mr. Mickens. GLENN MICKENS: Thank you Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens. I want to thank George for his kind presentation, he always does a great job, I really appreciate that. My only question is, I presume that arranging these sister cities is to promote tourism, that's what I presume. The basic reason is? a , SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 11 - August 24, 2011 Chair Furfaro: That could be part of it, but there's also an opportunity, for example, we have sister city relationship with the village of Papeno'o in Tahiti. And that is not so much of a visitor industry promotion as it is a cultural one. Papeno'o valley has over 18 major maori in the valley that crosses over, very similar to Wailua NVI as we have here that has a number of significant maori and heiau. So it could be a cultural piece too. Mr. Mickens: Okay. I appreciate that. My one question is, which I asked Sue Kanoho one other time, she said she was going to get those statistics for me, is, what is the income and outgo of this thing. Regarding the tourism part of this thing, is the tourism persons that are coming here equal to whatever our outgo is here? Whether the Mayor takes trips to the city, or what the entourage going over to these places is going to be to promote the tourism. I just want to see if we can get the figures on this, whether in fact is you're a business person Jay, whether we're getting the proper bang for our buck, that's all. Chair Furfaro: You know, I will provide you, within a week, I'll provide you with the actual list of the 15 cities and whether they are visitor industry connected, cultural connected, or so forth. But I think you should pose your question on the measurement of those ratios to George, who can coordinate something with Sue for you. But I'll get you the list of those cities. Mr. Mickens: Thank you Jay. Chair Furfaro: Anyone else would like to testify on this item? Mr. Taylor. KEN TAYLOR: Chair, members of the Council my name is Ken Taylor. Sorry I got here late in George's presentation. I want to first relay a note I got from the unofficial mayor of Kapa'a, Kimo Rosen. He said, enough of sister cities, he wants a brother. So anyway, that's from the unofficial mayor of Kapa'a. I guess I have a problem with this particular site at this point in time. I know this area is about 30 miles from the meltdown of the nuclear power plants in Japan, and they certainly need help. I don't know if making them a sister city is really the kind of help they need at this moment. The earthquake was very devastating on the community as I understand it, and the radiation problems that they're faced with there is horrendous, and their beaches have been closed down for the next year or so. I think, I really think, if we want to put our hands out and help this community we should be doing it in a much different way, and I know with our economy the way it is, it's not easy to financially help in any way, but there has to be something that's more beneficial to them than just signing a resolution, making them a sister city or maybe a brother city. I think the comment that George made in the latter part in his comments, maybe it would be at this point in time more beneficial to look at something in SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -12- August 24, 2011 South Korea or China and I hope that good decision making will prevail and we'll go in that direction at this point in time. Thank you very much. Chair Furfaro: Thank you Ken, and ,I do want to say that the values we share here are also very difficult to measure in the sister cities. Obviously there's the value of 'Ghana, the value that talks about the mutual spirit of getting things done. There's also the value of a'o, to learn from these, we've become a very global community and there is tragedy in that community that we all need to learn from. Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item? I'll call the meeting back to order, and what I'm looking for is a motion to receive this item so we can move on to the second item listed. There being no objections, the meeting was called back to order and proceeded as follows: Ms. Nakamura moved to receive C 2011 -240, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously carried for the record. Chair Fufaro: Thank you. Mr. Clerk I believe we have a second communication coming up to the actual resolution. C 2011 -234 Communication (08/05/2011) from the Mayor, transmitting for Council consideration, a proposal to enter into a sister -city relationship with Iwaki City, Japan. Ms. Yukimura moved to receive C 2011 -234 for the record, seconded by Ms. Nakamura. The motion to receive C 2011 -234 for the record was then put, and unanimously carried. Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone in the audience that wants to testify on this before we actually get to the resolution to vote? Seeing no one, members, I would like to have an acknowledgment to receive this item before we actually go to the resolution, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Thank you. Mr. Clerk can we now read the resolution. RESOLUTIONS: Resolution No. 2011 -66, RESOLUTION INVITING THE CITY OF IWAKI, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN, TO ENTER INTO A SISTER -CITY 4 .. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING - 13 - August 24, 2011 RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Before I take a vote and comments from the members, is there anyone in the audience that wants to actually speak on the resolution? Seeing no one, members... Councilmember Bynum moved to approve the Resolution, seconded by Vice Chair Yukimura. Chair Furfaro: Is there any further discussion before we actually vote by roll call on accepting the City of Iwaki as a sister city? Councilmember Chang. Mr. Chang: Thank you Council Chair Furfaro. I had a conversation with George a while back, and I was actually surprised because I actually thought that Iwaki City was our sister city for many many years. If you look down at the sister city initiative, we talk about hundreds if not thousands of dancers came to Kaua'i from 1996 to 2001. Obviously they've been loyal to us because those were the years following the hurricane and we still were rebuilding. And of course we have the dates from 1996 to 2001, we all know 911 hit and that changed the global travel with everyone, but they've been very loyal. If I'm not mistaken I believe that was at the tree planting in '99 and 2001 and we talk about the hundreds of lwaki visitors that come and perform in our various cultural events and most recently the Matsuri Festival. It might be a part to measure why we're doing what we're doing, but they've just been extremely loyal people and for us to acknowledge them in their trials and difficult times, it's very interesting because the contingent is going to come here on September 11 and September 11 is when we're celebrating the remembrance of the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Iniki. When we think about their own ... we had 911, they had 311, so when they come here, it's going to be six months after that catastrophe. Six months after our catastrophe, we hadn't even opened up our first hotel, that being the Grand Hyatt back then. So I think it's immeasurable that we respect them because they were there for us when we were going through difficulty, and for us to be in front and sharing our aloha and thinking that we can also relate and we won't forget. As we all know, years and years to rebuild, but I believe their loyalty will reflect off of our loyalty and aloha spirit because when we needed the help, those of us that were here, we all remember where we were specifically at 911 and those were some of the first friends that came to our aid, so I think we're going to be really happy with this relationship. Thank you Chairman. Chair Furfaro: Thank you Mr. Chang. Councilmember Nakamura then Mr. Bynum. Ms. Nakamura: I'll be supporting this resolution. I also think that it would be helpful to work with the business community to identify criteria that r i SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -14- August 24, 2011 would be used in the future. Also, for myself because I'm new to the Council, to understand what it means in the long run when we have a sister city relationship what that means and what we're committing to. I think it will be good to begin that discussion with the business community about what criteria we should be looking out in the future as we establish these relationships. Chair Fur faro: Mr. Chang, as I'm hearing that request, maybe that would be something you would like to have as a workshop within the Economic Development rather than recreate the wheel. Revisit the different segmentations of why we have cultural economic benefits, historical, so it's a good point. Thank you very much, Mr. Bynum you have the floor. Mr. Bynum: I'm proud to support this resolution, and I think the comments from councilmembers about, let's revisit why we do this and what the real mutual benefits are, and how do we establish the criteria of how our new cities get....My own observation over 5 years is it's kind of the Mayor's initiative and Mayor Baptiste was pursuing a sister city relationship with Portugal given its historic prominence in our community. I don't think that ever came to fruition, but from observing this over the years, I see real value in this sister city relationships, and Iwaki City is logical. I recognize Mr. Taylor's comments that Japan has been through a really difficult time, in particular in this the area of Japan, and there's some, I don't think people really perceive how serious the release of radiation was for Japan and the long term consequences. On the other hand, that's reason to try to normalize relationships and get back to business as usual so to speak. I would hate to say — "well geez, we're going to decline this invitation because you had a natural disaster," or if it's the other way around. Just to acknowledge the people of Hawaii who have really gone above and beyond to provide aid and benefit like we received as Councilmember Chang points out. So this makes a lot of sense to me. But I'll look forward to a follow up saying, what are these relationships about, how are they mutually beneficial, and I don't know the answer to how do we make the decisions about where we expand this kind of exchange. Thanks. Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Yukimura did you have anything you wanted to share. Ms. Yukimura: As I said previously I think this is a very logical relationship to have and it acknowledges the long standing relationship we've had. The connections we have both culturally and as Councilmember Chang pointed out now in terms of responding to natural disasters or human made disasters. I'm happy to vote for this. I do think it's raised the questions about our overall policy with respect to sister cities and it is a good opportunity to maybe look at establishing a formal policy that articulates the values we look for when we establish relationships and the kind of commitments we make in terms of servicing those relationships so that they become meaningful to us. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -15- August 24, 2011 It's wonderful for the people who go on these exchanges, but how do we make that connection available to our wider community. I was just brainstorming in my mind, how could we maybe make a little unit for schools so that when we have these visitors that come, students can recognize where they are on the map or learn different things, just different ways of deepening the relationship. i think this discussion'on this table has been good, and I appreciate the work that Economic Development has done. I'm ready to vote. Chair Furfaro: I too. I think to be ma'a, and familiar with why we do things particular things with these community that there is an economic connection, a cultural connection, a historic connection. Everybody recognizes we have the Russian American fur company here, but very few people realize that there's actually 3 forts on Kauai — there's Fort Barkley in Waioli, there is also the fact that relationship was done before Oregon and Washington were states, and they were still Russian territories before the change ... that there was a fur trading triangle that connected Alaska with the West Coast of the U.S. and Hawai'i as a safe port. As if those are connections with Tahiti which are very significantly cultural, but we also have history of families whether it's the Turbivilles, the Dudoit, the Duvauchelles, very few people realize that the valleys in Kilauea was actually consulate lease for the French Consulate in Hawaii. So we have those kinds of historical connections as well as cultural as well as economic. I think on the recommendation from Councilwoman Nakamura, Mr. Chang, it might be wise for you to spearhead an initiative for an economic benefit. Today we do have 15 sister cities and I'll make sure that I share that list with you, but your question should be directed really at George at this point in time. But I'll get you that list Mr. Mickens. We have so many pieces that we also need to keep alive. It's good for our stewardship with these people who have migrated and have become part of our island community. So on that note, this is going to be a Resolution by voice vote I believe. Roll call. Mr. Clerk we have a motion, a second, and lets call for the roll call. County Clerk: This is for approval of Resolution 2011 -66. The motion for approval of resolution was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Yukimura, Furfaro TOTAL — 5, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuah'i, Rapozo TOTAL — 2. Chair Furfaro: This will bring our Special Council Meeting to a close. We're going to take a 10 minute break, when we come back, we'll go into our scheduled Committee Meetings. So we are on a 10 minute recess. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING -16- August 24, 2011 ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:01 a.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /il I