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COUNCIL MEETING
February 29, 2012
The Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to
order by the Council Chair at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building,
4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at
9:32 a.m., and the following members answered the call of the roll:
Tim Bynum
Dickie Chang
Nadine K. Nakamura
Mel Rapozo
JoAnn A. Yukimura
Jay Furfaro, Council Chair
EXCUSED: Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i
APPROVAL OF AGENDA.
Mr. Bynum moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by
Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried.
MINUTES of the following meetings of the Council:
Council Goal Setting Workshop of January 24, 2012
Special Council Meeting of January 25, 2012
Special Council Meeting of February 8, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: Question first, Mr. Chair. Just in terms of the Goal
Setting Workshop, are we expecting at any time to adopt the goals we developed? I
am not clear how we were going to follow up with this.
Council Chair Furfaro: I understand your point. My thought on this is
that when we approve those minutes for the workshop, we are, in fact, recognizing
the goals that we set in those meetings. But if you feel that you would like to
postpone this so we can have an open discussion on goals, I have no problem with
that either.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, just for expedience sake, could we just defer
the Goal Setting Workshop Minutes and then talk about how we are going to
coordinate adoption. Because these are minutes, they are different than adopting
the goals themselves.
Council Chair Furfaro: I understand your point. So we will defer this item
if I can get a motion as such and then we will reschedule this in a discussion
communication.
Ms. Yukimura: With your permission then, could we just take
number one, and then two and three together?
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes.
COUNCIL MEETING - 2 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura moved for deferral of the Minutes of the Council Goal Setting
Workshop of January 24, 2012, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously
carried.
Ms. Yukimura moved for approval of the Minutes of the Special Council
Meetings of January 25, 2012 and February 8, 2012 as circulated, seconded
by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried.
Council Chair Furfaro: The next item is our Consent Calendar. We have
five items on the Consent Calendar. This is a change in our rules allowing anyone
in attendance at the start of the meeting up to three minutes to comment on any
items on the Consent Calendar. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to
speak on the agenda items identified in the Consent Calendar under Section E.
Ms. Yukimura: Just a point of inquiry, Chair. Is it not on any
matter on the whole agenda?
Council Chair Furfaro: You did that the same time last week to me. I ask
for the Consent Calendar first and then I will ask on the rest of the agenda. So
there are five items identified on the Consent Calendar. Thank you for pointing
that out, but I think procedurally that is the way I would like to approach it.
Anyone who wants to speak on the five items on the Consent Calendar?
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Council Chair Furfaro: Come right up, please. Welcome this morning, you
just need to introduce yourself.
VALERIE FREITAS: Hi, I am Valerie Freitas. _ I am here representing
our Neighborhood Watch Group in Kalaheo. This is on Opu Road. We have had
several active members over the years, and we had been researching for the past
two years a reduction in speed limit on our road. And if you are not familiar with
Opu Road, it is mauka side of the main highway at the stoplight in Kalaheo Town.
It is a short, dead end... a loop road actually. There is a small side street that takes
off at the top and comes back in. But it is the nature of the road that deems it
necessary to lower the speed limit. We have many pedestrians because it is such a
convenient area, close to town. It is the hub of Kalaheo. You have the bus stop,
Post Office, church, stores, a doctor's office, and the Neighborhood Center. It is all
right there. A lot of people would like to walk, but because of the nature of the
road —there is no shoulder, it is narrow, it is winding, there is a series of S -turns up
and down a hill —it makes it really hazardous for pedestrians to travel that short
little walk to town. So we are asking for, and we found out that we do qualify for, a
20- mile -an -hour speed limit. And we did put together a petition. We got about
50 signatures in just the 60 homes that are in that area. We found out, through a
County engineer Paul Togioka who was very helpful and knowledgeable, that we
may or may not be able to have speed humps in the upper section, which is actually
the only straight area in that whole neighborhood before you hit the dead end
portion. But when I was going through the neighborhood and getting the
signatures, it was unanimous that people were asking for speed humps. Everyone I
went to said, "Oh, can we get a speed hump here because in this area they really
drive fast." So I am putting that out there, even though the likelihood may be
small, it does not hurt to ask. But the 20- mile -an -hour speed limit seems
reasonable because the speed limit in Kalaheo Town is 25 miles an hour, that is on
the main highway, and because this is not a through street, it is just a short, maybe
two - minute in- and -out dead end road, we feel that a 20- mile -an -hour speed limit is
reasonable and for the safety of the neighborhood. And we also are talking about
COUNCIL MEETING 3 February 29, 2012
passing out flyers to announce this new speed limit change. Being that not
everybody was home when we got the signatures, everybody could certainly get a
flyer in their mailbox, something to the nature of "attention, there has been a
reduction in speed limit on our road, please observe and obey for the safety of our
neighborhood," and everybody thought that was a great idea. That is our plan, and
we think better signage and placement of the signs would also be helpful. And that
is it, thank you very much.
Council Chair Furfaro: Valerie, there is no interaction on the topic, but I do
want you to know that the matter has been submitted to us in the form of a
resolution, which will be voted on later today.
Ms. Freitas: Great.
Council Chair Furfaro: So the Engineering Department has heard you, and
they have made a presentation to us on this resolution. You may want to stay
behind. We are going to get an update from the Hanalei Community on the speed
bump successes, and they will be next on the agenda.
Ms. Freitas: Oh, thank you, I would like to hear that. Mahalo.
Council Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else who would like to speak on the
Consent items? Is there anyone who would like to speak on any item on the
agenda? Mr. Taylor, come right up. Ken, if you would introduce yourself and make
reference to us what agenda item you are going to speak on.
KEN TAYLOR: Right. Chair and Members of the Council, my
name is Ken Taylor. I want to speak briefly on ES -528, your executive session item
for later today that is to allow Council to consult with the County Attorney on
questions and issues pertaining to the authority of the Mayor and the Police
Commission to hire, evaluate, dismiss, and discipline the Chief of Police. I am here
for a particular reason. I strongly feel that the Mayor has been out of line in what
he has done. I am certainly not trained in any legal activities, but the Charter, to
me, is very clear. My feeling is this: the County Attorney's Office has issued, to my
understanding, a recommendation that allows the Mayor to move forward as he has
done. I believe that you folks should hire outside counsel to deal with this issue. I
do not believe, first of all, that an Attorney's Office can serve two masters. I also do
not believe that the... since the Attorney has advised the Mayor that he has this
authority, you folks have the ability to hire outside counsel to have this issue
evaluated and moved forward in a proper manner. I just find it very difficult. You
cannot have the guard of the chicken house telling you what the rules and
regulations are for guarding the chicken house. It just does not work that way and I
hope that you have the courage to resolve this problem. I think it should be done as
quickly as possible, but I do not believe that it should be done without outside
counsel, and I mean outside counsel, someone from Honolulu. I hope that is where
you will go. Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you for your comments on that subject
matter. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak on any
agenda item on today's calendar? If not, members, I would like us to come back and
vote to move to receive the Consent Calendar.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
COUNCIL MEETING 4 February 29, 2012
CONSENT CALENDAR:
C 2012 -57 Communication (02/10/2012) from the Chief, Building Division,
transmitting for Council information, the Monthly Report on Building Permit
Information for the month of January 2012, which includes the following:
• Building Permit Processing Report
• Building Permit Estimated Value Summary
• Building Permits Tracking Report
• Building Permits Status
Mr. Rapozo moved to receive C 2012 -57 for the record, seconded by
Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
C 2012 -58 Communication (02/13/2012) from the County Engineer,
transmitting for Council consideration, a traffic resolution repealing Resolution
No. 54 -91, Section XIII, items 25 and 33 (25 miles per hour in the Koloa District)
and establishing a new maximum speed limit of 20 miles per hour along the entire
length of Maikai Street and Opu Road, Koloa District: Mr. Rapozo moved to receive
C 2012 -58 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
C 2012 -59 Communication (02/13/2012) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council information, the Period 6 Financial Reports — Statement of
Revenues as of December 31, 2011, for Fiscal Year 2012, pursuant to Section 21 of
the Operating Budget Ordinance (B- 2011 -732), County of Kaua`i: Mr. Rapozo
moved to receive C 2012 -59 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
C 2012 -60 Communication (02/14/2012) from Councilmember Nakamura,
providing written disclosure on the record of a possible conflict of interest relating
to C 2012 -54, because her spouse, Galen Nakamura, provided legal consultation to
the parties involved in this matter, and thus is recusing herself from discussing or
participating in the decision making regarding C 2012 -54: Mr. Rapozo moved to
receive C 2012 -60 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
C 2012 -61 Communication (02/16/2012) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a resolution providing for the issuance of
special tax revenue bonds for public facilities relating to County of Kaua`i
Community Facilities District No. 2008 -1 (Kukui`ula Development Project), for the
purpose of funding the costs of public facilities relating to the District, including the
costs of the Kaneiolouma Heiau Complex restoration project, public parking,
improvements for Po`ipu Beach Park, and the Koloa — Po`ipu Complete Streets
Initiative through the issuance of special tax revenue bonds payable solely from and
secured solely by special taxes levied on taxable properties within the District
pursuant to Chapter 26 and certain funds held in trust for the bondholders under
the bond indenture: Mr. Rapozo moved to receive C 2012 -61 for the record,
seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
COMMUNICATIONS:
C 2012 -62 Communication (02/14/2012) from Richard Parks, requesting
agenda time to provide the Council with a follow -up on the effectiveness of the
"Speed Table Traffic Calming" installation on Weke Road after five (5) years of
service and of its value to the community: Mr. Rapozo moved to receive C 2012 -62,
seconded by Ms. Yukimura.
COUNCIL MEETING 5 February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: We have Mr. Parks here and I would like to start
by saying good morning and thank you for all of your diligence over the last
five years, and we are here to hear from you on a communication like a progress
report. The rules are suspended, and Mr. Parks, you have the floor.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
RICHARD PARKS: For the record my name is Richard Parks from
Hanalei. Before I start, I have a sheet that makes a correction on two typos that
this former 32 -year teacher made and I am embarrassed, but I was in a hurry
two weeks ago to get this...I was coming to town and I wanted to get here, and then
I realized, oh my gosh.
Council Chair Furfaro: I will get someone from the staff.
Mr. Parks: These are the third sheet of the paper that is in
front of you. I assume that you have the photographs that I furnished, you have
copies of that in front of you. These photos were taken about six weeks ago, and the
speed tables are even worse at this time because as more sand is pushed
underneath, both in front of the Black Pot speed table —and by the way if I may
make a correction, call them speed tables, you will get a lot farther because tables
are flat on the top, and humps and bumps are really a misnomer. Humps and
bumps are a thing of the past, and that is important to understand when it comes to
engineering for speed calming, and so on that the tables have proved to be less
negative in response to cars being thrown off track and so on. So, with that in
mind, on the second page, if you will, is a chronological summation of a history of
the Weke Road Speed Table Program, and a Request for Maintenance and Repair of
these traffic calming mechanisms. As you see, in 1998 two of us, Ms. Candi La Cour
and myself, started researching and getting this going. We began in 2001 the
process of working in concert with the County to establish a pilot program, and may
I recommend to the lady sitting behind me and to the Council, honestly, I think
things are not quite as difficult to digest if you really seriously start out with a pilot
program in each area that you may decide to put these in, because then that leaves
you some jiggle room to make corrections and adjustments and tweaking certain
things, or maybe pulling them out altogether. But a pilot program, I would highly
recommend for a lot of the traffic calming devices. Put them in, see how it works, it
does not, pull them or adjust them. And that comes from my experience with the
Weke Road situation. We had to make one adjustment because the County put the
last one in right in front of someone's driveway, even though it was marked do not
put it there. They had to unbolt and move it, but it was moveable, so that was the
point.
In May 2006, the County Council unanimously passed a resolution to install
the speed tables under the guidelines of the pilot program In December 2006, the
final speed table was installed, and we began the pilot program. I remember I did a
six -month appearance to the Council at that time to let you know how things were
going; it was thumbs up. And present day, as of February this year, after five years
of unquestionable service through total health, safety, and property damage
protection for all users of Weke Road, we request, as soon as possible, maintenance
and repair of these valuable safety devices as they are in serious disrepair, and I
have furnished the photos for you.
On the next page is a speed table...
Council Chair Furfaro: Excuse me.
COUNCIL MEETING 6 February 29, 2012
Mr. Parks: I am sorry.
Council Chair Furfaro: Have you provided those photos to the Engineering
Department? Do they have a set?
ahead.
Mr. Parks: This morning, yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: Just this morning. Okay, thank you. Go right
Mr. Parks: And I wish to thank whoever informed the
Engineering Department before I got there. Whoever did it, thank you. I got there
this morning, he was already aware, and he called me yesterday or the day before
on the phone and we talked. So things are moving faster than they did for me for
five years of working to get these things. So I wanted to thank whoever let the
Department of Public Works in on it.
And this is a Service Record from December 2006 to now, which is
approximately five years. This is not padded. When I first approached the Council,
I told you I had sat for three days with one of those little clickers under an umbrella
at the end of my driveway counting, and I said there were a thousand cars a day
that went up and down in front of my driveway. It was disbelief. It was hard for
me to believe there were that many.
Council Chair Furfaro: I do not think it was total disbelief, but we thank
you for your numbers.
Mr. Parks: Well, it proved out that I was almost spot -on.
Times 365 days a year, you see the calculations, that is 365,000 vehicle trips per
year up and down Weke Road to Black Pot Park. In five years' time folks, that is an
astronomical figure, 1,800,000 rounded off, give or take a couple hundred thousand;
that is a whole bunch of cars. Okay, so my point is this: those traffic calming
devices have served taking a lot of abuse, served the community extremely well. As
it says there, the great reduction in road and engine tire noise because speed is
reduced; there is no racing and exhibition speed and so on; there have been no
telephone poles, which I had to jack up. I told you a long time ago when I was going
through this that I had to go out with a block and tackle system and extension
ladder, and lasso a telephone pole, and rope it down to a palm tree until Kaua`i
Utility could get out and replace the pole. We had two of those. We had 760 feet of
lineal fencing torn out, three dead dogs (one knocked 60 feet through the air), a
whole lot of near and a couple of actual altercations between people walking and
people racing (me one of them), and I got tired of that, and so that is one of the
reasons I started trying to find another way to solve the problem, and there have
been zero since. So I want you to understand how effective this has been. There
have been no complaints, and I kind of head up a little bit of our Neighborhood
Watch Program there in the area, and I always check any problems, any complaints
with everybody that is involved in that area, and the truth is zero have fallen on my
ears. So if you want to find comfort in making a decision maybe for other folks, I
would suggest a pilot program just like what we went through and see how it comes
out. Then nobody is held to task forever on something like that, and you can make
those adjustments.
Are there any questions relative to this because I have a couple other...
COUNCIL MEETING 7 February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: I think that is my role, Dick. You make a
presentation and I will ask the members if they have any questions. You have some
more presentation?
Mr. Parks: Well, about something...I wanted to thank also
Mr. Rapozo for attending and that was several months ago. We had a meeting at
the Hanalei Pavilion, and it had to do with the crime problem and what we will
refer to as the pavilionnaires that set up camp and living quarters there for a whole
number of years. I will not go into detail, but there were a lot of very serious
problems because of that. All of you were given an invitation by me, and then of
course I was informed that there is a Sunshine Law.
Council Chair Furfaro: Just to make it very clear, as Chairman I have
made it very clear that when we have two Councilmembers in a discussion in any
community, we have to be very careful if preconceived decisions are made because
that is a violation. And Mr. KipuKai attended as our Intergovernmental Relations
Chair, and Mr. Rapozo as our Chair of Public Safety, and that is kind of the
approach we will continue to take.
Mr. Parks: Right, and we wanted also to thank those that
could come because we were made aware of that law that only two could attend, and
I find that sometimes a shame that you all cannot attend out in the open something
like that and be versed firsthand. I understand the reason for the Sunshine Law, I
understand that.
But I also wanted to publicly thank Mr. Rapozo from Parks & Recreation
because at that meeting Captain Contrades was there with three police officers.
That place has been cleaned up and orderly ever since. No longer are young girls
harassed and sexual comments made when they try to go to the restroom there.
The park...
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Parks, I have to remind you, you are making it
very difficult for some of us to respond to you because the agenda item is the speed
bumps.
Mr. Parks: Okay, that was it. That was a thank -you from the
homeowners in that area for making that available. I am trying to name the people
that had something to do with that. We are greatly appreciative of that.
The other point I wanted to make about safety, because that is my main
reason for being here, is the roads need to be yellow lined again because it is all
worn off, and crossing over "double yellow" creates a real serious hazard and safety
problems. Basically that is it, other than repaving in front of the pavilion where it
is a pothole mess and it is ugly. So other than that, my thanks, and I hope you
understand how valuable those speed tables have been, at least to us, and I hope
that other people in their part of the island maybe can seek the same traffic calming
devices and safety that we got. But we did lower the speed limit to 20 miles an
hour, that also helps. That is it.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Dick. Dick, I am going to ask you a
couple items that were left on the six -year ago presentation. When we met the
second time after about a six -month period, there were some specifications on the
types of installations we would make for speed control, and there were some
manufacturer's implied warranties about length of service, number of crossings, and
so forth. Do you have that information available now that I...
COUNCIL MEETING 8 February 29, 2012
Mr. Parks: I still have it, but it is a half dozen years old, so I do
not know...I am sure prices have gone up because of petroleum cost and so on, but
yes, I keep all that information.
Council Chair Furfaro: And the reason I am asking is I want to understand
that when we get that information on the manufacturer's recommendations • to
Engineering, if we have a 1,800,000 crossings, then maybe the recommendation is
being made to the Engineering Department that when you get to that number of
crossings, whether that occurs in five years or seven years, it is recommended that
they put the replacements in the budget, so that we have a timely piece about...
Mr. Parks: Especially when they are adjacent to sandy areas,
like parking lots, Black Pot Pavilion. That stuff really ages them quickly.
Council Chair Furfaro: So could you get that manufacturer's
recommendation from your old notes about five or six years ago so they know.
Mr. Parks: Yes, I would be glad to. I will take a look in the
pamphlet, but I cannot guarantee that company...and by the way, Mr. Rapozo
remembers I helped the County get about a $5,000.00 per speed table reduction
because the company...this is the truth and this is what their rep told me because I
was quoted a price at first at $4700 per speed table, which are moveable.
Council Chair Furfaro: I remember all of that. I think it is my turn to ask
questions.
Mr. Parks: Okay and so anyway, the price, I think they wanted
was $11,000.00, and I called the guy up and said, "Offer Kaua`i County the price you
gave me, please." So they did. I have no idea what their price would be, but I will...
Council Chair Furfaro: I am not asking you for the price. I am asking you
and I personally thanked Mr. Rapozo for representing the Council along with
Mr. Kuali`i, but the fact of the matter is I would like the Engineering Department to
have the manufacturer's recommended replacement or R &M figure for the
replacement of those.
Next item, was there discussion in areas that are sandy that periodically they
have to be lifted up, swept and cleaned, and then reattached?
Mr. Parks: I remember nothing specifically about that. I could
have missed it or maybe it was not there. But it is obvious the pitfall on that one
with the sand, it really wreaks havoc.
Council Chair Furfaro: So could I ask you to resend that information to
Mr. Rapozo, who is our point person, and he can have that discussion about normal
repair and replacement with the County Engineer's Office. I personally want to say
to you how much we appreciate the effort, the energy that you have put into this,
and I think now that we have had this test pilot and the recommendations you are
making, it will better serve us for other communities that wish to do this. Again,
my hats off to Mr. Rapozo for being the bird dog, but he is the Public Safety
Chairman.
Mr. Parks: All right.
Council Chair Furfaro: Other questions from other members? Mr. Bynum.
COUNCIL MEETING 9 February 29, 2012
Mr. Bynum: Dick, nice to see you again.
Mr. Parks: Yes, it is good to see you, Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: It is a reminder of how long I have been on the
Council that this was...I was here in 2006.
Mr. Parks: Do you remember that day in Hanalei?
Mr. Bynum: I just want to thank you for the update and the
report. In your view, the tables currently need maintenance, they do not need to be
replaced.
Mr. Parks: There will be certain pieces because they are put
together. I think there are 50 pieces per speed table, and they are all bolted down
with a 12 inch... l /2 inch x 12 bolt, and so they can be unbolted, and individual pieces
can be ordered and replaced. That is why I recommended this type of speed table in
the first place because of damage, and you know you are going to get damage when
you have that many vehicles. And so if this company is still in business, then I
would imagine parts, like a puzzle, can be ordered specifically and replaced. That
would be my guess. I will have to research it.
Mr. Bynum: And in that time, Dick, we have a whole new set of
people at the County Engineer's Office, but the reason that had to be a pilot project
is because our current ordinance does not allow these devices on a collector road,
which Weke Road is. I wish we would have followed up as a County. There was a
bill before us to say to new developers when you do a neighborhood to begin with,
you have to present us a traffic calming plan for review. That was a bill that might
have facilitated changing our ordinance in regards to where these devices are
available or not. And that bill, I believe, is still pending here at the Council and
was never completed. So I am kind of curious, based on this update and reminder,
how many other devices have we rolled out in this six -year period? Because we do
have an ordinance and a mechanism for communities to petition for speed humps,
which are allowed under our ordinance on feeder streets, but not collectors, and a
feeder being (inaudible) local street and a collector combines those local streets.
Mr. Parks: Weke Road, that section of Weke Road is a collector
road. It was designated as such, and there are ways to get around that that are not
sneaky and not under the table, but just simply because of public safety needs. And
so that can be a hurdle that you can jump over, I think, and get taken care of in
probably certain circumstances. It depends on the other road structures around it.
But because this was a dead end road, it was kind of necessary to take care of it,
and because it served a whole lot of folks because it is a destination.
Mr. Bynum: I think the Council will eventually unanimously
agree with that (inaudible). But it did take kind of a special mechanism in order to
allow this to happen. And initially there was feedback from other communities, as I
remember, particularly Kawaihau Road in Kapa'a saying hey, we are a big, long
straight, downhill speed zone, what about us? But it has not happened there. You
have really peaked my curiosity. I am going to ask for some follow -up information
about how our speed hump program has worked over the last five years. How many
have we installed? How many petitions from the community? What was the
experience of those community members? And I also wanted to thank Valerie but
I could not talk with her when she was here because of our rules —for your advocacy
on behalf of your community, and I got your contact information because I want to
COUNCIL MEETING
- 10 - February 29, 2012
find out more about your experience of making a petition for a speed hump in your
community. So thank you very much, Dick, for your advocacy and your follow -up all
these years.
Mr. Parks: My pleasure.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: I do not have any questions. I think the proof is in
the pudding. It was your five years of persistence and thousands of phone calls to
me and my house and my cell and everything else, but again a good pilot project. So
hopefully we can duplicate it for the communities that need it. The only question,
as I never made it out to Hanalei when I said I was, you consider the repairs...I am
sure we will get Public Works up here, but you consider the repairs relatively
minor...well, major, really?
Mr. Parks: And they are not getting better. As every week
goes by, it seems to get worse because they are at a point now where they cannot
resist the impaction of sand underneath and it is lifting up, % -inch bolts bent over,
those kinds of things, and you are talking about a possible increase of liability
because of improperly maintained speed tables. Like anything else, we like not
having a stop sign replacement (inaudible). Someone gets hurts, then you...
Mr. Rapozo: I think we purchased some extra tables —I am not
sure —or parts anyway, but we will definitely...as we roll into the budget process,
we can look at having at least some parts, so that as they slowly get damaged we
can replace them before the damage gets so bad that we have to replace the whole
thing.
Mr. Parks: A lot of them are still usable. It would just be
unbolted, cleaned up, and bolted back down.
Mr. Rapozo: We will try to get that done as soon as we can.
Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Before I recognize Councilmember Nakamura, a
reminder of my request for the warranty and the repair & maintenance items you
have, please direct them to Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Parks: Okay.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay. We are not going to let him change
committees. Councilwoman Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: Hi, Richard, thank you very much for your
thorough report that gives me, as a new Councilmember, the background and
history on this project, and also for all of the statistics that you provided. I think
the photographs kind of speak for themselves, so I think we need to follow up and
find out what type of ongoing maintenance programs are needed in the future. So
thank you for just raising our awareness on this issue.
Mr. Parks: Right. Well, the people that live in that area are
very appreciative of being able to work together with the Council to get that done a
number of years ago, and like I said it has proved out to be thumbs -up, A -1 safety.
It has cleaned up everything.
COUNCIL MEETING
Ms. Nakamura: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Yukimura.
- 11 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Chair. Mr. Parks, thank you. You are
such a great example of citizen activism and perseverance, and like Councilmember
Bynum pointed out, this is a problem around the island, and the solution that the
system provides right now may not be the best, and you have helped us examine
another alternative that we need to somehow incorporate into the system as a way
of responding to requests from citizens for slowing down traffic in their
neighborhood. So thank you and I just... no questions, except to say that because of
your work, we can really move forward on it. If you had not persevered over those
five or six years, we would still be where we were back then.
Mr. Parks: Well, I learned a long time ago in my profession
that when you work with somebody it is nice to have positive feedback down the line
to see if what you decided was worth it at all or was it worth it at any cost or
whatever to get positive feedback because I know you get enough negative feedback.
So it is nice to realize what we did. Was it a benefit to the people that you
represent? And it has been. So I hope you can apply that same philosophy in the
future in making those kind of decisions that will help people have safer
neighborhoods.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. Yes, and we need to incorporate just
this practice of evaluation, anything we do, evaluating it after several years to
really see how it is working or not working. So thanks for the example.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you again, Dick, very much. (Inaudible)
from the Engineering Department for a few minutes, so if you can stay and hear
what (inaudible), I would appreciate that.
Mr. Parks: Certainly. Thank you, folks, appreciate it.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you for all you did.
LYLE TABATA, Deputy County Engineer: Chair, Vice Chair, Members,
Lyle Tabata, Deputy County Engineer.
Council Chair Furfaro: Lyle, thank you very much for being here to hear
the pros and cons of the items that Dick surfaced for us. And as you probably
followed my commentary, I am asking him to provide some of the background on the
replacement /expected life terms for these humps, and obviously visiting some of the
repair and maintenance standards, and I guess an evaluation of what is a fair and
reasonable replacement strategy for the department. So we will get his comments
on the manufacturer's pieces over to you. But did you want to add anything at this
point, other than being able to have an opportunity to review the repair and
maintenance history, and what the replacement schedule would be?
Mr. Tabata: Well, since I just received this this morning, the
copy that we got in the packet that came over was in black - and -white and it was not
very clear. And his color photos are very revealing, and so now that we have this,
and I met with Mr. Parks this morning before coming over here, we will have to
follow up with our Roads Division.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 12 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: And may I suggest that you have some dialogue
with Donald Fujimoto. Donald was the County Engineer at the time that we went
through this. As Dick has explained some of the National Chain Spec pricing
discounts we got as well, so Donald is very, very familiar with how we arrived at
this pilot program. So if you could be inclusive with him, I would appreciate it.
Mr. Tabata: Will do.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, any questions for Lyle? Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: Just real briefly, Lyle, and I will follow up, a lot of
that discussion in 2006 was that this was a pilot project, and part of that was to try
to make some determinations about the cost effectiveness of bolt in, rubberized
speed humps and tables as opposed to poured in, and what the design specs were, a
whole lengthy discussion, and also frustration from the community about an
established speed hump program that they found really cumbersome. And so I just
wanted to let you know that I am going to follow up with some questions regarding
kind of how we are doing since that time.
Mr. Tabata: Right.
Mr. Bynum: But thanks, I have every confidence that you will
be responsive to Mr. Parks' concerns. Thank you.
Mr. Tabata: Right. I just wanted to add that when this came
up on the agenda, it was something that we were not aware of, so we contacted
Mr. Parks immediately and made arrangements to meet.
Council Chair Furfaro: That is very much appreciated, but let us not give
up on the resources that we have or the history in -house (inaudible). Thank you
very much for being here in the audience on this agenda item.
Mr. Tabata: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else in the audience who would like
to testify on this item, 2012 -62? Mr. Mickens.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you, Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens. I
just want to sincerely thank Mr. Parks for the unbelievable amount of work he has
done over many years on this speed table. I am glad he designated it as a speed
table instead of a speed hump. I think it makes it a lot clearer. It is so refreshing
to see a citizen spend the amount of time and effort that he has spent solving this
issue. Would it not be great if our Administration took a page from Mr. Parks' book
and went after and solved all problems the way he has. I do not believe any project
should take as long to solve. And had it not been for Mr. Parks' diligence, this
problem would never have been solved, very obviously. Now let us hope it will not
take another five years to solve the maintenance issue that he is now talking about.
But again, we have hired people that are supposed to be doing the job that
Mr. Parks has spent probably hundreds of hours of researching this thing and
finding out what should be done, and like Mel said, calling him and
Councilmembers and everybody, but you cannot find that many people on this
island, citizens, that have the time to be able to do this kind of thing. But again, we
are paying people that we have hired to do it. If we do not have enough people, let
us hire more people to do this job. But again, I just want to thank Mr. Parks for
COUNCIL MEETING
- 13 - February 29, 2012
what he has done. It would be great if he was in a capacity with the Department,
with the Administration, or something to be able to pursue his diligence in this.
Thank you, Jay.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Glenn. Is there anyone else that wants
to speak on this item? If not, I personally, on behalf of the entire Council first of all
do want to remind us all that this was a pilot program that Mr. Parks really led the
charge on for us, and there have been some great outcomes, but there needs to be
some ongoing focus on the repair, maintenance, and replacement items. And
certainly, Mr. Parks, again, on behalf of the entire group, thank you for your
diligence and your focus, and hopefully this can be applied to other areas where we
had earlier testimony from Valerie, who wants to have something looked at in her
community.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Is there any further discussion? Mr. Chang.
Mr. Chang: Thank you, Chairman, and Mr. Parks, thank you
very much. This is the first time I have had an opportunity to meet you. I want to
thank you for diligently hanging out on the road with your clicker, I guess you said
like three days or so. If I saw a big guy like you underneath an umbrella with a
clicker, I would definitely slow down. Hanalei Bay was voted the No. 1 beach in the
USA in 2009 and it was, of course, No. 2 in 2002, 2008, and all of Hanalei is magical
to the residents and the visitors. So whether it is the waterfalls, the taro fields, the
beautiful bay, it is surprising that amount of vehicle traffic and cars. Valerie is over
here and I am glad that these agenda items kind of coincidentally came back -to-
back because it is just a reminder for everybody that we have to slow down. In this
day and age when people are trying to be concerned about their health, more people
want to ride their bikes, people want to walk, they want to jog, there is no path or
there is no shoulder, it gets scary for everyone. We went on a field trip yesterday
and kiddingly joked with the Councilmembers that made it, we were on the freeway
in this van and the tour bus was taking us around, and we were going over 60 miles
an hour. For many of us...I do not know the last time that anybody went 60 miles
an hour, but that is pretty fast if you think about it. My mom always used to tell
me better five minutes late than never. It is a reminder for all of us that
statistically a lot of accidents happen one mile from one's home, and I kind of think
back during this discussion, as you mentioned, 750 feet of fencing, three dogs, one
getting launched 60 feet or so. Some people, Hawaiian style, as I was growing up,
the fish Weke, as in Weke Road, if you ate the wrong part of the Weke, you would
get nightmares, and I could imagine what the nightmares were day and night or
maybe 24/7. So for you community members to get out there and be aware and only
letting the people know, we are on an island, and we should just relax and take in
the beauty, watch the road, but just as my mom said, better five minutes late than
never. To you Mr. Parks, thank you for meeting you, and I am glad these agenda
items came together because it does create a lot of awareness. Thank you,
Chairman.
Council Chair Furfaro: We have a motion to receive. Members, if there is
no further dialogue, all those in favor to receive, signify by saying aye.
The motion to receive C 2012 -62 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
Council Chair Furfaro: Valerie, thank you for being here as well.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 14 - February 29, 2012
C 2012 -49 Communication (02/14/2012) from the County Auditor,
transmitting for Council information the Follow -up Audit of the County of Kaua`i
Building Division, Department of Public Works: Mr. Chang moved to receive
C 2012 -49 for the record, seconded by Mr. Rapozo.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. On that note, may I bring up the
County Auditor, and if in fact they have some of their contracted personnel with
them, I would appreciate it. Ernie, let me share with you, after you introduce
yourself, where I intend to go with this. Go ahead, introduce yourself.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
ERNESTO G. PASION, County Auditor: Good morning, Councilmembers,
County Auditor Ernesto Pasion for the record. This morning we brought back our
hired consultant, Peri Manthos of Manthos Engineering, to address the follow -up
audit of the Kilauea Gym and also address the response from the Public Works
Department regarding the audit. So we would like to ask Peri to come.
PERICLES MANTHOS, Manthos Engineering: Good morning, Chair,
Members of the Council, my name is Pericles Manthos, Manthos Engineering. I am
here to address the follow -up questions we had from the last meeting.
Council Chair Furfaro: Peri, thank you, again for being here, but for
the Members and for the audience, I want to say first and foremost, I will be
proposing to put a new item on the agenda that deals with the Kilauea Gym. I
think we have some confusion here from a previous contracted audit that was never
summarized, and the scope of the Kilauea Gym incorporated in your new view of the
audit. It is no secret that we had a previous contractor that dealt with the audit,
and we had some confusion dealing with the Engineering Department responding
directly to me about items dealing with the Kilauea Gym, which were open items
from the previous draft summary and separate from what I think was about
93 items in the report, of which we had to merge the two pieces to actually have a
better response ratio to. Some of the items that were left out that I do want to chat
about dealt with the Building Division items and Roads items, and I am going to
say that I hope by now we have one report that has merged all those responses, and
we have a better idea of where we are at in completing some of those action steps.
So I just wanted to give that overview, and we will kind of go from there, and you
have the floor, sir.
Mr. Manthos: Thank you. I think maybe the first thing we should
address, if it is okay, is the letter that came from the County, from the Building
Department last meeting, and we went through and looked at those items and the
status of where they are. And a letter was sent to the Council on February 24, 2012
from the Auditor that addressed that issue. I wanted to go over that, if I could.
On the whole, the 22 findings, I believe, that we had listed that were
outstanding —the ones in the box are the important ones —for the most part have
been addressed. One of the issues we have on it is— obviously there was not time
for us to go by and verify those things —and one of the things the Council may wish
to consider is a follow -up that they are being carried through because they were just
starting some of these things, and some of these things are beginning activities that
need follow -up, and the concern, of course, is that they do follow up with those
activities. And if you go through the letter —it may be a good time to talk about
that —we talked about having a follow -up at the beginning page of the letter, and
then on the second page, we started addressing those issues as to how they were
COUNCIL MEETING
- 15 - February 29, 2012
handling them. On the whole, we felt that these are being partially implemented,
and they are in progress. Some are very much in the beginning stages. So we are
concerned that the ball may get dropped because other priorities may come to be
more important. One of the issues is referred, I believe, to your County Attorney
and it addresses, in the original audit, the review of the safety programs,
specifically the contractor's safety programs, as to whether or not the County wishes
to take on that liability of worker safety, and the issue that has come up in the
industry is that sometimes if the engineer of record, from the owner's perspective,
takes up that issue of safety, then there is an exposure if a worker is hurt and some
certain part of the contractor's safety plan was not implemented. So typically, the
contractors are responsible for their own safety, at least that was the decision that I
have seen from some of the State contracts. It was in the original audit and that is
why it is being referred to. The issue of public safety, we believe, is paramount to
the agency, and they should be looking out for public safety. The contractor's safety
plan is the contractor's responsibility to adhere to, and without having a Safety
Officer on -site all the time, it is difficult for the County to assume the responsibility
of the workers themselves, which is the responsibility of the contractor. So that is
the issue, kind of a split -hair, that has to be looked at by the County Attorney. I
believe they referred that over to them for discussion.
The other thing is there were two items specifically involving the capacity to
do the work and we disagreed with the County's assessment (inaudible) that they
have the capacity.
Council Chair Furfaro: You disagreed with the department's assessment?
Mr. Manthos: Right (inaudible). Basically it involves the loss of
manpower. We were looking at a projection of people that are proposed to retire,
and people that they have lost, and our concern is they are reducing capacity. Now
some of that can be augmented by increasing their means and methods of managing
the projects, and that is what the audit is partially about. So it can be offset, but we
were concerned, of course, that with less people, there is less oversight, and that is
always an issue. That was the principal place, that is the only place we saw any
real disagreement.
That was a kind of a quick summary of their response back, and those are the
only questions we had.
Council Chair Furfaro: Before I turn it over to other questions from other
Members, when we started to talk about our own in -house exposure for safety
issues and so forth, the draft of this report, does it go to our Risk Management
people at all? I mean I do not think we deal with a lot of things like boilers and so
forth, but just general operational points within the Engineering Department that
might be workplace safety issues, does our Risk Manager get to look at this at this
point?
Mr. Manthos: I do not know the internal policy on the Risk
Manager, but I do know that if an engineer is involved, that their responsibility in
the design and approval of the plans and specifications, especially concerning
facilities that you are going to take over, that they meet the Hawai`i OSHA
requirements. Basically that is the Bible that we follow for design as far as safety
concerns go. And there are various industrial recommendations and codes, the
NEC, the Building Code, all those issues are built in for safety requirements in
those codes as well in many cases.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Manthos: No, we have not.
- 16 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: I am going to have to step out for a moment to
return a phone call, but I want to, before I step out and I do not think I will be too
long, I do want to thank you for your return visit and the merging of these earlier
recommendations that we got. But on that note, I would like to recognize
Councilmember Bynum, and I am going to turn the meeting over to Vice Chair
Yukimura. I am going to have to step out for a moment. So, Vice Chair you can call
who wants the floor.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, so it is now open for questions to
Mr. Manthos. Any questions? Councilmember Nakamura.
(The Chair was noted excused at 10:26 a.m.)
Ms. Nakamura: Hi, thank you for coming back again. I have
questions about the follow -up. So at our last Council meeting where we discussed
this, it must have been two weeks ago, that was the day that we received comments
from the Department of Public Works in response to this audit, and we had not
really had a chance to review it at the time. Did you have a chance, subsequent to
that submittal, to discuss the recommendations with the Department of Public
Works, discuss their feedback with the Department of Public Works?
Ms. Nakamura: Is that typically not part of the audit process?
LANI NAKAZAWA, Audit Manager: I would like to answer that.
Lani Nakazawa, Auditor's Office. The audit process is typically this: after an audit
is concluded, we sit down with the auditee to talk about our findings and
recommendations, and that is what happened last year in August, so that
happened. That is in addition to any kind of prior discussions that we may have
had after issuing the draft audit to them, which also occurred last August. So prior
to issuance of the final audit report, we do sit down in an exit conference and I did
sit down for this particular audit with Doug Haigh of the Building Division to
generally talk about the findings and recommendations.
Ms. Nakamura: Was that with this final audit in place?
Ms. Nakazawa: Yes, and then what happened was the final audit
report was issued in January, and the comments were received after that, which is
extraordinary. Usually what happens is the report is issued and that is the end of
it. So that is the typical cycle.
Ms. Nakamura: Is it not after you receive the final... the comments,
then you do your exit interview? How could you do an exit interview prior to the
issuance of your final?
Ms. Nakazawa: No, the exit interview occurred in August 2011 and
the final audit report was issued in January 2012.
Ms. Nakamura: So between August and January, were there any
changes or refinement of your recommendations?
Ms. Nakazawa: No. What happened between August and
January...in August when the report was issued we had set what is normal
practice, a 10- working day response for the auditee to get back to us an auditee
response, which would then be incorporated into the final report, as Mr. Heu
COUNCIL MEETING
explained the last time. What happened is between August 2011 and January
2012, we provided numerous extensions and the last extension was until
January 10, and before that date as well as on that date we informed both Mr. Heu
and Public Works of the extended deadline and received no response back from
them; our phone calls were unanswered. And so what happened is we just issued
the final report, I think, a week or so after that.
Ms. Nakamura: I think my concern is that there are two findings
where there was not agreement between the Administration and the Auditor's
Office. Is that my understanding, the two that you have listed in this February 24
letter, the first one being that the County's capacity to execute capital projects has
decreased since the audit, and no. 2, the County has not addressed staffing
conditions identified in the audit?
Ms. Nakazawa: Those are the two that are listed in the paragraph.
Basically if you look on pages 2 and 3, there are a number of audit
recommendations that we still believe have not been fully implemented and those
are listed above. So I am not sure if you would include those in addition to the two.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay, so I guess where I am going with this is you
have raised these concerns, and the Department of Public Works...it sounds like
you are saying in this letter that they are saying they do not agree with these
findings. So now what? Where are we at? What are the next steps?
Ms. Nakazawa: Yes, that is a valid and good question. I think the
disagreement of the two issues you raised, that is the County's capacity to execute
projects has decreased and the County has not addressed staffing conditions, I think
we can agree to disagree on those. I think what the Auditor's Office is most
interested in is whether or not the recommendations that have been assessed as
important to implement, that is development of standard updated general
provisions for contracts be developed and the accountability be established for not
adhering to project controls, (3) review of the safety program, (4) improvements in
the ways project progress is reported, (5) development of policies and procedures for
doing accurate field inspections, (6) developing procedures for reporting and
notifying supervisory personnel of problems, and the last one is training. We are
most interested in encouraging or taking steps to encourage the Department and
providing the Department with enough resources so that those recommendations
can be implemented, but that is where the concern of the Audit Office is.
Ms. Nakamura: So these other two recommendations are not
important.
Mr. Manthos: Well, we feel they are a symptom of why the major
recommendations cannot be done because they just do not have the people or the
resources to implement.
Ms. Nakamura:
Mr. Manthos:
Ms. Nakamura:
problem?
- 17 - February 29, 2012
That is the root of the problem.
That is why we put them in there.
How does this audit address the root of the
Mr. Manthos: Well, we talked about that last time at length. It is
just bringing on the resources and training to improve their capacity and their
productivity in those regards, and the original audit was targeted in that area.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 18 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Nakamura: Training.
Mr. Manthos: Training and increase their capacity and change
some of the means and methods so they can be more effective. Do more with less
kind of thing. And so that was the kind of thing that the audit...those are the
findings the audit (inaudible), and we feel part of the reason that that is difficult to
do is just the lack of having the resources to do it. And that is what the last
paragraph is about, we feel that they need more resources in order to implement
these things fully.
Ms. Nakamura: And what type of resources do you believe they
need to get to the root of the problem?
Mr. Manthos: Well, personnel training and probably some
updated equipment, be it computers or software. There is a lot of software out there
right now that helps and part of it has to come with the training. Of course I
caution you if you get too complicated then you end up overstaffing for reporting
purposes and that is always a concern with agencies as well.
Ms. Nakamura: Where in the audit do you talk about the specific
personnel recommendations, and specific training and equipment
recommendations?
Mr. Manthos: There are several items. I have to go back and look
at the list; I can do it right now, if you like. But the last paragraph is more of a
general comment based on a comment in their letter saying they have enough. If
you look at the letter we were just talking about, in the last paragraph, the two
items I brought up. We were responding to their statement that they do not agree
that they have...they basically stated they have enough people —maybe I am
paraphrasing —but we feel they need more, that they need some more resources,
specifically computer training and software, and scheduling software, things of that
nature, some more training, and probably some construction inspection monitoring
and reporting processes. The original audit is fairly large and that is why we
summarized the findings in tables because when you look at the original audit, it is
pretty verbose on these various items, and a lot of them are related, involving
procedures and policies, and having the resources to do it. I can go through and
pick a few, but basically the summarizing is that they need more training and
people, expertise in certain areas. And some of these are preventative because if
you have the people and training in place, you will not have the problem develop
rather than correct it after the fact, which does not help.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay. I guess I had read the audit and maybe I
need to relook at it to see the specific recommendations regarding personnel.
Mr. Manthos: If you go to the original report, on page 11, you will
see some of those right there in the box. It has to do with setting construction time,
delays, critical path analysis of the project, and this goes back to some of the earlier
concerns that were expressed at the last meeting in that how do you determine how
much resources you need for the project, and one of the ways is to use a critical path
analysis, and then load it with the personnel, so this engineer has to devote
20 hours a week to this project. And if you add up what all your staff does, and how
many hours they have to work on each project, then you can determine your staff
size and then whether you need to augment it with outsiders or not. And part of it
is that these things are difficult to do if you are always under a gun with a deadline
of having all these projects behind you. So these are the things that need to be
COUNCIL MEETING
- 19 - February 29, 2012
looked at maybe by a new hire or a new person that has not been assigned a heavy
workload yet where they can implement these things or maybe a committee, a
group of people that can pursue it, be champions within the department to get these
things done.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay. I thought that as a result of our discussion
last time also that we would have a summary of...there were 97 recommendations,
11 we agreed that were bad recommendations or not really worthwhile
pursuing...12? Okay, it was 11 last time, which 56 were implemented and then
that left 31, and 22 were going to be worked on and there were 8 missing. That was
according to my notes. So I just wanted to know whether there was any accounting
of the original going back to the 97 recommendations and any acknowledgement of
whether there were more bad recommendations from the original audit than
represented.
Mr. Manthos: We did the number crunching after the meeting.
There were actually 109 recommendations. We had already taken out the 12 that
we did not agree with. So 97 were remaining and that was what was in the audit...
Ms. Nakamura: What were the 12 now? The 12 were taken out
because...
Mr. Manthos: Because...well, for various reasons, primarily they
did not adhere to the procurement code.
Ms. Nakamura: Did not adhere.
Mr. Manthos: They were maybe nice ideas you could implement
in the private sector, but you really cannot with public money. You cannot throw
out the low bidder and the high bidder, and things like that that we felt were
impractical for the County.
Ms. Nakamura: So they were impractical recommendations from
the original audit.
Mr. Manthos: Right, right. So we did not want to obviously hold
the Department to those impractical recommendations, so they were basically
removed in effect.
Ms. Nakamura: That is good, okay. So that left us 97.
Mr. Manthos: That left us with 97, right, and so 109 total and 12
were dropped, 97 remained, and then 56...the 22 they responded to were the ones in
the boxes that we felt were high priority. All of these recommendations were very
similar. All I can say the report was (inaudible) recommendations. It would be
kind of improper to say there were 109 totally separate recommendations. So many
of them were linked together that it could have been condensed to less
recommendations, but we had to work off the number you have in the original
audit. So that is what we condensed down to 22. That would encapsulate what
needed to be done in those boxes.
Ms. Nakamura: Oh, so you went from 97 that were valid
recommendations and you bunched them together? Is that what happened? And
then you came up with 22.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Manthos: We bunched together the remaining ones that
needed to be implemented in those high priority boxes that are in the report, the 22,
and those are the ones that the Department responded to.
Ms. Nakamura:
correct?
sense.
sense.
audit.
Ms. Nakamura:
Mr. Manthos: No, we did not.
- 20 - February 29, 2012
So out of the 97, 56 were implemented. Is that
Let me pull the report up first. We finaled it back
Mr. Manthos:
in August, so for me it is...
Ms. Nakamura: You know what? I am a technical writer, so when I
read this I could not follow the thinking behind it. So when they were combined,
maybe the reader was not told why...how the numbers added up at the end. That is
why it did not add up for me. That is why I am a little... still confused and that is
just the way I process information. So from the 41 or so, you came up with
22 recommendations. That is what you ended up with.
Mr. Manthos: The 56 of the 97 were remaining The 22 were the
ones we deemed the most critical to be implemented.
Ms. Nakamura: So 56 then went to 22 most critical.
Mr. Manthos: Those are the ones we are talking about because
they are the most critical. Rather than give them a whole host of recommendations,
the 22 covered all the items that were in the remaining ones that were important to
implement because they were the same kind of things. If you say scheduling four
ways, it is still scheduling.
Okay.
Mr. Manthos: We have a chart in the back to help with that.
Ms. Nakamura: So really the initial audit made it...was so thorough
or they just went into the level of detail where some did not make sense and some
were redundant or repeating?
Mr. Manthos: Well, I would rather say redundant than not make
Ms. Nakamura: Redundant.
Mr. Manthos: Yes, because it made it more difficult.
Ms. Nakamura: Well, some you tossed out, so those did not make
Mr. Manthos: Well, they were clear to be tossed. There could not
be an argument on those. Some of the other ones were a bit redundant and
repetitive, so we tried to consolidate them so we could implement it easily.
Ms. Nakamura: And just to clarify, you did not do the original
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- 21 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Nakamura: It was a different auditor, that was a separate
contract.
Mr. Manthos: My understanding is that the audit contract was
left kind of half done. There were some issues to finish it, it never got finaled and
so that is why it kind of got left like that.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay, thank you for providing that background. I
think at this point it is probably best if I just follow up with my concerns in writing
to the Auditor's Office and we will just go with that.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. Councilmember Bynum, you had some
questions?
Mr. Bynum: Yes, thank you for being here again, and I find this
whole dialogue over the last two meetings really important and meaningful, and I
am feeling good about us having this dialogue on several levels and I am going to
have some questions, but I wanted to preface it with some comments, also about
how great this democratic process is and the questions that Councilmember
Nakamura has asked over the last two meetings. She just referred to the way she
processes information that I have come to learn is different than the way I do, and
that is part of what makes having a collective group so valuable, I think. So thank
you Councilmember for your meticulous... she is a numbers person, wants this to
line up, and I think that is why hopefully the Auditor's Department is learning in
this process about future audits because this is all fairly new for us. This is one of
the first audits and also Public Works learning something. But I also wanted to
state that just to follow up my understanding of this issue of why there was not a
response and how we are kind of proceeding and taking a next step because of that
and in my mind, and if I am incorrect I want somebody to correct me, there are
layers in government. There is the Civil Service layer, those folks that are on the
job and are civil servants, and then there are the appointed Department Heads that
are appointed by the Mayor in this instance, and then above that is the Executive
level. In this instance we are talking about Doug Haigh at the Civil Service level,
Larry Dill at the appointed Department Head level, and Gary Heu at the Executive
level. And what I heard from Mr. Heu, I believe I am correct about this, is that at
the Civil Service and Department Head level, they did do a written response and
generated that, but it was at the Executive level that it got held up and did not
make it on time. And I appreciated Mr. Heu taking responsibility for that, but I
think that is an important distinction to make that at the Civil Service and
Department Head level they did not just say hey, we are not responding to this.
That is not what happened. And now we are kind of responding after - the -fact and
going the extra mile. And I heard a commitment from Mr. Heu that in the future
that audits will be responded to in writing in a timely manner. I hope I got that all
right. Having said all of that, my question is that the outcome we have come to
today is fairly typical of audits, at least the ones I have seen and monitored on the
State level, that the auditor makes recommendations, the department responds,
they agree with a number of those and make a commitment to implement and make
changes, but is it not also very common to have one or two or more items where the
department says we disagree. You have given us this opinion about how we should
proceed, and we disagree. Is that not common in an audit process?
Mr. Manthos: If I could put my Civil Service hat back on, yes.
Mr. Bynum: I mean we see that. Probably most of the public's
familiarity is with Marion Higa. She issues an audit, it is not uncommon in the
media to hear a response back from the department level saying hey, thanks for
COUNCIL MEETING
- 22 - February 29, 2012
these items, we are working on it, but we disagree with this, and they are pretty
close to it. But then the whole purpose of this is for decision makers, right, for us to
understand the process better, for us to do our own inquiry into the areas where
there is disagreement, and to provide the resources, if necessary, right, this is new
for the County of Kaua`i and I am really glad we are having this discussion, and
even though it is unusual because hopefully the Auditor's Office is learning more
about Council's expectations and our feedback about as decision makers what it is
like to read these audits and the questions we are left with and the way they are
written and scripted, and also to establish the norms, hopefully healthy norms
going forward about how our departments respond to the recommendations of the
auditor. I think this has been a very healthy discussion and hopefully it will impact
the process because we have the content that we have been focusing on and then we
have also been focusing on process. And the process we all want to be better and we
are in a learning curve together with that. Thank you for being willing to come
back again, Pericles.
Mr. Manthos: Well, if I can quote Lani, "we can agree to
disagree." The real proof in the pudding is the performance as they implement
changes, but on the whole I have to say I thought the Department's response was
more agreeable than I have seen in other audits, and I commend them for trying to
look at this audit as an opportunity to improve their performance.
Mr. Bynum: If I could paraphrase that, you are saying in your
experience the Department was open to this dialogue and to learning from it, and
did not just dig their heels in and get combative.
Mr. Manthos: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: And that is good news, thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: Other questions? Yes, Councilmember Chang, did
you have...
Mr. Chang: No questions.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, Councilmember Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: One of the recommendations that you made, which
I think is a good one, is to ask the Department to come back periodically to check to
see how they are doing in following up with the recommendations. And I was just
wondering, what do you think is a reasonable time period to ask for a report back
given the scope of... given the responses and the amount of work required to move
forward?
Ms. Nakazawa: Councilmember, we have suggested a year just
before budget because that will perhaps give both you and the Department and the
Administration an opportunity to assess whether or not additional resources have
to be provided, but it is arbitrary. It could be shorter or longer.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay, thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. Any other questions from the Council?
If not, thank you for...well actually, I think I want to get on the record a process
that you recommended. It was called Resource Loaded Critical Path System. Can
you just describe that and describe what value it might have. And then we are
going to take a caption break.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 23 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Manthos: Well, you basically would take each project that you
would have and figure the County man -hours necessary to manage it or design it or
(inaudible) the construction, assign a person to it, and each one of your projects
would be set up that way so you can project, in the future, whether or not you are
going to have enough people to manage the project, rather than have a crisis where
you have too many projects and not enough people to manage it. So basically it is
like having a bar chart on your Critical Path Method that shows the duration of the
job and in that bar chart you also analyze the amount of resources, people
principally, that you are going to apply to that project. So you would then have that
backed up with each person so you will see if you have enough people to do the
work. If you have one person managing 20 projects, they are not going to be able to
devote more than a few hours to each project in the week, and sometimes projects
need a sole person to do it. This would be good in the budget cycle because they will
then see whether or not they would need to augment it with a contract hire or
whether or not they could do it or whether or not they maybe need to defer the start
of the project until they had enough staff necessarily to manage it. So basically you
just take your schedule and you put people on it with the amount of hours they are
going to work on that schedule for that week, for that month, and then you add it up
and see if you have enough people to do the work.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you. And then as to your point about
succession planning where we have many people with a vast amount of knowledge
and experience retiring and with your familiarity with the Civil Service System,
have you seen in other departments or divisions, State or County, where there has
been a good methodology of succession planning or are there things we have to
change about the Civil Service Rule? It does seem logical to hire somebody that sort
of shadows the person they are going to replace for a while and then take over.
Mr. Manthos: One of the better things I have seen, which is now
passed by the Legislature, (inaudible) is the contract hires immediately upon
termination, even if it is a part -time basis.
Ms. Yukimura: I am sorry, what did you just say?
Mr. Manthos: The contract hires, which has been stopped, I
believe, by a few changes at the Legislature, but typically when a person would
retire, you bring them back on as a contract hire to assist in the transition. I
understand now there is a six -month hiatus before you can bring them on. It was
discussed at the last meeting. To me, what you have to look at is —it is
unfortunate — somebody gives you short notice, but if they give you long notice, then
you can handle that better. The problem in the Civil Service is you cannot fill the
position until the position is vacant. And then you have several months where you
have nobody in there that can pick it up. And so what you have to look at —and we
tried to look at in this report —is when people are going to retire because what you
want to kind of do is reduce their responsibilities or reduce their workload on the
projects they are on and try to transition that to the next person who is going to
take over so they can impart that knowledge. In some cases you may even want to
look at some of those people that have a lot of experience to maybe write a
procedure or two on something they have been doing themselves that is not
necessarily a departmental procedure, and they could create that before they leave,
and then it can be adopted by the department as the way to handle change orders or
claims or certain kinds of inspections or other kinds of things. So what you have to
look at is kind of a look ahead schedule as to who is leaving and then try to make
COUNCIL MEETING
- 24 - February 29, 2012
some room for them to do the transition, so they do not work the very last day on a
detailed thing, instead they are working on a bigger picture stuff to improve the
next group.
Ms. Yukimura: That sounds very logical to me. I hope Public
Works was listening because we will have them up after the caption break. I want
to know more about the contract hire. Those are Civil Service Rules that are
established by the State Legislature?
Mr. Manthos: It was brought up last meeting and I was not aware
of it since I have left the Civil Service, but I believe you have a moratorium...I do
not think you can hire someone right after they leave is my understanding. It was
brought up...I forget which Councilmember brought it up last week, but I
understand someone brought up there is six months where you cannot bring them
onboard and that kind of hurts because a lot of agencies... and I know I did it when I
was in agency, I would bring (inaudible) the person that retired to train the person
that is replacing them.
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Manthos: And so it is a problem if you cannot because then
you have got no one to do that and that makes it a much harder transition.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, it may be that...it does seem really logical to
rehire a person back to train and then finally go permanently. So we maybe should
look into changing the Civil Service Rules to enable better succession.
Mr. Manthos: That could be a suggestion. It is obviously beyond
the scope of our audit, but that is something that I think the counties and the State
needs to look at. I think it has been an issue because I think the State has
taken... maybe there has been some abuse that triggered this —I do not know —but
we use it quite effectively at the Highways Division, I know that. We kept
(inaudible) bridge engineer under contract to assist with the next bridge engineer,
and you need that corporate knowledge to carry on, and it is difficult. The other
way to improve it is just a better record set up.
Ms. Yukimura: A better what?
Mr. Manthos: Better written records, reporting, documentation,
and basically set up a system so they can just pick up where it left off. Various
tracking reports of letters that came, letters that went, numerical sequencing of
letters from the County, so you could basically know every bit of correspondence
that left, electronic library so it is very accessible to be seen anywhere. Those are
improvements that are throughout the report, maybe not as specific as that, but
they are talking about that in general to assist in the transition.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, so what about the idea of creating temporary
positions while the person that is going to retire in a year is still there and then
having them move into the permanent position when the retiree leaves.
Mr. Manthos: That would be an idea if you could get that
through. That is a County process, I am sure, if you can get that through, getting
them temporarily on- board, but then you have kind of...you have a Civil Service
issue there where you have almost preselected the person for the permanent
position, and that could really cause some problems with your continuity
(inaudible).
COUNCIL MEETING
- 25 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: No, you would have to go through a Civil Service
position, but you put them then...
Mr. Manthos: Well, if you were a private corporation, that would
probably be a great idea, but I think because of the issues on hiring and selections
and internal recruitment, it may be a problem for grievances because you have
basically given a person an advantage in obtaining that man's position.
Ms. Yukimura: I am thinking of going through the Civil Service
process first, so you know who the person is that you want.
Mr. Manthos: It is just difficult. I have never been able...maybe
it is possible to hire for a position before that person has left. That is the problem
because you have got only so many slots. You do not get to (inaudible).
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, certainly we are...if we can put a man on the
moon, we can figure out some kind of process to encourage better succession.
Ms. Nakamura:
Ms. Yukimura:
Ms. Nakamura:
just what you are saying.
Ms. Yukimura:
solving we need.
Ms. Nakamura: I just have one more.
Ms. Yukimura: Sure.
Councilmember Yukimura, can I just interject?
Sure.
That I will be working on a budget proviso to do
That is very good. That is the kind of problem
Ms. Nakamura: And we would like to work with the Administration
to come up with some language that would be workable and address Civil Service
concerns.
Ms. Yukimura: Excellent, okay, very good. Any other questions?
You have something?
Ms. Nakamura: Just one more question relating to this staffing
concern on page 16 of the audit, right before the table. There is a section that talks
about some recommendations require action by County officials outside the division.
They are to create a new position or group that would address contract monitoring
and inspection of major County and commercial projects, create a new position to
manage the construction process, increase staff and equipment, and assign zoning
issues to the Building Division Plan Examiners. So you are saying that these have
not been implemented, but these are outstanding recommendations?
Mr. Manthos: We are saying two things in one paragraph. One is
it is outside the division's control as an audit to tell them that they have to do that.
The other thing is I believe that no. 4 was something we felt was just not feasible.
Ms. Nakamura: Yes, okay, I just wanted to clarify that.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Manthos: The others are what we talked about, what you are
looking at doing now with what you were just talking about a second ago. These are
things that have to come at a much higher level than the divisional audit to create
the positions.
Ms. Nakamura: Yes, but the recommendations help if it is surfaced
and identified through the audit.
Mr. Manthos: They are still recommendations. We are just
saying it would be difficult to hold the County or the division accountable to get this
done. They can propose it, but it is going to need help from the Council.
Ms. Nakamura: That is right, okay, and thanks for bringing that to
our attention. And it seems that the recommendations focused in this report are
with the department, but this is saying there is also follow -up at the policy level,
and I think in the future I think it is good to make that distinction and to even put
it in a box to highlight it because if not it gets buried in here. I am just wondering,
did we not create a new position to manage the CIP process in the last budget?
Mr. Chang: I am sorry, can you repeat that question?
Ms. Nakamura: Did we not create a position that you are referring
to? Or did the Mayor not create a position?
Ms. Nakazawa: At the time of the fieldwork or as part of the
fieldwork for this follow -up audit, we did do interviews and from those interviews
we learned that the position had been created, but the exact duties to be assigned to
that position had not been identified. So we could not say...
Ms. Nakamura: Was there not a job description for that newly
created position?
Ms. Nakazawa: My understanding is that there was, but within
that job description there was a wide range of things that the person might be
assigned to and at the time the fieldwork ended, the Administration had not
determined exactly what assignments would be made within the scope of the
descriptions.
Ms. Nakamura: Okay, but this report was issued in January. So by
January 2012, you are saying there was no update on...
Ms. Nakazawa: No, the way the auditing standards require us to do
is to gather information during the fieldwork period. And normally we issue the
report shortly after the end of the fieldwork period. It is just these extraordinary
circumstances caused the report to be issued much later than we had intended.
valid.
- 26 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Nakamura: So given what you know now, is this paragraph still
Ms. Nakazawa: The paragraph was valid as of February 2011,
which is when the fieldwork ended.
COUNCIL MEETING
Ms. Yukimura: Actually, if you are talking about the CIP Manager,
this would still be valid because according to him his job is just to track and not to
manage. So I have asked for a copy of the job description, but the job description
should not be so broad as to have the reader be unable to tell you what the job is
about. So I am confused about that, but...
Ms. Nakamura:
Ms. Yukimura:
Ms. Nakamura:
Council Chair Furfaro:
thank you for conducting the
Vice Chair?
Ms. Yukimura:
Public Works, but...
- 27 - February 29, 2012
That is on our follow -up.
Yes, yes.
Mr. Manthos: I guess you could say that the audit was more
looking at creating people with more specific knowledge and expertise in those
areas —there are a lot of areas — rather than a general list at the top, to see whether
we are on track with other things or moving forward or not. But it is to actually
develop the procedures and monitoring to actually track it closely by a project level
rather than at a department level, and I think that is different. I think you have
probably got somebody that is tracking things at the department or division level on
how the projects are going, but not how each project is progressing, which needs a
different level of detail.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Councilmember Nakamura, and I just
want to say that the Council's interest in creating that manager position was to
have somebody really experienced in project management so that they could do the
kind of support and monitoring that is of a managerial nature that moves things
along, and I think that is what you are talking about here, are you not?
Mr. Manthos: Yes, we are also talking about somebody who could
write the processes, the procedures so the divisions and the departments can have a
reporting system and a system to detect projects that they go off track quickly.
Ms. Yukimura: Right, well that is the only way you can get them
back on track, to know that they are off track in the first place. Thank you. Chair,
we are just ending up here. Did you have any last minute questions? Otherwise,
we are going to take a caption break and then maybe have Public Works come back.
(The Chair was noted present at 11:07 a.m.)
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, we will take a caption break.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, if there are no other questions, then thank
you very much, Pericles and Lani. And we will now take a 10- minute caption break
and then come back to this item after the break.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 11:07 a.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 11:20 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Aloha, we are back from our recess. Vice Chair,
meeting until my return. I believe...is that correct
Yes, there is. I thought we were going to hear from
COUNCIL MEETING
- 28 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: We are not if... did somebody make the motion to
receive because...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, there was a motion to receive before we even
had Mr. Manthos in.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, so I am not going to call for a vote. I am
going to call Public Works up.
Ms. Yukimura: Or if Public Works can come back later on today,
maybe we should do that so that we can get the Honolulu people first.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Ms. Yukimura: So is Mr. Haigh aware of this?
Council Chair Furfaro: Did you hear the comments, Mr. Haigh?
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
DOUGLAS HAIGH, Chief, Building Division: I am sorry I did not hear the
comments.
Council Chair Furfaro: We have three contracted services here today that
are on the meter, okay. So rather than let the taxi meter run, we are going to go to
those that are in the back seat waiting to get to the airport to catch a flight at
1:15 p.m. So that means you need to continue to make yourself available, okay, and
we are not going to go right into the rest of this at this time. And I will...
Mr. Tabata: Approximate time?
Council Chair Furfaro: Approximate time? On Wednesdays, the time is
mine. We have several pieces that are timed. For the general audience, we have
auditors here under contract to do this item. We have external auditors here to do
this item, and then we have insurance people here at 1:30 p.m. My best guess is
nowhere before 2 o'clock. So if you want to return to your offices, that I can promise
you. Fair enough, gentlemen?
Mr. Haigh: You will be monitored.
Council Chair Furfaro: Very good. Remember, Wednesday is my day. We
will then come back to that item, and I would like to have an opportunity to go to
the internal auditors who are here from Honolulu and they do need to leave by
12:15 p.m. as they have a 1 o'clock flight, I believe, or somewhere earlier than that.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
There being no objection, C 2012 -66 was taken out of order.
C 2012 -66 Communication (02/23/2012) from the Council Chair, requesting
the presence of Mr. Ron Shiigi, Principal for N &K CPAs, Inc. (or his designee) to
discuss the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the Fiscal Year
ending June 30, 2011, in particular information related to GASB Statement No. 54,
Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions, and to further
COUNCIL MEETING
- 29 - February 29, 2012
expand upon the figures reported in the CAFR as it relates to Nonspendable,
Restricted, Committed, Assigned, and Unassigned Fund Balances: Ms. Nakamura
moved to receive C 2012 -66 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang.
Council Chair Furfaro: I will suspend the rules. I am very delighted that
our external auditors are back with us. Welcome, gentlemen. I am going to
suspend the rules and I am going to go ahead and ask you to introduce yourselves.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
RON SHIIGI, N &K CPAs, Inc.: Thank you, Council Chair Furfaro. My name
is Ron Shiigi. I am the audit partner for N &K CPAs, and I have with me
Blake Isobe. He was the audit senior manager out in the field here.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you both for being here. I wanted to go to
some particular questions dealing with our recent audit as well as some of the
GASB rules in accounting principles so that we could have some clarity amongst our
group. And maybe you could reference even some of these questions as they relate
to the interpretations from GASB in code, and I would like to start by asking you to
explain to us once more the requirements that went into effect with the adoption of
GASB Statement No. 54, as it relates to fund balance reporting on government
funds.
BLAKE ISOBE, N &K CPAs, Inc.: What GASB 54 did was it took the old
reserved and unreserved fund balance and divided it up into five different
categories. The five different categories and the County of Kaua`i's accounting
policy for that is on page 54 of the CAFR. These five categories are Nonspendable,
the Restricted, Committed, Assigned, and Unassigned Fund Balances.
Council Chair Furfaro: Can I ask you to do that one more time slowly for
Members?
Mr. Isobe: It is the Nonspendable Fund Balance, Restricted
Fund Balance, Committed Fund Balance, Assigned Fund Balance, and then the
Unassigned Fund Balance.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. And if you can go then to some
definitions for us on those five balances.
Mr. Isobe: Okay, the Nonspendable Fund Balance, that is the
fund balance that is not in cash form. It cannot be spent. These are items like
inventory or prepaids where you cannot use it to pay for anything. The Restricted
Fund Balance is a fund balance that there are either external requirements that is
restricting the use, such as grantors, creditors, or other governments that are
putting those restrictions on those funds, or through enabling legislation. Enabling
legislation on the County would be resolutions or ordinances that are restricting
that fund balance. The next category is Committed Fund Balance. Majority of the
Committed Fund Balance for the County is encumbrances. Those are where
moneys have already been committed for specific purposes and are encumbered to
pay for those things. So in those cases, that Committed Fund Balance for the
county is mainly encumbrances. The fourth category is Assigned Fund Balance.
The Assigned Fund Balance is mainly, I guess the word to use here is intent. It is
the County's intent to use these funds for specific purposes. It is not restricted, it is
not committed, it is purely just the intent to use those funds. And the last is
Unassigned Fund Balance, and the Unassigned is anything that does not fall into
the other four.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
- 30 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, you may or may not know that when we put
in the plan to have a reserve, it was basically narrative that was attached to the
previous budget that talked about it at the time, not having any vehicle, not an
ordinance, not having a resolution as such, that it was just earmarked as
unreserved. But in the recent resolution that was introduced, and I believe the next
step was left to the Finance Chairman to evaluate the value of an ordinance on the
Reserve Fund, we had terminology that indicated that the Reserve Fund in the
narrative for the budget as a proviso indicated that it was unrestricted. In the
resolution that I introduced, it then showed that reserve as being a Reserve, a
Restricted Reserve with certain characteristics. So we interpret that now in GASB
as being a Reserve Fund, as being Restricted.
Mr. Shiigi: Assigned.
Council Chair Furfaro: Or Assigned, one of the two.
Mr. Isobe: Yes, at June 30, 2011, which our CAFR covers, the
budget ordinance that was passed showed the County's intent to establish. At that
point, which is the period of what the CAFR is covering, that intent to establish the
reserve or to use the remaining funds to cover any budget shortfalls is the reason
why that amount was shown as Assigned.
Council Chair Furfaro: And that is a GASB terminology as being Assigned,
the intent it was going to be used.
Mr. Isobe: Exactly.
Council Chair Furfaro: In the balanced budget, we showed some shortfalls
when we started the budget and would you say that it is true that the funds are not
available if we categorize them in this category called Assigned? Is that an
appropriate accounting terminology?
Mr. Isobe: Chair, can you repeat, sorry.
Council Chair Furfaro: We had some of these balances that ended 2010,
but then showed up as being Assigned in 2011, the start of the budget. So that is
the appropriate accounting terminology once it is assigned?
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: It is assumed that there is an intent to use that.
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: And that is covered as an accounting principle in
the GASB rule?
Mr. Isobe: That is the definition under the assignment, the
use of intent.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, would you say that is an identified practice
by most government political subdivisions today?
COUNCIL MEETING
- 31 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Shiigi: Yes, it is.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay. Then I did a worksheet of that period of
time showing what is now being converted to Assigned or to cover shortfalls which
also indicated then this intent of the reserves at $23 million, copying the
municipality similar to Denver, and in reconciling all of that to start this year's
budget, it really showed us to really have all the funds pretty much assigned.
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: Am I correct?
Mr. Isobe: Yes. I think in the CAFR at that point the
Unassigned Balance is zero.
Council Chair Furfaro: Have you had an opportunity to look at that
reconciliation that starts on the current budget year and how those moneys were
assigned?
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Ms. Yukimura: Can we put it up?
Council Chair Furfaro: Sure, do we have one of those? I know it was a
handout previously. Scott, do you have one that you can put up on the board? Do
we have more of those as a handout? Yes, that is the one. Can you help us along in
the GASB accounting principles? What I have indicated that when we started
July 1 of this year, what was assigned by intent, whether it was the reserve
or... could you run through this for us?
Mr. Isobe: Okay. The Assigned Fund Balance represents the
$47,619,311 that is comprised of the establishment of the Reserve for $23.3 million
plus the funding of the different budget shortfalls. In the General Fund that is the
$9.99 million. In the other funds, Public Access, Debt Service, CIP are the
respective amounts shown up there, and I guess there is a bunch of others in this
budget ordinance that make up that $12.3 million other shortfalls. It also shows
that there is also that $2.6 million that we had to finance to actually reduce the
budgeted reserve amount because GASB does not allow the showing of a negative
Unassiged Fund Balance.
Council Chair Furfaro: So in that particular case, we would then have to
reduce the reserve if these numbers are flush with our starting point on July 1? We
would have to reduce the reserve by $2.6 million from the $23 million?
Mr. Isobe: I do not know if it really specifically needs to be the
reserve or just the budgeted total.
Council Chair Furfaro: It needs to be somewhere in the budget.
Mr. Isobe: It needs to be somewhere because you cannot have
that deficit. So GASB tells you to reduce the Assigned Balance because you cannot
assign something you do not have.
COUNCIL MEETING
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, on that note I am going to allow some
questions from Members. So basically we have this determination of funds that are
committed, funds that are reserved, and that would actually lead up to what is
available, if there is available, and that is my summary here.
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay. Members, we have the auditors here for any
questions. Mr. Bynum, you have the floor.
Mr. Bynum: I am going to start with just one. The Assigned
Fund Balance, is it available for appropriation?
Mr. Isobe: The Assigned Fund Balance at June 30 is already
accounted for in the budget for July 1.
Mr. Shiigi:
Mr. Bynum:
Mr. Isobe: Sure.
- 32 - February 29, 2012
This current fiscal year.
So is it available for appropriation?
Mr. Isobe: Is it available for appropriation? No, I think it is
accounted for within this future budget ordinance that was established for fiscal
year 2011 -2012.
Mr. Bynum: So in August of 2011, we did a money bill here for
$60,000 for Council Services. Where did we appropriate those funds from?
Mr. Isobe: Something probably we cannot answer.
Mr. Bynum: I thought this was a very important meeting and I
spent most of the first part of this week preparing for it until I unfortunately
received some misinformation yesterday that you were not going to be here today.
So I did not finalize that preparation, but I still...you are here and I still want to
ask a number of questions.
Mr. Bynum: But I need to get some of the documents that are in
my office in order to... until I saw you in the hallway, I thought you were not going
to be here and we were going to defer this for two weeks. So I want to reserve the
right to ask other questions.
Council Chair Furfaro: We can take a 10- minute break here if you would
like to get your material.
Mr. Bynum: Well, there may be others who want to...
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, we can excuse you and I will come back to
you after you get your material.
Mr. Bynum: Of course, I do not want to miss that discussion
either.
Council Chair Furfaro: So, those are the choices. We can go into a
10- minute recess.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 33 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Bynum: I would prefer a recess, please.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, then I am going to let Mr. Rapozo have the
floor when we come back from that recess so you can have a little bit more time to
gather yourself.
Mr. Bynum: That was just a miscommunication.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, I am going to talk about miscommunications.
Again for everybody, there are no deferrals unless they get signed off by the
Chairman, okay. Let us make sure. So a rumor is a rumor until I sign off on it. We
are in recess.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 11:39 a.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 11:47 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: We are back in session and I will recognize
Mr. Rapozo.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you, and I did not realize you guys were on a
schedule, appreciate you guys being here today. My question is real simple and one
that everyone is asking in the community. Do we or do we not have this mega
surplus of cash that apparently has been mentioned? It causes problems for us on
the Council because if you listen to one person we have $50 million, if you listen to
another we have less. So I just want to ask a very simple question. All of these
numbers that was just passed out that was on the screen are certified numbers that
came off of the CAFR, correct?
Council Chair Furfaro: The upper part.
Mr. Rapozo: Right.
Mr. Isobe: Yes, yes.
Council Chair Furfaro: The lower part comes off of the budget ordinance.
Mr. Rapozo: Right, so those numbers are not in dispute. Those
are the numbers that are the numbers. That is not inflated, deflated, that is what
is certified. Okay, based on the CAFR we end up with $37.6 million of money after
you pay everything out. Based on the CAFR, you pay your insurance, you pay your
operating, and then when you look at our budget ordinance, it basically is the
ordinance that specifies how much money is going to go to where. So when you look
at this analysis, this analysis shows that at the end of the fiscal year, there is a
shortfall of about $2.6 million. So there is no $60 million of money floating around
that we can go buy stuff. $2.6 million, we either have to reduce the reserve, which I
do not support, or reduce the budget throughout the budget of this County, and we
cut back $2,649,939 to reach a balanced budget. So I want to end that today. I
want to make sure and the newspaper is here, so I want to end this once and for all
because I am tired. I was on a plane yesterday coming back from Honolulu and
somebody was telling me about this $60 million that we do not have, but these
people are under the perception that we do. I mean if we free up $60 million in the
budget, yeah, we will have $60 million, but we have to go cut $60 million to get $60
COUNCIL MEETING
million. So I just want to once and for all clear it up that we are looking at a budget
shortfall of $2.6 million and not a surplus of $50 million. Is that what I am...
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: This is what is going to go out in the newspaper, so
I need to clarify it once and for all for all the people.
Mr. Isobe: Yes, so based on the budget ordinance passed for
2011 -2012, fiscal year 2012, everything is accounted for within the budget. So
everything at June 30, 2011 was needed to balance the current fiscal year budget.
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Isobe:
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Correct.
Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: And your Fund Balance basically rolls over into the
ensuing year. It just does that, and that becomes part of the Operating Budget for
the next year, correct?
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
- 34 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Rapozo: That money is accounted for. Whether or not we
spend it or not, that money is accounted for.
Mr. Shiigi: Yes, yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay, thank you. So Leo, you got that?
$2,649,939 shortfall versus the mega million dollar surplus, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, gentlemen, I am going to turn the floor back
over to Mr. Bynum. So Mr. Bynum, you have the floor.
Mr. Bynum: I did not hear that whole discussion from
Councilmember Rapozo, but he is absolutely correct. He is at the crux of the
matter. Are we $2 million short or do we have a big reserve? And I cannot tell you
how important it is to clarify these terms because I believe there has been confusion
for more than two years and I am trying to bring up an article that was in the
Garden Island last year. So let me start with the first one that has the 43. This is
a slide from the County of Kaua`i's presentation to the Bond Company. It says "the
County has managed its financial cushion well." Unreserved General Fund
Balance, that was the term we were using for a number of years and that was from
the CAFR, the total General Fund Balance minus the Committed and Self -
insurance, and this is the way the Administration was reporting it until fiscal year
2009. So all of these bars up to fiscal year 2008 used that formula I just said.
Because until this year, our General Fund accounting never showed any restricted
amounts. This year it did. So the formula they were using up until 2008 was total
General Fund Balance minus the Self - insurance Fund and the Committed Funds.
Then GASB came in and then the figures you see for 2009 and 2010 are the
Unassigned Fund Balance. I have never understood why the Administration... now
that does say that in the note that there are these differences, but to me it is like
apples and oranges. Up until 2008 you are looking at apples and then on the same
chart you are looking at oranges because they are not calculated the same. Now it
says that in the footnote 2009 General Fund Unassigned Balance as reported in the
COUNCIL MEETING
- 35 - February 29, 2012
CAFR was 32844. This is the chart —I believe I have got the right ones —that the
Auditor put out, our internal auditor, where it is all apples because they are all
calculated the same. And it says that in the footnote for 2009 and 2010 Unreserved
Fund Balance includes $9 million and $15 million, respectively, from the General
Assigned Balance budgeted to future budget shortfalls. So now this chart shows we
were still calling it Unreserved General Fund Balance, all calculated the same, and
calculation is what was consistent in that first chart, total General Fund Balance
minus Committed and Self- insurance. Does everyone understand that? So at the
end of fiscal year 2010, our Unreserved General Fund Balance is $58 million. Now
my question is for years this County also used the term Unappropriated Surplus. I
think that is consistent with the Unappropriated Surplus and it is just so important
we get these terms correct because GASB changed the terms, but it did not change
the facts of our CAFR. So I do not want to proceed until we agree. Is this
calculation the same as the Unappropriated Surplus because this Council passed a
million bills that we tapped into the Unappropriated Surplus? What constitutes an
Unappropriated Surplus? That is the question right now.
Mr. Isobe: Off your charts, I cannot answer you. I know what
we are looking at, 2011. I can tell you from here (inaudible) way it would be the
Unassigned.
Mr. Bynum: If the purpose of this meeting is to make sure we
are all using the same terminology and talking about the same numbers, that is a
laudible goal. Staff helped me with this. These are all numbers from our CAFRs
and it is the total General Fund Balance minus the Restricted and Committed,
right?
Mr. Isobe: Okay.
Mr. Shiigi: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: Now is that the Unappropriated Surplus?
Mr. Isobe: That is not the terminology we are using. I mean
the terminology —I think that may be leading to some of the confusion —is the five
terminologies that we went over earlier under GASB 54: Nonspendable, Restricted,
Committed, Assigned, Unassigned. In this case that 51 in 2011 is the Assigned
Balance.
Mr. Bynum: The Assigned Balance, right, but it is not
appropriated, right? There is a stated intent.
Mr. Isobe: There is a stated intent, yes, correct.
Mr. Bynum: But it is not appropriated and it is not restricted.
Mr. Isobe: Okay.
Mr. Bynum: Is that correct? You directed us to 54 that says the
Assigned Fund Balance in your CAFR: "The Assigned Fund Balances are amounts
that are constrained by the County's intent to be used for specific purposes, but are
neither restricted nor committed." So these by definition are unrestricted funds,
right?
COUNCIL MEETING
- 36 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Shiigi: But if you go on to page 55, it is an Appropriated
Assigned Fund Balance, which is an appropriation of an existing fund balance to
eliminate a projected budgetary deficit in a subsequent year's budget in an amount
no greater than the projected excess of expected expenditures over expected
revenues. So you could say that that is the Appropriated Assigned Fund Balance.
So it has already been accounted for through the budget ordinance.
Mr. Bynum: It is through budget, right? Now, do we follow our
budget?
Mr. Isobe: I do not think that is our...
Mr. Bynum: You cannot answer that question.
Mr. Shiigi: I cannot answer that question.
Mr. Bynum: So can we bring up this chart, the one that you
made? Again, these are all numbers from our CAFR. The first column is the end of
the fiscal year total General Fund Balance. Some of those funds are committed or
restricted. We already have a contractually obligated place for those funds to go,
right?
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: Let the record reflect that the auditors are nodding
in the affirmative. So that leaves us with uncommitted. I need a term for this
because this is important. That leaves us with the uncommitted. If these are
restricted and committed, these are uncommitted.
Mr. Isobe: It is assigned.
Mr. Bynum: Well, we will get to that. But in the past, they did
not assign every penny like we did last year, right?
Mr. Isobe: I think, as I mentioned to you when I spoke to you,
the only way I could attest to that is if I got those budget ordinances from the past
and did work on the prior year CAFRs. I did not do that. I am working on...
Mr. Bynum: We will trust that the previous CAFRs are accurate
for this discussion. The point I want to make here is that...well, let me put it
another way. That column is what is available to be assigned. That is what is
available to be assigned, right.
Mr. Isobe and Mr. Shiigi: Okay.
Mr. Bynum: Okay. We can agree with that, right?
Mr. Isobe & Mr. Shiigi: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: So you start the year 2011 with a General Fund
Balance of $57 million, $5 million of that is committed or restricted leaving you
$51 million, okay? In my mind that is our de facto reserve, in my mind. So what is
available, this fourth column after the date, the third column that I have up there
as a working title of uncommitted, we can agree that that is available for
assignment, right? Now there is our history of assignment in the last 10 years. We
assigned 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 11, 19, but that is an intention, that is part of the budget.
COUNCIL MEETING
What I have said repeatedly here for two years is we do not follow our intention, far
from it, and we find out how well we followed our intention when we get the CAFR
because that is what we actually did, not what we said we were going to do, but
what we actually did. And our decisions should be made on what we actually do,
not budget plans or intents that we historically do not follow. So we can look at this
and we can see that in the last 10 years we assigned say let us take...Assigned to
budget from 2010 was $19 million. We said hey, we need $19 million to get a
balanced budget and we assigned it. But when we got the CAFR, how much of that
did we actually spend? And the answer is zero. We did not follow our intention by
$19 million. In fact in that year in addition to that $19 million we did not spend,
our fund balance increased by $14 million. So if we were to use the same formula
that Mr. Rapozo's saying we are going to end with a shortfall, that year we should
have spent the $19 million and we should not have had any excess. But to me I fear
in that year we were off by —what is 19 and 14? —more than $30 million, so
different from our intention.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair, if I may, a Point of Order.
Council Chair Furfaro: I think I will recognize you for the Point of Order.
Mr. Rapozo: Because the agenda item is for the year ending
2011. These auditors have limited time. There is a lot of time after for discussion
and Mr. Bynum can talk about his...I mean Mr. Bynum approved the budgets in all
of those years. I want to take advantage of these auditors. Maybe others have
questions, but if we are just going to listen to Mr. Bynum and waste these guys'
time, that is not fair. I think the discussion points are valid. I think they warrant
discussion, but those are not questions for the auditors. Those are comments and
statements of his position on how it should be. But they have limited time. I would
suggest that we get the questions out of the way and then we can have the
discussion amongst ourselves when they leave.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Vice Chair Yukimura. You want to add to
the Point of Order?
Ms. Yukimura: Well, no. I would like to ask some questions...
Council Chair Furfaro: Let us do this. Let us focus on questions for the
auditors that are here for about another 12 minutes. Let us also note that I have no
problem asking them to come back before March 15. Is that possible?
Mr. Shiigi: I am sorry?
Council Chair Furfaro: If we could invite you back again before March 15?
That is two weeks from now.
Ms. Yukimura: That would be March 14.
- 37 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Is it possible? I know the taxi meter is running to
bring you over here.
Mr. Shiigi: We need to check our schedules.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 38 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: May I ask that you check your schedule and if not, I
will bring you back in a period during budget. And when we bring you back, you
will be the first item on the agenda, so catch the early plane. And on that note, I
am going to ask other members if they would like to have questions directed at you
at this point in time because we have limited time.
Mr. Bynum: Mr. Furfaro, I still have the floor.
Council Chair Furfaro: You had the floor in our rules for a period of time
for two sessions and I am just saying that Councilwoman Yukimura had her hand
up and I want to recognize her and if she does not want to be recognized, I will
recognize Mr. Rapozo a second time.
Mr. Bynum: So he called for a Point of Order and we are not
going to complete that Point of Order?
Council Chair Furfaro: He has made the Point of Order and I have made
an option for you folks. Let me ask the question, "Do you want them to come back,
Mr. Bynum ?"
Mr. Bynum: I want to continue. I would have been done again
like in about three minutes and this is...
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, you have the floor for three minutes. You
have the floor right now for three minutes.
Mr. Bynum: This is the umpteenth time that I have been
interrupted when I have the floor repeatedly.
Council Chair Furfaro: I am sorry, I am well within the rules. You have
the floor for three minutes. Please continue.
Mr. Bynum: I cannot see what was up there.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair, just to clarify the point, the point was
the agenda item specified the 2011...
Council Chair Furfaro: I understood that, Mr. Rapozo, and I am going to
let Mr. Bynum have three more minutes, and everybody live within the agenda
item. Later we will vote to get you back, but we would like to get you back. Now we
are all going to operate on the value of kokua and Mr. Bynum, you have the floor.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you. This year through the actions of this
Council and the Administration, we assigned every single penny. Is that correct?
Mr. Isobe and Mr. Shiigi: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: That is unprecedented for this County to do that.
In previous years we assigned $19 million, leaving an Unassigned Fund Balance of
$43 million, and this year we assigned every penny. According to what you said
that means we have no wiggle room. We have stated an intent, those funds cannot
be used other than for that intent, and we have passed bills since this dipping into
the Unappropriated Surplus, which you are saying does not even exist. And so we
have got some really serious problems with our decisions and our discussion. This
has been our practice for years. For years we had what we called an Unreserved
General Fund Balance that ranged in the 17% to 20% range. Every year we
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Isobe: 57, Total Fund Balance of 57.
- 39 - February 29, 2012
assigned a portion of that and in most years we did not actually spend any of the
assignment. That was our reserve. That was our General Fund Balance. That was
in essence our surplus. And we operated fine. We assigned some of it, we spent
some of it, we audited it at the end of the year, and we saw where we were the next
year. And we did that fine and then all of a sudden we are going up to 25, 35, 31 %.
The last two years were actually up to over 50% if you use the same apples and
oranges. And now we have created a reserve of $23 million. But the fact is we
ended the year with $51 million in the General Fund Reserve. Going back to the
chart, we ended the year in your audit with a total General Fund Balace of what?
Mr. Bynum: And then if we minus the restricted or committed,
it is like 51.
Mr. Isobe: Okay.
Mr. Bynum: So we ended the year with $51 million. Now we
said hey, we are going to set aside $25 million for this and we are going to set aside
$25 million for this. But to me, we have passed a policy that says we are going to
hold $25 million as a reserve and for years we held...that is higher than we held for
years and we were able to operate our government fine. And now we are saying we
need 23 or 25 million in a reserve and we need an additional 20 million to assign to
future budgets. That is not acceptable to me.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, we are going to end right there, Mr. Bynum.
Your extra three minutes have gone over.
Mr. Bynum: So mid - sentence I get cut off again.
Council Chair Furfaro: No, I heard a closing (inaudible). "That is not
acceptable to me."
Mr. Bynum: Can I have one more minute on a process issue?
Council Chair Furfaro: Members, do you mind if I give Mr. Bynum another
minute and then we are going to let the auditors leave. Mr. Bynum, you have the
floor.
Mr. Bynum: The record of this Council will show that I have
personally repeatedly been interrupted when I have the floor with some kind of
motion that I am somehow off the agenda, and it interrupts my train of thought and
it keeps me from speaking further and it has happened repeatedly on this Council
floor. When I have the floor, under our Council rules, somebody can raise a Point of
Order, the Chair can make a judgment about that Point of Order, and I can
challenge that judgment and ask for a vote. He never followed that process. We
just interrupt Tim or whoever. It is frequently me, but it most often happens and
the whole session gets disjointed and we do not come to any conclusion. I would like
to read the article that was here on 2008 where the same confusion happened and
people said whoa, we are not going to have any money and I said no, we are going to
end the year with a substantial fund and I have been proven correct. We will not
end this fiscal year with a shortfall. We will end this fiscal year with a substantial
General Fund Balance. I hope it is reduced from where it is because right now it is
too large. And so we can come back to this discussion later.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 40 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: I do want to say that in our rules, they were not
applied to Mr. Bynum. Just so you know, I gave him an extra three minutes and
then I gave him an extra minute. I did need to terminate him, but we will all revisit
that. Everyone of the majority of the body here if you feel you want to elect a new
Chair, I suggest you go out and get your four votes and put it on the agenda.
Madame Vice Chair, you have the floor.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to say that to
restrict the discussion to the year, fiscal year 2011, is unduly restrictive. We should
be able to go back and look at past practice as we talk about a shift of terminology
over the years and I feel that interruption was not really valid. Now, I do have
some questions for the auditors. Is the Assigned Fund Balance the same thing as
an Appropriated Assigned Fund Balance?
Mr. Isobe: Is it the same?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes.
Mr. Isobe: I think it is part of the definition of the Assigned
Fund Balance.
Ms. Yukimura: So it is the same.
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: There is no distinction. Okay. So we need to show
where the appropriation is actually done in our budget, right?
Mr. Isobe: I am sorry.
Ms. Yukimura: If it is an appropriation, then it must show in our
budget, either as a series of numbers or as one number.
Mr. Isobe: I cannot answer.
Ms. Yukimura: So then I want to ask you, you say that the
Assigned Fund Balance are the amounts that are constrained by the County's
intent to be used for specific purposes, but are neither restricted or committed. So
that means that we could actually reassign these moneys to something else through
an appropriation process as we used to reassign our Unappropriated Surplus.
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Right?
Mr. Isobe: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: So in fact when they are not committed or
restricted, they are actually reassignable through an appropriation process.
Mr. Isobe: Yes, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. So some...like under contributions, if you
will see under Contributions Budget Ordinance, General Fund to Other Funds, it is
the second to the last line, of $12 million. In another session Councilmember
Bynum showed us that we were appropriating to special funds, moneys from the
COUNCIL MEETING
- 41 - February 29, 2012
General Fund that were far above what those special funds actually needed. So in
other words we are putting them aside as if they are not to spend and yet if they are
far beyond the accurate expenditures and these are all projections, right, we are
kind of hiding the moneys. We are showing them as not available, but if they are
really big over estimations, then they actually might be usable.
Mr. Isobe: I guess that is the whole budgetary process. You
are doing this budget early in the year, and you are trying to predict where you are
going to be, you are trying to predict what is your revenues, what is your expenses
going to be, how and where I need to allocate what I have to the future. So, yes, a
lot of this is estimates. So it is what is estimated in May when the budget
appropriation was passed, what would be needed to balance the budget, including
all the other funds.
Ms. Yukimura: Right, okay. And then I am not sure you can
answer this question, maybe the Chair can, operating projections, that is in the...it
is higher up there.
Mr. Isobe: That is just the shortfall in the General Fund itself.
Ms. Yukimura: And we show that in our budget? I mean are not
we supposed to pass a balanced budget?
Mr. Isobe: Including the use of...yes, your carry forward
balance, and that is why we had to assign it. It is all accounted for.
Ms. Yukimura: It is a projected...I am sorry, you go ahead.
Mr. Isobe: I am sorry, you are balancing the budget with that
roll forward balance, and that is how you can balance this budget. And that is why
we are saying it is the intent to use these funds to balance the budget.
Ms. Yukimura: So you are projecting what the shortfall will be in
our budget at the end of the year.
Mr. Isobe: We are not projecting.
Mr. Shiigi: It is your projections.
Ms. Yukimura: We are, we are.
Mr. Isobe and Mr. Shiigi: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: So we are projecting and I guess that is where...I
think Councilmember Bynum and the CAFR have shown that our projections have
been extremely conservative because we have actually not spent a lot of the money
that we have appropriated in our operating budget for the year. So again, that is a
judgment call in terms of whether our budget at the end of the year is going to have
a deficit or surplus.
Council Chair Furfaro: It is now 20 minutes after 12. Gentlemen, I will be
communicating to you about a return and again I want to say the piece that I think
everybody is missing here is once we establish the reserve of 23, 25, whatever it is,
and we end the next year on what might be poor forecasting, a poor budget process,
if the $25 million are there in an emergency reserve, the true surplus happens at
the end of this year because then the body can make a decision to spend that money,
COUNCIL MEETING
- 42 - February 29, 2012
launch new projects, replenish the reserve, but you have to establish the reserve
first. And I would appreciate it if you could take a look in your calendar about the
March 14 date or at least communicate to my office. Also note for the record so
nobody is confused, when the Council makes a request for you to be over, it is an
additional charge and it is not decided by the Audit Department whether you are
coming or not. It is decided by the presiding officer, who is me, and so please look at
your calendar. We will be making that request and we will be prepared to pay for
your revisit. Thank you very much.
Mr. Isobe: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Members, we will have them back. We are
getting close to the lunch hour, and I would like to say there were a couple of
comments here, again, if you want to stray broader and broader away from the
CAFR discussion, I have been very considerate in the past. I also feel it is necessary
also to ask you all to review the rule about time, Rule No. 6 item (f), "No member
may speak longer than five minutes, nor may a member speak more than twice on
the same subject on the agenda without leave of the Presiding Officer, subject then
to an appeal of the body. If the member is the maker of the motion or the sponsor of
the matter ending, then the member may speak up to twenty (20) minutes." This
agenda item was mine, not the Finance Chair's. So on that note, we will all read
and we will try to practice aloha while we follow our rules that were just revised.
Mr. Rapozo, you have the floor.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just would suggest going
forward that if we want to have the discussion on what happened years ago, then
the posting needs to reflect that. And also, I do not think it is fair for these two
gentlemen who only did the audit for last year's numbers be asked questions about
what happened in the prior years. If we can get the Finance Department here to
discuss terminologies and so forth, that is fine. I do not have a problem with that. I
was not trying to interrupt discussion. But if you look at our agenda, these guys
came over here prepared to speak about their audit, their CAFR numbers that
ended 2011. That is what they were here for. And we kind of wasted a lot of time
on terminology and the guy said how many times that is not for me to answer, that
is not for me to answer.
And the other comment is real quick, when we assign the fund balance, it can
be changed. We can change it at any time through the budget process, through the
amendment process. It is no different than your home budget. You have a budget
for a mortgage. Is it restricted? Not really because you can always take that money
and go buy something else. You can buy a boat if you wanted to, but you are going
to suffer the consequence. The same with our County budget. The problem is this
Council traditionally /historically has always approved the budgets that come
through knowing that it is inflated. That is the bigger concern, but yet every year
we vote on it. This year I voted against the budget because of that specific reason.
It is real simple. This body controls the spending, not the Mayor. And we need to
exercise that authority as we go forward in the budget process. So we will see in
this budget session, but that is the problem. It is not so much a money issue, it is
how we budget, and I think we need to be more careful when we... and I appreciate
the Chair's willingness to extend the budget review process. This is the first time in
many years that this Council will have extended reviews for our department heads
to justify the expenses, and that is the only way we are going to clip this problem.
But as far as the restricted, unrestricted, very few of the moneys are restricted to
specific uses. But when the money comes across and it is in the budget for an item,
whether it is paper cups, pencils, positions, at any time that can be changed
through the Council process and that is my only point. I would love to have the
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Bynum: First of all, I asked the auditor many questions
about this year's audit. I showed the previous CAFRs, which we all trust are
accurate, to put those questions in context. The bottom line to this discussion and I
guess we will continue it on the 14th and for the record I will be physically gone from
the State this Saturday until the 13th. So I will try to be prepared for the 14th by
working with the staff via email and stuff. But the bottom line, this is a really
important distinction. If we set a $25 million reserve, I agree to that. That is the
highest I have ever seen in the country in terms of percentage. You know all of
these government guys saying keep 5 to 15, but Mr. Furfaro and the Administration
have argued that we need more than that because of the unique circumstances of
our community, and I agree.
- 43 - February 29, 2012
discussion, but I think to have it with these auditors on historical data is not the
right venue. I think it is with the Finance Director and the Finance Department,
Mr. Chair, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: And thank you, Mr. Rapozo, even though I did not
recognize your Point of Order, which was at my discretion. I wanted to make sure
that we understood there was not an effort on my part to do anything more than to
keep the questions timely as these gentlemen need to be back, and I ask you again,
my definition of having a reserve policy is not about we are not going to have any
wiggle room. The wiggle room is in the $25 million. You come back to the table the
following year if we did not tap our reserve, then we have a surplus that can be
reallocated because we established a reserve. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, Mr. Chair, I just want to say that it was
perfectly legitimate to ask the auditors about past Comprehensive Annual Financial
Reports (CAFR) and much of the data was based on the CAFR, so I really think
again that it was unduly restrictive to say that we could not discuss or ask
questions of the auditor about how we are reporting out and how we are budgeting
certain things.
Council Chair Furfaro: I understood your point. I continued to let
Mr. Bynum have the floor, but I do want to point out these auditors did not do the
previous years and the agenda item was as such. So we have an opportunity on
March 14. Are there members in the public that would like to speak on this item?
No. Mr. Bynum, I will give you the floor again.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: And our State.
Mr. Bynum: And our State, and I agree. And I agreed and voted
for a resolution that says we keep 20% to 25 %, the highest I know of anywhere. But
I am not okay with us keeping an additional $20 million. That reserve is enough for
us to manage our government. That is what we did for years. The bottom line, a
reserve is about managing your General Fund Balance. And the CAFR fact is we
ended the year with at least a $51 million balance. And we said okay, 23 or 25 of
that is for a reserve, but the Administration wants an additional $20 million of
taxpayers money to keep assigned to future budgets, budgets that we do not follow.
Now I agree with the end of Mr. Rapozo's statement entirely that this Council has
historically passed budgets we know to be inflated. I think this year it might be
different and we will see. But we do not need more than 25% of your money sitting
in reserve to manage this government, including assignments for future budget
COUNCIL MEETING
- 44 - February 29, 2012
shortfalls. So if we say the target is 25, we should end the year with our CAFR in
that range of 25, not 50 or 60. And that is the big overall discussion that needs to
happen here and we will get back to it on the 14th apparently.
Council Chair Furfaro: Now, Mr. Bynum, I am going to pose a question to
you. Since we will still be in budget, I purposely asked for the 14th because I knew
you were traveling. I was going to bring them back next week. But if you would
like to have them come back on the 28th, speak to me now because I am going to
send them a communication, if that gives you more prep time.
Mr. Bynum: I do not know. This is a very important discussion
that I do not believe we have come to a consensus about our terms and our goals for
over a two -year period, so I think it is very important that we come to that
consensus because I know it has confused the public. When we have a newspaper
article that goes out that says the County has a shortfall, our employees say are we
going to have layoffs, what is going to happen, and in that same year we end with a
very large surplus.
Council Chair Furfaro: I just asked you a question, Mr. Bynum. I was not
giving you more time on the floor. Would you like me to move it to the 28th?
Mr. Bynum: Can I consult my calendar?
Council Chair Furfaro: You can consult your calendar the rest of the
afternoon. I am not going to communicate to them until the end of the day. So let
me know.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: And also for you and Councilwoman Yukimura,
again, if you feel that I am not trying to focus on the parameters of the rules that we
had revised this year in my one year and two months as Chairman, I do say to you
without any reservations, if you want to pursue finding enough votes to get another
Chairperson, you are welcome for that. I am just glad participating on the Council.
And on that note...
Mr. Bynum: May I respond to what you just said?
Council Chair Furfaro: Well, you folks have said that I am violating rules
and I am cutting people off, and so you have the floor if you want to restate
anything more than what I understood you said.
Chair.
Mr. Bynum: I never said anything about asking for a different
Council Chair Furfaro: But you indicated that I do not follow the rules.
Mr. Bynum: No, what I said was that I have repeatedly been cut
off with this argument that this is not on the agenda and then we do not follow
through with a meaningful discussion. I actually have OIP things that says we can
have a broad range and if there is a nexus like there is here between previous
CAFRs and the current CAFR...
Council Chair Furfaro: Then I suggest you bring that to the body if you
would like to change the rules.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 45 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Bynum: Let me be clear, Mr. Furfaro. I think you overall
are doing a fine job of managing the Council. I have no intention to ask for a
different Chair. But our rules also allow us to have this dialogue about process.
Council Chair Furfaro: And I am giving it to you but within the
parameters of the rules.
Mr. Bynum:
when we are in discussion.
questions and answers, and
And then there is the issue
and if it is applied.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, well this discussion is not on the agenda
right now. If the two of you want to bring something to the Council, bring it to the
Council. Next time I will call the meeting back to order. Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify for the record,
I understood you to actually understand my point of view by allowing another three
more minutes, but I was just responding to Councilmember Rapozo's argumentation
and thinking, and that was the only purpose for me to express my thoughts.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you for that explanation and I will continue
to try and practice my best leadership skills within the rules and the parameters
that we have. We need to break for...
But the rules that you just read has to do with
We had the rules suspended, and we were doing
so I do not think the five- minute rule applies there.
about five minutes, whether we ever apply that rule,
Mr. Rapozo: I will call for the question.
The motion to receive C 2012 -66 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carred.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 12:33 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 1:42 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Aloha, we have returned from our lunch session.
Mr. Clerk, it is my intention to have the County Attorney up so that we can go into
a consultation with our insurance broker, and I will turn the floor over to the
County Attorney.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
JENNIFER WINN, Deputy County Attorney: Good afternoon,
Jennifer Winn, Deputy County Attorney.
ES -526 Pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat. sections 92 -4 and 92- 5(a)(4), and
Kaua`i County Charter section 3.07(E), the purpose of this executive session is to
provide Council with a briefing and request for authority to settle claim against the
County by Shane N. Matias, filed on June 2, 2010, and related matters. This
briefing and consultation involves consideration of the powers, duties, privileges,
immunities and /or liabilities of the Council and the County as they relate to this
agenda item.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
COUNCIL MEETING
- 46 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. So it has been suggested for this
agenda item that we go into executive session. This is only one of the sessions
planned for today. The others will be at the end of our program.
Mr. Chang moved to convene in executive session for ES -526, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. As a practice that I have had being
Chair, I would like a roll call vote to go into executive session, please.
The motion to convene in executive session for ES -526 was then put, and
carried by the following vote:
FOR CONVENING: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST CONVENING: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 1:44 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 2:17 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
There being no objection, Resolution No. 2012 -25 was taken out of order.
Resolution No. 2012 -25, RESOLUTION APPROVING THE ISSUANCE OF
UP TO $12,500,000 AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF SPECIAL TAX
REVENUE BONDS OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FOR THE COUNTY'S
COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT NO. 2008 -1 (KUKUI`ULA
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT); AUTHORIZING THE APPLICATION OF THE
PROCEEDS OF THE BONDS, TOGETHER WITH CERTAIN OTHER AVAILABLE
FUNDS, TO FUND THE COSTS OF CERTAIN FACILITIES RELATING TO
SUCH DISTRICT; APPROVING THE FORMS OF THE BOND INDENTURE,
PRELIMINARY OFFICIAL STATEMENT, BOND PURCHASE AGREEMENT
AND CONTINUING DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS RELATING TO THE BONDS;
AND AUTHORIZING THE TAKING OF FURTHER ACTIONS RELATING TO
THE BONDS AND THE DISTRICT: Mr. Rapozo moved for adoption of Resolution
No. 2012 -25, seconded by Ms. Nakamura.
Council Chair Furfaro: So on that note so we are clear, we have our Bond
Counsel here to assist us with this resolution, which is providing for the issuance of
a special tax revenue bond for the Kukui`ula Development area. This district was
formed by the County pursuant to Chapter 26. This resolution is authorizing the
issuance up to $12,500,000 of special tax revenue bonds under Chapter 26, of which
the County of Kaua`i could in fact be the beneficiary of an approximate contribution,
for the public community, of approximately 15% of that amount. On that note, I
would like to ask, Sally, if I could ask you to come up, and the team, and if you could
introduce yourself.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
LARRY ROLAPP, Field & Rolapp and Associates: Mr. Chair, Members of
the Council, my name is Larry Rolapp. I am with the firm of Field & Rolapp &
Associates. We are financial advisors, and on this particular project we are
representing the County as the County's financial advisor. At this time I will let
the other parties introduce themselves and then we will go into a PowerPoint
presentation.
COUNCIL MEETING
BRIAN HIRAI, McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP: I am
Brian Hirai with the law firm of McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon. We are
serving as Bond Counsel to the County in connection with this CFD financing.
SALLY MOTTA, Deputy Director of Finance: Aloha, I am Sally Motta,
Deputy Director of Finance for the County of Kaua`i.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Larry, let me ask for the
Members because we have all of this historical documentation right here and you
are getting ready to roll into a PowerPoint it looks like, and may I ask for the
Members, if we forego the PowerPoint, would we be missing anything that
previously we needed to revisit?
Mr. Rolapp: I think we would be fine to abort the PowerPoint if
it is the Council's desire.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Members, Mr. Chang, Mr. Rapozo, the
question is if we would forego the PowerPoint? Okay, everybody seems to be fine
with that.
Ms. Yukimura: Chair?
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes.
- 47 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: I am fine with foregoing the PowerPoint, but I
would like a general summary for the public as to what this vote is about.
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, I think that is a good idea and I was going to
get there, but for the essence of time and motion...
Ms. Yukimura: I just wanted to make sure that would be in lieu of
a PowerPoint.
Council Chair Furfaro: I will give Mr. Rolapp and Mr. Hirai an opportunity
to give us the overview.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: So gentlemen, if you do not mind, I would like to...
Mr. Hirai: We are playing musical chairs here.
Council Chair Furfaro: That is why we put them on wheels, I guess.
Mr. Hirai: Thank you. What you have before you today
approves that stack of documents. It is a bond resolution. The bond resolution will
authorize the issuance of up to $12.5 million worth of bonds to be secured by the
special taxes on the Kukui`ula CFD. As you may recall, there was a bond ordinance
that was adopted as part of the Chapter 26 proceedings for this CFD that
authorized up to $120 million maximum total amount of bonds, not issuing all at
once. The first tranche is up to $12.5 million per the bond resolution. The
resolution also approves the forms of the basic documents for the bond issue,
principally the Bond Indenture, which is the document under which the bonds will
be issued, under which all the terms are set and the security is provided for the
bonds. There is a Preliminary Official Statement that has also been submitted.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 48 - February 29, 2012
This is the offering document for the bonds, the document that we use to market the
bonds to the investing public. A Bond Purchase Agreement for these kinds of
offerings once the marketing has been done, all of the deliverables are identified in
the Bond Purchase Agreement. The (inaudible) of that document, including the
things that the County will be delivering and more specifically the things that the
bond underwriters will be delivering to evidence the purchase of the bonds, all of
those are spelled out. And finally, there are two Continuing Disclosure Agreements
that are included in the package. Under the Securities and Exchange Rules,
issuers, in this case the County, and also principal obligors, which would mean the
developer, are required to update the information that is in the Official Statement;
there is key financial information that is in the Official Statement. From the
County's standpoint that will include the tax levies on an ongoing basis every year
and update on the tax levies, and from the developer side it would be information
about the project as it generates the revenue that will support the bonds. Finally,
the Bond Resolution, as you had mentioned, implements the 15% set aside for the
projects designated by the County. This is 15% of what is defined as the net
construction proceeds. The bonds are issued, there will need to be some costs paid,
and there will need to be a set aside of a reserve fund for the security of the
bondholders to be held under the indenture, and the balance is what is considered
the net construction proceeds of this amount. The County is, by prior agreement,
entitled to designate projects to be funded with 15% of that net proceeds. And I
believe that Sally will be presenting the actual projects that are included in the
resolution.
Ms. Motta: Okay, pursuant to the bond resolution, the County
Administration is proposing three projects for funding by the Kukui`ula CFD. The
first one, the Kaneiolouma Heiau, the public parking improvement for Po`ipii Beach
Park, and the Koloa- Po`ipu Complete Streets Initiative. These projects were
identified based on community input from residents of the Koloa- Po`ipu area. In
June of last year, the Mayor attended a meeting by request for the Koloa
Community Association to hear firsthand about the issues of concern to the Koloa-
Po`ipu community. Recognizing the value of the information that he received at
that meeting as part of his Holo Holo presentations to all of the communities on the
island, he set up a second community meeting which was held in January of this
year, which many of the Members of the Council were able to attend. The whole
purpose was to continue the public discussion on what items the public felt were
important to the communities. In addition to public notices and press articles
announcing the meeting, the Mayor's Office solicited the assistance of the Ko loa
Community Association and the Po`ipu Bay Resort Association to encourage their
members to attend this meeting. These were well attended meetings, produced
lively and thoughtful discussions on both islandwide and local community issues,
and what the County government can and should be doing to address those issues.
Out of these discussions, the Administration has identified these three projects and
fully support that these initiatives are important. The first one, which is the heiau,
has been identified as a significant part of our island's history and culture that
needs to be preserved and might otherwise be lost forever. The parking
improvement for Po`ipu Beach pretty much speaks for itself if you saw the picture in
the paper this morning, and so funding is necessary for long- standing community
complaints about flooding that has been existing. The Koloa- Po`ipu Complete
Streets Initiative is proposed to address community concerns about the safety of
streets in the area, including the need for safe routes for the school area for all of
our keiki and for our pedestrians in general. The Administration, again, fully
supports these initiatives and proposes to provide funding for them from this
additional 15% of the net construction proceeds.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 49 - February 29, 2012
At this time, we were hoping to just give a brief outline of what a community
facilities district bond is and so this is what our PowerPoint is. It is pretty basic on
explaining what the process is that we are talking about.
Council Chair Furfaro: If you want to verbally give us an overview, you
know we have community input that goes back to 2005 when the Mayor was then in
Parks & Recreation, and we have a handout on the particular current status, plus
we have much of the history here. But if there are Members that would like to
revisit that, I will check with them right now. We seem to be in pretty good shape.
Okay, thank you, Sally.
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, I would like to ask some questions.
Council Chair Furfaro: I will have them come back.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Please stay there. We do not need to see the
makeup of the CFD, but we have questions for you now. Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, just for the sake of the public, right, this is a
process that is following an ordinance that was passed creating the community
facilities district, and a district was created out of lands that Kukui`ula is
developing, and it provides for the financing or the reimbursement to the developer
of community infrastructure that has been put in place, and this is to be paid for out
of assessments upon property owners in the district, which will not be taken from
any of our real property taxes and will not affect the bond rating of the County,
even in case of default of the community facilities' rate payers.
Mr. Hirai: We would speak to part of that and I will defer to
Mr. Rolapp regarding the bond ratings and the bond market generally. But you are
absolutely correct. The district was formed and bonds were authorized to be
secured by these special taxes. These special taxes are in addition to the real
property taxes, and they are levied solely on properties within the Kukui`ula
District as designated by Council. And so as far as the security is concerned, they
will not default here. As a legal matter it does not impact on the County's general
obligation bonds and vice versa. These are separate and distinct. As far as that is
concerned, from a legal standpoint there is no direct connection if a default were to
occur, but I will defer to Mr. Rolapp about how the market would look at this.
Mr. Rolapp: The rating agencies have indicated to us that as
long as the County is fulfilling the covenants that are part of this bond issue, in
other words properly administrating the community facilities district, initiating any
foreclosure or other actions that are part of this financing, that this does not and
should not impact the County's general credit rating. So, as Mr. Hirai indicated,
the funds for this project are solely the special taxes. There is not a General Fund
obligation on the part of the County, only to levy and collect the taxes, and fulfill the
obligations under the bond covenants.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, but there is this so long as, which means as
long as we properly administer the CFD district requirements.
Mr. Rolapp: That is correct.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 50 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: So it does take time from our County employees
that are associated with that, but as I understand it, even that time is reimbursed
by the proceeds of the bond.
Mr. Rolapp: Yes, I think there are several aspects that provide
some assurance: (1) The County has engaged several consulting firms to assist
them in that effort. (2) The community facilities district, through the special tax
levy, has the ability to adjust the levy to make sure that it covers the costs, internal
costs as well as external costs. So it is fully reimbursable back to allow for if any
additional positions are required or additional consultants are needed or lawyers
are needed to assist them in any foreclosure activity. So we have the funding
sources and the staffing requirements and the consulting group to be able to
support all of that.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, so the only thing you cannot guarantee is
that the property owners will not complain about our property taxes.
Mr. Rolapp: Well I think what is also important to recognize is
that this is not your ad valorem property tax. This is an additional tax, and it only
applies to the Kukui`ula CFD properties that are subject to the special tax, which
are the residential lots. They have been noticed. There has been a levy for
2011 -2012. We have been able to monitor the first installment of tax collections and
the second installment. The information is processing through the tax collection
process, so we will have a better idea when we actually sell the bonds as to what the
acceptability is. But the first installment, we had a very high response back from
the property owners as far as paying their special taxes. In addition as Mr. Hirai
had indicated, a part of the proceeds that we are going to be using when we sell the
bonds are going to go into a special reserve fund, and this special reserve fund is set
aside and used for making up any differences in any tax delinquencies that occur.
It is equivalent to about a year's worth of debt service, and when I say a year's
worth of debt service, you would be able to go to through that reserve fund if
everybody in the district did not pay one cent. So it is a significant amount of
money that is set aside. And it gives time for the County and its consultants to
pursue any delinquencies that occur and bring current. This money remains in this
reserve fund and in the last year of the bonds, then is used to pay debt service. So
the money, while subtracted from the gross amount of the bond issue, is in fact
earning interest, applies additional security, and also is not lost to the property
owners; they get it back at the end of the bond issue.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you. So were there any defaults in
this last round?
Mr. Rolapp: We had a delinquency rate of 5% and when we are
talking about Kukui`ula plus 80+ lots, it amounted to about four or five parcels. We
have had discussions with, have sent out notices to those property owners, and we
are diligently pursuing them. But kind of the industry standard is if you are less
than 10 %, you are in a reasonable amount. Again, if you think about a 10%
delinquency and they were all equal, which they are not, but if they were all equal,
it would take 10 years to go all the way through the reserve fund.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Members, any more questions of the team?
Mr. Bynum.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Bynum: I do not have any questions about the specifics of
this because we have been well informed throughout the process.
Mr. Rolapp:
Mr. Bynum:
about CFD. Community
projects, correct?
Mr. Rolapp:
Mr. Bynum:
Kaua`i.
Mr. Rolapp:
actually issue bonds, this
issued.
Mr. Bynum: But it can potentially be a tool we use in the future
for both public /private partnerships for large infrastructure projects; it could be a
public project. Is that correct?
Mr. Rolapp: It is totally in the discretion of the Council. But
because and I think in some of our discussions with individual Councilmembers we
indicated that there are a lot of consultants that are hired. So you really would not
want to use it on a small project. It would have to be a major, major project. So if
you are thinking about an infill or a project like that, it would probably be some
other financing vehicle.
Mr. Bynum:
Mr. Rolapp:
Mr. Bynum:
Council Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Bynum:
Council Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Rapozo:
- 51 - February 29, 2012
Thank you.
I just want to ask a couple of general questions
facilities district is a common tool for financing large
Certainly in California, yes.
And it is new, fairly new to... this is the first one on
If the Council decides to move forward and we
will be the first one in the State that will have been
But it could be used for a large public project.
At the Council's discretion, that is correct.
Yes, thank you.
That is it, Mr. Bynum?
That is it.
Mr. Rapozo, did you have anything?
No.
Council Chair Furfaro: At this point, I guess what I would like to do is see
if there is public testimony. I do want the record to show that Mr. Abrams has
submitted, from Koloa Community Association, testimony dated February 27, 2012.
Louie, since you submitted this, do you want to come up to speak?
LOUIE ABRAMS, President, Koloa Community Association: Good afternoon.
My name is Louie Abrams. I am the President of the Koloa Community
Association. Thank you very much for taking our testimony in regards to our
support of the CFD and the purposes that it is intended for. If you have any
questions in regards to that, we are pretty familiar with the CFD process. I pulled
my 2008 book out that we all went through.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 52 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Louie. I pulled mine. It is a little
thicker too.
Mr. Abrams: Well, good, that is good, you are doing your
homework then. At that point, we had supported it back then, so we will continue
to. So any questions?
Council Chair Furfaro: Louie, I did share with all the Members your
correspondence to myself as Council Chair, so it has been distributed.
Mr. Abrams: Thank you very much.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Do we have anyone else
signed up for today? If not, is there anyone in the audience that wishes to speak at
this point?
TED BLAKE: Aloha mai kakou, my name is Ted Blake. I speak
in support of this resolution. We have come a long ways, and to see this come to
fruition after starting in 2008 is a real blessing for us. There are a lot of things in
Koloa that will benefit from this. We can go forward. with a cultural base, which I
think that with the site we have at Kaneiolouma is the lowest hanging fruit, and it
just takes a little bit more to push that over the top and make it one of the top, if
not the top, site in the State, and there are many other cultural assets we have in
that area that will provide a rich ground for our residents. When they learn the
history, it will become a tremendous asset for the visitor industry. But it is
community first, visitors will benefit from it, and I speak in total support of this.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Teddy, and I agree with your
statement. Certainly it is a critical reflection on the sense of place and the cultural
values that exist in the Po`ipu -Koloa area. Let me see if there are any questions for
you. Anyone? No questions, thank you very much. Is there anyone else that
wishes to speak on this item?
JENNIFER LUCK, Kauai Island Director, Hawaiian Islands Land Trust:
Good afternoon. For the record I am Jennifer Luck, the Kaua`i Island Director of
the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. I just wanted to come up and express my
support for the Kaneiolouma Project and to tell the Council that the Land Trust has
expressed interest in working with Rupert and his group and the County as well,
and hopes to find a way to, if the landowners are willing, acquire that last property
that contains the entrance to the heiau. So I really just wanted to come before you
today and make sure that you were aware of it. We are hoping that we can form
some sort of a collaborative relationship with the County in moving forward on
completing that project.
Council Chair Furfaro: Jennifer, thank you very much for that and
pointing out the collaborative possibilities. Obviously as the County steps forward
on our... may I say our effort to stewardship, then certainly we can also call on,
besides the Hawai`i Land Trust, maybe Kamehameha Schools, maybe OHA. There
are many other opportunities to leverage this, and let me just say thank you very
much for all the work you do in our community. JoAnn, did you want the floor?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, please.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Vice Chair, you have the floor.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 53 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: Hi, Jennifer. I just wanted to ask whether the
expansion of Po`ipu Beach Park is also on the Trust's radar? Is it something that
you folks have been looking at?
Ms. Luck: We have looked at it in the past. As some of you
may know, we were the Kaua`i Public Land Trust. We recently merged with three
other Land Trusts around the State, so we are now the Hawaiian Islands Land
Trust. The Kaua`i Public Land Trust certainly looked at that project and expansion
of the park, again if the landowners are willing, was a high priority. The Kaua`i
Island Council of the new Hawaiian Islands Land Trust has not examined that
project as closely yet, so I cannot say for sure one way or the other, but it certainly
was a priority of the Kaua`i Public Land Trust, and I would imagine that they would
be supportive of that moving forward, but we have not addressed it specifically yet.
Ms. Yukimura: Will you take it to the committee to get their input?
Because this is the time now, I mean as you showed with the Hodge Project, the
time to buy if there is a willing seller and those times do not come often. So it
would be important, I think, to at least track the possibility.
Ms. Luck: Right, yes, I think it would just depend on the
owners of the property and whether or not there was any donative intent. So if they
were willing to maybe reduce the price of that property because as we all know, that
is probably pretty expensive beachfront property, and so we would like to see some
sort of donative intent on their part. But absolutely, I will certainly take it to the
Island Council. We just have not discussed it specifically yet.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you again Jennifer and please keep a close
eye on that (inaudible) and any potential future movement on that. I think
certainly bring it to Councilwoman Nakamura's attention because the reality is
once somebody builds a house on there, then it is very, very difficult to approach.
Ms. Luck: Right, hard to unbuild a house.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you again.
Ms. Luck: Okay, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else in the audience that would like
to speak? Rupert.
RUPERT ROWE: Aloha everybody. My name is Rupert Rowe. I am
the po`o of Kaneiolouma. I support the resolution and I support more projects in the
Po`ipu -Koloa area. We are in a great position right now that we sure need a
security wall around the facility. That is all I have to say.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any questions of Rupert? Rupert, again, I want to
thank you in behalf of the Council on your group's efforts to be wonderful stewards
of that area. Thank you.
Mr. Rowe: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: If there is not anyone after Mr. Mickens... oh,
Mr. Mickens, I am going to let you have the privilege of going last. If there is no one
after...okay, I see, here we go. You have the floor ma'am, please go right ahead.
COUNCIL MEETING
Council Chair Furfaro: Is that the Hoban?
Ms. Kinnaman: Yes.
Mr. Mickens: I see, I see.
Council Chair Furfaro: I hope I helped you there.
- 54 - February 29, 2012
TESSIE KINNAMAN: Good afternoon, Tessie Kinnaman for the record,
speaking as a member of the public. I support these funds, the CFD funds, and
hopefully I was here two weeks ago pushing for the Hoban easement and some of
these funds could be used to get that access to the area there.
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, again, I want to encourage you, the money is
there now. Get Planning to do that appraisal, get to us, we are ready to move on
that easement access, and you have my blessing as the Open Space Commission to
do that.
Ms. Kinnaman: Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Come, you want to come up or do you
want to go to Glenn? Glenn, you have the floor.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you, Jay. This is basically just for
informational purposes. How does this CFD interact with say a CIP project if the
two projects conflict? Say the CIP project was obligated to be done and all of a
sudden the community in that area decided they wanted to go with this CFD by the
bond fund. The bond fund is paying for whatever they want to do, but then what
about the CIP project. That is going to be done by our taxpayers' money, right? So
how does that work, Jay?
Council Chair Furfaro: It works this way, Glenn, when we have this
community facilities district, through a metes and bounds description, you have the
parameters of amenities to be built for that community. When we talk about CIP,
the CIP funds are coming from the first tier property taxes and /or park assessments
for that area. This money is coming from a second tax only for those people within
that district and a percentage of it is earmarked for public benefits that have been
covered in previous discussions, and the conditions, I think there were 11 or
12 projects that were conditioned in the bill for the zoning that the developer had to
make improvements on, like the Piwai Water Tank that was part of that bond fund.
So it does not lower or give any less exposure on what would be a regular CIP
project.
Mr. Mickens: But then are not the residents in that particular
area being double taxed? They are going to be paying for both projects.
Council Chair Furfaro: That is why JoAnn asked the question about how
many of them are not paying their taxes at 5 %. But they understand that when
they bought that development that there was that condition.
Mr. Mickens: I see and this is like say for Kapa'a or Anahola?
Council Chair Furfaro: No, this is only for the Lawa`i, Kukui`ula District,
Po`ipu. Those are the boundary confirmations that that second tax can be used for.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Mickens: Okay, thank you, Jay.
Council Chair Furfaro: You are welcome. Tom.
- 55 - February 29, 2012
TOM SHIGEMOTO: For the record Tom Shigemoto. The least I could do
as a recipient of the bond proceeds is to state for the record how much I appreciate
all of the work that has been done over the past few months with the consultants,
well your consultants as well as our consultants, lawyers, appraisers met every
week for the past three months or so working on this very issue. I am very
appreciative of the meetings that we have had with the Council and with the
Administration in trying to form this bond issue. And while this is the first in the
State, hopefully it will not be the last. But, again, if it is a win -win for the County,
and I think it is, I appreciate everything and everybody that came over here as well
today. All I want to say is thank you so much for everything that everybody has
done. Thank you, Jay.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Tom. Any questions of Tom? If not,
thank you, Tom. You were the last speaker. I am going to call our body together.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: We have a motion and a second. Is there any
further discussion? Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I have an amendment to offer. So I move to
amend as circulated.
Ms. Yukimura moved to amend Resolution 2012 -25 as shown in the Floor
Amendment attached hereto, seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Ms. Yukimura:
Council Chair Furfaro:
May I explain Mr. Chair?
Yes, you have the floor.
Ms. Yukimura: I am just adding to the list of designated County
projects the expansion of Po`ipu Beach Park just because if the opportunity arises,
the window is very small, and we are not making a decision right now as to which
project or how much, but it just allows this project to get part of the funds. I do not
expect it to be all of it. But if...you just do not know which projects will move and I
just think that this should be on the list as a potential project. The final decision as
to whether and how we spend the money will be made later. I am hopeful that if
that project does come up, we will be piecing together funds from different places
like we did for the Hodge property. But when it comes, the opportunity is
sometimes once in a lifetime. If it is sold and, as the Chair mentioned, a house is
built on it, then the possibility of purchase is pretty much gone. And so I just
wanted to add that to the mix of possibility.
Council Chair Furfaro: Members, any discussion? You have heard the
overview from the introducer of the amendment. Go ahead, Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: Did the Administration have a chance to review
this and what is the Administration's...
COUNCIL MEETING
- 56 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: I did mention it to the Mayor and I did not hear
any objection. I think for the public's purpose, I think the Koloa people know, but
there is a lot between the Waiohai Hotel and Po`ipu Beach Park, a vacant lot that is
a very logical piece for expansion of the park. It will complete the park essentially.
And because of where we are now in the economy and real estate, it is a time,
possibly, to see if we can make this happen. And so just looking ahead and that
being, as you know, there is not much more beach park we can expand into in the
Po`ipu area, and the Kukui`ula Development will bring in 1500 more units, which
will be a great increase in population when the project is built out. So the need for
shoreline park space is going to be great, and it is just a logical long -range project,
so that is why it is being proposed.
Mr. Rapozo: I guess I was under the impression that these
projects had been selected after a community process, and I am afraid that... first of
all it is not a lot of money.
Ms. Yukimura: That is correct.
Mr. Rapozo: The proceeds from this bond issue is going to be
about a million dollars. It is going to be a small amount and I look at the heiau
project, that is a substantial project. I look at the public parking improvements at
Po`ipu Beach Park, which I believe is overdue; that is a huge project. Obviously the
Complete Streets Initiative can be substantial as well. I guess I kind of want to
hear from the Administration before we start amending it because the expansion of
Po`ipu Beach Park, we have an Open Space Fund. If this Council's prerogative is to
go out and go get it, then it is our responsibility to go fund it. But I want to make
sure, I do not want to start bundling all these things, okay, now heiau you get this
much, parking lot improvement you get this much. I want to make sure that it will
work and I am kind of curious to hear, Mr. Chair, and I know we already had public
testimony, but I was not aware of the amendment. So I was not able to talk with
the public, but I am just curious to hear what the community has to say and more
importantly the Administration because they are the administrators of this
proceeds, not the Council. I am not sure if anybody has anything to say. The
President of the Koloa Community Association is here. I am not sure if he was
aware of that and if the Association was able to discuss it.
Council Chair Furfaro: Louie, are you prepared to discuss this by chance?
Ms. Yukimura: And Chair, may I just correct a statement? The
Administration may propose, I believe, the project's funding, but I believe we do it
by appropriation. So the Council is involved in the...
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Abrams, I think first of all the amount —I just
want to make sure we are aware —the amount that we are getting in this first phase
is about a million dollars. We have three or four projects identified through a long
process. I believe this particular piece has been appraised at around $3.2 million.
We have not heard anything from the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust as to any
degree that they would be willing to participate in, and I think you have heard the
question from Mr. Rapozo.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
LOUIE ABRAMS, President, Koloa Community Association: Let me first say
that we are in general always in favor of expanding our beach parks, and so with
that said, I refer to my letter where we realize the economics of the bond, this first
phase, the future phases; looked at what we thought would be priorities. We have
COUNCIL MEETING
- 57 - February 29, 2012
had discussion about Po`ipu Beach Park and the acquisition there, and frankly so
did we also bring up some other projects that we thought but deferred to the
Administration and the Council at that point to make those decisions, and then we
would basically work with whatever comes up from there. I do not know whether or
not by listing Po`ipii Beach Park expansion right now would compromise however
you administer or go through this CFD and (inaudible). If that was the case and it
did because of the allocation like you were talking about, Mel, then I would probably
say it is not a good idea because there are not that much funds and Kaneiolouma
and Po`ipu Beach Park are by far the most important things right now to take care
of.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Louie.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Members, we had a motion and a second on
this amendment. Mr. Bynum, you have further discussion?
Mr. Bynum: I do. I was going to say this in my comments that
the projects identified are outstanding. There is no lack of worthy projects on the
island of Kaua`i, but there is often a lack of resources to pull them off. And I have
said when I met with all of these folks and I will make those comments later, the
County Administration and our consultants have handled this really well. I am
almost certain we will have a unanimous vote to approve the CFD because it is a
win -win. I always have said what it is going to come down to, the discussion is how
we expend the County's funds, and we are in that discussion already. But I believe
it is accurate to say that that will eventually be a decision based on
recommendations from the community and the Administration that is made here at
the Council. There is not enough funds in this first go- around to accomplish any of
these projects. But having said all of that, I believe this amendment just allows us
the flexibility because we could not designate any of these funds outside of the three
that are identified. And so this just gives us flexibility, but it is not a decision, it is
not a commitment, it does not obligate any funds, it just opens up another
possibility. Maybe six months from now the things will be aligned differently and
we will be happy that we gave ourselves more flexibility. So I do not object to this
amendment. I can support it because in the long run it is going to come down
to... and I am sure that this Council will listen very closely to the community and to
the recommendations of the Administration before we make a decision about how
these potential funds are appropriated, so thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo, you have a question to pose?
Mr. Rapozo: I have a question and I am not sure who. I would
assume it is with the County Attorney's Office. I do not know if we have one here.
Council Chair Furfaro: Amy is here.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Rapozo: I am under the impression that once the resolution
is approved, the expenditures of these funds will be done by the Administration and
not the Council. Can anybody answer that question? I am not sure they are the
right people to answer. I have not read through all the...
COUNCIL MEETING
- 58 - February 29, 2012
AMY ESAKI, First Deputy County Attorney: I have to apologize. I am not
working on the CFD funds itself.
Mr. Rapozo: And who would that be?
Ms. Esaki: Amy Esaki, First Deputy County Attorney. We
have Jennifer Winn, who is working on the CFD, I believe. So she is at the office.
But I did work on the other bonds in the past.
Mr. Rapozo: Well, if anybody can answer that question because
I think it is an important question. I think because of what Mr. Abrams talked
about I want to make sure that we address the community's concerns, especially as
I am under the impression that, again, once it is approved, it is an administrative
function based on what has been approved in the resolution. And I see JoAnn
nodding her head no, but I am asking the attorney because I think it is...I have not
seen all the documents. JoAnn, if you know the answer, then you...
Ms. Esaki: I have not seen the documents either, so it is really
difficult for me to answer at this time.
Mr. Rapozo: Well, maybe we can get the attorney that is
covering CFDs here, maybe that would help.
Ms. Esaki: Sure, okay, would you like me to?
Mr. Rapozo: Yes, that would be nice.
Ms. Esaki: Okay, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: In the meantime, Mr. Hirai, can you contribute to
this?
Mr. Rapozo: Yes, maybe Brian can answer that question. I am
not sure.
Mr. Hirai: I am afraid I cannot answer that question
definitively. The bond process was not intended to supplant normal county
processes. So this approval is required in order as a gating issue from the
standpoint of being eligible to use the CFD funds. As far as anything beyond that
that may be required per the County's normal processes, it is not supplanted by the
CFD process. So hopefully the County Attorney...
Council Chair Furfaro: Well, we have someone coming over for that. I
mean first blush for me it is a County ordinance set by the Council, so I would think
the directions of the priorities set by the Council are the ones that are followed. I
will just say that off the cuff. Mr. Bynum had his hand up first.
Mr. Bynum: I • just want to thank Councilmember Rapozo for
asking the question because my perception is different, that that decision will be
made by this Council based on recommendations. And when I met with all of you I
said I am fine with this including all three because I believe the decision will be
here, just like I am fine with it including this fourth one because I do not think we
make that decision today. I think it has to be included in order to receive funding
from this. So I, too, want the question answered definitively. Just like I predicted
it two years ago, the real discussion is going to be how we use these funds. So
thanks for the question, Mel.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 59 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Hirai: Although I did indicate that the CFD approval does
not supplant county processes, there is an additional layer that we need to be
mindful of in terms of being able to execute on these projects within a timeframe
that is set by the federal tax laws for the use of tax - exempt bond proceeds. It is
essentially a three -year period and there must be, at the point of issuance, a
reasonable expectation as to the expenditure of the funds within that three -year
period. So I am looking to be educated as well to make sure that that expectation
can be expressed and met at the time we issue the bonds.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. As I understand it, this is, as you said,
it is eligibility. If a project is not on this list, then it is not going to be eligible for
these bond moneys.
Mr. Hirai: Correct.
Ms. Yukimura: But the actual allocation and decision making
about how much is spent for each project or if any is spent for the project if it is not
ready will be made, like you said, normal practices. Whenever we float a bond, the
money is given to the County.
Mr. Hirai: Is identified as bond funds.
Ms. Yukimura: And from there we appropriate it through an
ordinance in terms of the actual amounts assigned to a project. So I imagine that
that would be how the bond would work.
Mr. Hirai: May I ask, that ordinance, is that your capital
budget ordinance or is it...
Ms. Yukimura: Well, it would go into CIP, right? Bond moneys
would be for CIP projects. But the process would be like any other bond float I
would imagine, where the moneys come to the County and then are appropriated
through an ordinance process.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: The only thing for me is this is not your ordinary
bond float. This is something brand new and I am just asking for clarification. I do
not know and that is why I asked the question. I just...for some reason it has been
like seven years since we had gone through this exercise and something is telling
my head that that is the difference, and I just want to get clarification. You would
expect it to be the same, JoAnn, but we have never gone down this road before. It is
not where we are allocating X- amount of dollars for the heiau project, X- amount of
dollars like a typical bond float where we isolate the projects with an amount. This
is where here is three or four. I would love to throw Hapa Trail on there too, but at
the end of the day what is going to happen to the projects? What is going to happen
to the heiau project and that is my only concern. I want to make sure that the
original intent of this resolution as it was presented and the community
participated in, I just want to make sure we are being fair to the community by
tossing something in there today at the last minute without having that community
discussion, that is all. I fully support that expansion of Po`ipu Beach Park. I would
love to add it in, but I do not want to add it in and at the expense of a project that
has already been agreed upon, I guess, is the best way to put it.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 60 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: And my concern on that too —we will wait for the
clarification —but I do not want to be over promising and under deliver. We are
only getting a fixed amount this first time around. If you see the K6loa Community
Association's testimony, although they recognize the first three projects, they have
got a list of things that they want us to stay focused on on the lower part of the
page, including other traffic and pedestrian improvements, and I do not think I am
going to be supporting your amendment, JoAnn, because I do not want to confuse
the quick start and the three -year spending piece. But I certainly support the idea
the next time we go to visit on a bond, this opportunity exists for us to float bond
money. So I do not think I will be supporting the amendment. Go ahead.
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, I can understand that. The reason I am
putting it in is because what I saw was for example if OHA comes in with a lot of
money for Kaneiolouma and we also in our budget process have other options of
moneys for various projects, so it is just a matter, as Councilmember Bynum said,
flexibility. We still are going to make a decision and the Po`ipu Beach Park may not
be ready to go —it is quite possible. But if it is, then in terms of priorities, certain
things we can delay like improvement of Po`ipu Beach Park, not in terms of its need
but in terms of you can do it later on. Whereas if you miss the acquisition of
property, you miss it. That chance never comes back again. And so just to have the
flexibility and not knowing what the circumstances will be in the future, just
knowing the nature of opportunities to purchase property, I thought it should be
there, and we make our final decisions with full input from the community at the
time that we make the decision. But I think Councilmember Rapozo's question is a
very important question that we know if today is the Council's real decision,
although it would be funny that we do not get to say how much is spent on what
project, so we need to have clarification of that. But I just wanted to explain why I
felt it...because if it is not on, then you cannot use the moneys at all. If it is on, you
have the option but that decision is still made with full input from the community
and based on the circumstances of the moment.
Council Chair Furfaro: Is there anybody that wants to...you need more
than five minutes too, right? Well we might as well take the 10 minutes right now.
We are going to take a caption break and a tape change.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 3:10 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 3:23 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Jennifer, for coming over. We are back
from recess. Amy, can you restate what' you interpreted the question to be before
you called for Jennifer.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Ms. Esaki: Well, I would prefer if Councilmember Rapozo
could restate his question. I think it would be better if it came from the source
rather than from an interpreter. So Councilmember Rapozo, if you would please?
Council Chair Furfaro: I will ask my question again. What did you
understand the question to be before you called over for Jennifer Winn? I will then
refer to Mr. Rapozo.
Ms. Esaki: The question that I understood Councilmember
Rapozo asking was whether the projects that are on the list are the projects that
would go with this particular CFD bond.
COUNCIL MEETING
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: Well, the question was should this bond issue get
approved, the CFD gets approved, and the County's proceeds get to the County, at
that point, how are the projects...who determines which projects get the funding? Is
it like your normal bond issue where it gets approved and then the appropriation
comes back to the Council?
Ms. Esaki: I think if that is your question, then the answer
probably would be the Department that is in charge of the project will be able to
determine which project is ready to go based on the fact that if they have all the
documentation ready, everything is ready to go as far as bid process and everything,
they will make the decision as to which of the three will go first.
Mr. Rapozo: The Administration?
Ms. Esaki: The Administration.
- 61 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Rapozo: Correct and that is what I had heard at some point
in my seven years of processing the CFD information and that was my question,
Mr. Chair. So it is an administrative function once the CFD resolution gets
approved.
Ms. Esaki:
Council Chair Furfaro:
Right, as far as choosing which project goes first.
Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: So if we approve this resolution, the Administration
decides how to expend these funds? They do not have to come here for an
appropriation?
Ms. Esaki: Well, as far as appropriation, I believe they will
have to come for appropriation.
Mr. Bynum: So I am more confused.
Ms. Esaki: But the question that was presented was who
makes the determination as to which project goes first.
Council Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: If an appropriation bill is required, my
understanding is yes, the Administration will put forth the projects that it feels are
ready to go in the amounts that it feels are appropriate. However, if it comes here
as a bill, and there is a public hearing on it, and there is new inputs and also
Council's deliberations on it, the amounts between the projects can change through
the appropriation process. However, the projects cannot be added to this list that
we approve. It is only among the projects that are listed because, as Mr. Hirai said,
this is basically an eligibility determination today, what projects will be able to be
considered, and so you cannot add more. You can take some off. You can decide it
is not ready to go, we will not fund this project right now. We will use bond money
later on or General Fund moneys that turn into CIP moneys later on, we will do
that later. So we will not, even though it is on the list, we will not fund it. But that
COUNCIL MEETING
- 62 - February 29, 2012
is a decision that is going to be made through the appropriation process, which is
publication, public hearing, Council decision making, and then Mayor's signature,
no signature, or veto. Is that not the way that we appropriate bond moneys?
Ms. Esaki: That is correct as far as appropriation goes. But as
far as the list, the project list, when it is appropriated.
Ms. Yukimura: Once it is appropriated, then it is...
Ms. Esaki: The determination will be made by the
Administration.
Ms. Yukimura: Then it is in the Administration's hands in terms of
expending the moneys and getting the project done. Okay.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any more questions for the County Attorneys,
plural? Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: I just want to understand this. I am starting to.
Could not also a Councilmember appropriate these funds with a bill?
Ms. Esaki. As far as appropriating the funds, the projects that
are on your eligibility list?
Mr. Bynum: Yes.
Ms. Esaki: Initiate the bill?
Mr. Bynum: Yes.
Ms. Esaki: I would think you could (inaudible).
Mr. Bynum: Okay, I just...I would hope that the Administration
would commit to bringing the options to the Council before they submit a bill that
we can collaborate on a decision about which of these projects move forward.
Because I think they can always put something forward that is on this bill, but it is
going to be subject to the approval of the Council. Correct?
JENNIFER WINN, Deputy County Attorney: Deputy County Attorney
Jennifer Winn. I believe that to appropriate the money, yes, of course
Administration would need your approval.
Mr. Bynum: Okay.
Council Chair Furfaro: Very good, so kind of along the lines. I thought we
have to appropriate the money like we do in a CIP, once we vote on it it is in the
CIP package, Mr. Dill, Mayor Carvalho, and others have gotten the green light
because this Council appropriated the money. So thank you, ladies, very much, and
thank you for being willing to put up with my temperament to get this thing to a
final resting place. Okay, Members, is there anyone else that wishes to talk on this
item before I call our meeting back to order. Okay, I will be calling this meeting
back to order.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
COUNCIL MEETING - 63 -
Council Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Bynum, you have the floor.
Mr. Bynum: We are still on the amendment?
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: Thanks for the clarification. I understand it. But
actually the clarification on what Mr. Hirai said about our performance
requirement makes me want to support this amendment even more and here is my
reasoning: The other three projects in here are CIP projects, and we know when we
discussed at this Council as early as last week that our track record of actually
getting CIP projects formulated and done and out the door in three years is not that
great. We know that CIP projects can run into environmental delays and all kinds
of delays that are beyond our control. And this fourth project is something that is a
purchase kind of thing that conceivably could happen quickly. These are all great
projects. They are all great purposes. I believe in the long run the Koloa- Po`ipu
Community will have a very strong influence on how these funds get expended, but
I think allowing ourselves additional flexibility is not going to hurt things. So I will
be supporting this amendment.
Council Chair Furfaro: Vice Chair Yukimura.
February 29, 2012
have already stated my comments, but
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I just want to say too in respect for the
community that I just saw this list last Friday. So we did not have time to
really... and certainly no discussion with the Administration. And it is not my
intention to detract from any of the projects because I support all of them
wholeheartedly. It is just, I guess my view is that we are coming into budget, it is
not right to have the Po`ipu -Koloa projects all squeezed toward one source of a
million dollars. We have other sources of money as well and all it allows is
flexibility and opportunity that does not come often and may not come at all. If the
opportunity comes to purchase and we do not do it, it may not come at all after that.
That is the nature of land acquisition on Kaua`i and in Hawai`i. So that is why I
would just like it to be eligible for the funds and the actual decision making and
allocation in terms of this fund and other funds. It just would allow us to maximize
our use of moneys and match with other sources. That is why I have suggested it.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. I will not be supporting the
amendment, not that I do not support the expansion of Po`ipu Beach Park, but we
have an Open Space process that is in place. It is a Charter mandate. We have
that process available to us. We also have various forms of funding for that
purchase as well. My bigger concern is that this was a process that had already
been done and the Administration took it to the community, got the community's
input. These three items were what the community wanted. I want to respect that
process, this entire CFD process. I appreciate the inclusion, but it is just...I want to
keep the process pretty much what the intent was and what the Administration had
put out. I think the community did have the discussion. The community did come
up with three items. That is what is on the resolution. I would encourage
Councilmember Yukimura I will definitely support the expansion of Po`ipti Beach
Park utilizing the Open Space Commission process. That is where it belongs. I
think we have to stick to these three projects that are on the original resolution
simply out of respect for that process. So I will not be supporting the amendment.
Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 64 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Chang, you have anything before I call for the
vote on the amendment?
Mr. Chang: No, sir.
Council Chair Furfaro: Councilmember Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: You know I raised some concerns last week with
the project team about the list of projects, and my concern was the feedback from
the community. And I want to thank Council Chair Furfaro for giving me some of
the history that as a new Councilmember I did not have about the process and the
communications with the community over the years, so that has given me a better
perspective. And I also had a chance to talk to some key community leaders, who
all have different priorities but have put some of their own personal self - interests
and priorities aside to support these three initiatives. So I will not be supporting
the amendment, but I fully support the intent of the amendment and I hope that
there will be funds to move in that direction in the future.
Council Chair Furfaro: And I will speak last. I made my comments earlier.
I think between the Open Space Commission and /or future bond money, we have an
opportunity here for this parcel. We are short on information from the Hawaiian
Islands Land Trust on their ability to participate and their evaluation of the project,
so I will not be supporting this amendment as well.
The motion to amend Resolution No. 2012 -25, as shown in the Floor
Amendment attached hereto, was then put, and failed by the following vote:
FOR APPROVAL: Bynum, Chang, Yukimura,
AGAINST APPROVAL: Nakamura, Rapozo, Furfaro
EXCUSED and NOT VOTING: Kuali`i
Total — 3,
Total — 3,
Total — 1.
Council Chair Furfaro: Now we are back to the main item. Further
discussion? Mr. Bynum, you can have the floor first.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much. I am wholeheartedly in
support of this. I just want to say that this CFD process is a win -win, I believe.
Kukui`ula is able to recoup some of their infrastructure costs. This is paid for
entirely by the people who live in Kukui`ula and purchase land. The County gets
reimbursed for its expenses to do these bonds and in addition to that, we get a
percentage of funds that we were just discussing to use for the improvement of the
entire Koloa- Po`ipu area, which helps everyone that lives in that community,
whether they are in Kukui`ula or not. This is a funding mechanism that is used
throughout the country for these types of projects and I think we are setting an
important precedent. We may use this for future projects, even public projects if
they are large enough to warrant this kind of involvement. I also want to say that
the Finance Department and Alexander Baldwin, Kukui`ula have been straight
upfront and great throughout this whole process. It is great to have something
where we see that everybody's working together. Mr. Rolapp and Mr. Hirai are our
representatives, and they also have been outstanding about informing us. I also
want to talk about Scott Ruby who was here at the initiation, who was also our
consultant for the County of Kaua`i, that negotiated the initial terms of this, that
did an outstanding job of educating the Councilmembers at the time, and so this is
something that I really want. And my final comment is I have had some
disagreement with the Finance Department on policy issues, but I have never
disagreed with the quality of their work and their responsiveness. And in this
instance, I really appreciate their diligence and support.
COUNCIL MEETING
Council Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Nakamura.
- 65 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Rapozo, do you want to be recognized next?
Mr. Rapozo: Yes, I will be supporting the resolution. This is a
long time coming and I just want to thank the team. I will say that early on in the
process, I had sought some objective resources to determine whether or not these
guys were for real, you know Rolapps and everybody else, Hirais. This was
something brand new for the County of Kaua`i and I wanted to make sure that I got
as much education as I could, and it actually took us to Scott Ruby out in Arizona,
who was one of the top CFD guys in the country and I believe, he's still doing it
today. But after reviewing all of the documents, and after reviewing all the bios
and he knew Mr. Rolapp quite well. And he said, you know, Mel, your team is the
best team that you could possibly put together in the country. So he was very, very
comfortable. This was a long time ago. This was several years ago and of course I
had a little break from the Council and on my return this thing is still on the
agenda, the CFDs are still on the agenda. So I am quite pleased to be able to vote in
support and just thank you all, and to Tom Shigemoto, who has been patient with
that project and I really hope this will work out. I hope that we can help the project
as well the community with some of the projects that hopefully will get some
funding as a result of the CFD. So good luck, congratulations, and I will be
supporting the resolution. Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Rapozo. Councilmember Chang.
Mr. Chang: It is a great day. It is a win -win situation and
thank you for the community for waiting all day to testify and thank you to
everyone that made this a joyous day. I just wanted to say, listening to all of the
discussions, Louie Abrams has a really, really nice letter that he sent on behalf of
the Koloa Community Association. We talked and we identified some of the
concerns and those that we want to support. You know throughout the discussion,
things like the scenic byways, for example, might be coming up, Kaneiolouma,
which I have been to several times through Mr. Rupert Rowe, like one of my
concerns right off the bat is this big rain that we had down on the south shore,
Po`ipu Beach Park parking. When you see guys with standup paddle boards and
people riding their bikes all the way up to almost above the tires and what have
you, that's a concern. And if you remember, two years ago during the peak season,
during Christmas and all throughout New Year's, it probably took two weeks, if
that, to drain the water. So I do not even know where we are at right now, so that
is one of the projects that, of course, we have identified. But it is like the hub of the
south shore, as far as Po`ipu Beach Park is concerned. We are talking about
expansion and everything else about that, so I think it is a win -win situation as Mr.
Shigemoto brought up. I think it is a great day for Kaua`i and a great day for the
future for Kaua`i. So thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Nakamura: I just want to acknowledge the consultants, the
Finance Department, A &B, Tom Shigemoto, and Kukui`ula Development because I
learned that this is a real unique financial tool, and it is the first in the State, first
time it is being used in the State and it required a lot of collaboration to make it
happen. So thank you for your hard work and I know that it cannot... its use is very
limited to situations like Kukui`ula and I am glad that we have taken advantage of
this opportunity. So thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 66 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. I want to say thank you to
many people over the years that we have been working on this that we have arrived
at this point. And again, I had to make a quick reference to the rules, remind the
Members since we have one absent today, it is on the main motion if we are 3 -3 it
gets deferred to the next meeting. So I sure hope, from going around the table, we
are ready to go. And I want to make sure the community has that opportunity, but
in closing, I want to take time to say Mr. Bynum, Mr. Rapozo, and I am going to
give the floor to Councilmember Yukimura last, thank you folks for all the work
over the years if we come up to a very positive outcome in this vote. So on that note,
Vice Chair, you have the floor.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Mr. Chair. This has been a very long
drawn out and complex process, and it has taken some real experts to help this
process unfold properly, and I just want to second the comments of my colleagues
about the quality of work and the diligence that it has taken to move this forward,
both in terms of our consultants, Mr. Rolapp and Mr. Hirai, our Finance
Department, Wally Rezentes and Sally Motta, and the developer, A &B and
Kukui`ula because it has been very complex. It is a facilitative act. It assists the
developers in paying for public facilities without putting the burden upon the larger
community, and in that way it is something that is much more usable than a
process that would impose the burden on all of us. So I will be voting for this
resolution and I just want to note for the record that for me there is some
incompleteness to the original vision which included affordable housing and
workforce housing, cooperative housing in the Po`ipu area. I have spoken with the
developer and I am looking forward to working together toward a complete win -win
on this matter. It is not a subject for today, but it is related and I am looking for a
total win -win in the future. Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Before we go for roll call on what will be a showcase
in the State of Hawaii, the first CFD, again, I want to thank the entire community
that is participating there in the back, that have come up and spoken on this. We
are about ready to take a pretty historic vote, first CFD in the State of Hawai`i.
The motion to adopt Resolution 2012 -25 was then put, and carried by the
following vote.
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, Yukimura, Total — 6,
Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: None Total — 0,
EXCUSED AND NOT VOTING: Kuali`i Total — 1.
Council Chair Furfaro: We are going to take a five - minute break.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 3:46 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 4:23 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
C 2012 -49 Communication (02/14/2012) from the County Auditor,
transmitting for Council information the Follow -up Audit of the County of Kaua`i
Building Division, Department of Public Works.
Council Chair Furfaro: I am going to ask to suspend the rules and actually
ask Mr. Dill and the Building Department if they have some comments and
contributions to what we have covered so far.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 67 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Dill, thank you for being here.
LARRY DILL, County Engineer: Good afternoon, for the record Larry Dill,
County Engineer. We received the response from the Auditor dated February 24. I
do not have any comments on that other than on the third page at the bottom. They
do mention a couple of items that "We addressed the County Engineer's statement.
In his letter he does not agree with the findings that (1) the County's capacity to
execute Capital Projects has decreased since the audit, and (2) the County has not
addressed staffing conditions identified in the audit." Just to address those two
items I think because those are really the only two items that they take issue with.
If you refer back to their original audit dated June 30, 2011, original follow -up
audit, on page 1 of the Executive Summary, they mention that the Building
Division has a significant 19% vacancy rate, which is a pretty impressive vacancy
rate. So I am addressing item No. 2 about addressing staffing conditions. That is
not the case today. We do not have any vacancies in the Building Division. So we
have managed to fill all the positions that we have currently. So we have addressed
that issue, I feel.
And (1) regarding the County's capacity to execute Capital Projects. If you go
back to their audit again, I think they speak to that issue on page 19
where...actually on the bottom of page 18, "The County's capacity to execute Capital
Projects has decreased since the audit." But they go on to note in the audit, "The
County has recently been successfully developing a large scale complex public
facility, specifically the Kaiakea Fire Station, ahead of schedule and within budget."
So I think in the audit itself, it is a little...perhaps it might be contradictory. They
go on to note, "However, resources available to execute County Capital Projects
continue to diminish." The resources that they refer to are all positions in the Code
Enforcement section, which is not really part of the Capital Projects Management
Team within the Building Division. On that side, as you are aware, we have added
some project funded staff, Pat Kaihara, who was instrumental, as you all well know,
with the development of this project, the restoration of the Historic County
Building, which is a very complex project due to the (inaudible) restoration of a
historic building not without its hiccups, but I think overall the project went well
and came up with a good result at the end of the day. Pat is also managing for us
currently the Pi`ikoi renovation for the Fire Department offices and that is winding
down. What is gearing up is the restoration of the Kapa'a Baseyard Project, and we
also had Jeff Guest with us for a while, another project- funded position. So we are
looking to fill that position as well. Also, on the bike path, for instance, we have
SSFM under contract to do construction management work for us. So we have been
implementing where appropriate and where possible, where feasible project funds
to do construction management for us, and to manage more Capital Projects. So we
truly feel that since this time, certainly we have increased our capacity and that it
shows in the projects that are getting done. I would just like to address those two
items and would be happy to field any questions you have.
Council Chair Furfaro: Larry, I do agree with you on those many items
here, but I think the last time you were here I think you heard some of the
frustration from the Council about if you have — whatever the cluster is —if you have
five major projects or eight moderate projects, this Council acknowledges the fact
that you may have to hire project managers. I personally want to thank Pat and I
also want to thank Doug because along the lines here, we dealt mostly with Pat on
the day - to - day particulars moving back into this building, but Doug made himself
available to us and the closeout of the space we rented. But clearly between
Kaiakea Fire Department, the Historic Building, the renovations for the building
across the street for the Fire Department, the upcoming activities for Big Save, the
COUNCIL MEETING
- 68 - February 29, 2012
baseyard in Kapa`a, and some of the things that are in discussion now about the
football field in Kapa`a, I just want to say we recognize that, but do not cut us short
on the oversight. Do not cut us to the point that you are not able to bring in
contract project managers. I think that has been pointed out to us by the auditors
and the auditor's engineer. We are not tightening the belt to drag out projects. We
want to make sure that you have the right manpower, the right people for the
supervision, and more importantly the quality control. And this morning I said that
we were not going to get into Kilauea Gym because I am going to make it a new
item as we visit because it was two separate audits, but that is a perfect example of,
you know, we need to get these things resolved on the quality controls because I
think both times that we put extra money in those projects if the window did not
close on us, we could have enforced some warranties. And unfortunately that is
that contractor's defensive position right now, we did not close these things in the
appropriate period. Pat has done a very good job. Doug, I think, as we go into new
phases of the bike path and so forth, he could have the bike path if we extended it
around the whole island for the rest of his entire time of working for the County and
that project is important to us. But I think what we heard from the engineer
consultant is —and I just want to reaffirm —we do not want you cutting yourself
short, Larry.
Mr. Dill: Okay, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, I think that is a very clear message. We
want projects done. We want projects in a timely manner. We want to make sure
there is supervision from the Engineering Department, even from these contracted
services, to guarantee us some quality, that somebody's watching over them, the
contractors that we have. Not that they need it, but we can constantly make
improvements if you have those project managers. We do not want to fall behind.
So I just listed a few of which you did as well and I think this audit exercise has
been very good. I think there has been very credible comments that we can make
improvements on from the professional people that came over. And like I said,
please give my best to Pat for the work he is doing. But Kilauea Gym is not going to
be going away soon. It will be a separate agenda item.
Mr. Dill: Okay, thank you, and also I do say we do
appreciate the comments that were brought up during the audit from the auditor
and their consultant. It brought a lot of good ideas to the table that we intend to
implement.
Council Chair Furfaro: Good. Members, Mr. Bynum, did you have
anything.
Mr. Bynum: Yes, I just want to thank you for being here. I
made my comments earlier. I think this has been a good process for all of us and we
are in this learning phase with a new auditor. And this is just totally not my
responsibility, but I want to say it. We have appreciated Pat and his work. In the
past I know you have identified people that come in on contract and they end up
being civil servants. If there is an advantage to that, we do not want to lose people
that we know are good and when they have been with us for a number of years. But
that is your kuleana and so thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Other members? Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: I do appreciate the work of the Building Division
and I know it is pretty widespread and a lot of things to track. Some of my concerns
and I am only looking right now at the comments in this area is about the
COUNCIL MEETING
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inspection process, our building, electrical, and, I guess, plumbing inspections, and I
am noticing that some of the commentaries or recommendations were to train them
in code enforcement. It is quite a job to be an inspector. When Trenchless
Engineering did jobs, my husband's company, you could really make distinctions
between the inspectors who understood the underlying rationale for the code
requirements, could have some flexibility for the circumstances, knew how to speak
politely and not as an adversary, all of those processes that helped to make for a
good inspection, and I just wondered if any attention has been put to that.
DOUGLAS HAIGH, Department of Public Works, Building Division:
Douglas Haigh, Department of Public Works, Building Division. Thank you for
your question. We are definitely focusing on training. The budget that is coming to
you this year will have an increased budget request for training. Our building
inspection, as probably many of you are aware, we have had a big transition in
employees. Quite a few of our old timers retired. We are able to look ahead to that.
With the Building Permit Revolving Fund, which this Council, not the current one
but... and actually you may have been there, when you approved the Building
Permit Revolving Fund, that allows us more flexibility than we would normally
have. So we did, with the County Engineer's blessing, hire a contract position,
Assistant Building Inspector, so we could get some overlap and training there. And
then we also brought in... using these same funds, we brought in special training for
our building inspectors. So we had, this last fall, building inspection for the 2006
International Building Code, and we brought an expert in and had a full day's
seminar for our inspectors, and it was a very good training and was very
appropriate because we do have several new inspectors, and it was very
appropriate. Just a couple of weeks ago we had training for our electrical
inspectors, our photovoltaic systems codes and inspections. Again we partnered
with DBEDT and the industry, and they actually provided the training free for us,
and we invited the contractors also. We had over 70 people come for that training.
It was very popular, very effective. We are currently scheduling training in April on
the 2006 International Building Code and International Residential Code. So
training is something we take very seriously and we are working with our
inspectors. Now we are fortunate on our electrical and plumbing inspectors. They
are journeymen by trade, so they are licensed, and they also have training from the
bigger community because the licensed electricians have their own training;
licensed plumbers have special training available. But we do look at providing
them more training. Every year when we have our HACBO (Hawai`i Association of
County Building Officials), we have general training there, but we also, in the last
three or four years, we have brought in additional special training several days
before. Last year was the first time we actually had training for our permit
technicians, which ICC calls them. We call them building permit clerks, but they
really are highly specialized knowledgeable people, and we sent our supervising
clerk to the special two -day training for that. So training is something we do take
seriously and I believe we are addressing it.
Ms. Yukimura: Well that is really good to hear because it really
does affect the quality of the work that is put out. Does your training include not
just technical expertise, but also communications, customer servicing, the more
intangible, even the codes of conduct and so forth?
Mr. Haigh: Well, the ICC training that we had for the building
inspectors did include that within that training, but we also, through our Personnel
Department, we have opportunities for training at KCC and we do offer them and
send some of our people periodically to those trainings, especially supervisor
trainings, customer service trainings, and we do try to get our people to go to those
trainings also.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 70 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, and then my other area of concern and I do
not know that there were recommendations. It may just be...I am not real familiar,
but what about janitorial and building. That comes under you too? Does it?
Mr. Haigh: That is correct and actually we do have one vacancy
that we interviewed for yesterday. A supervising janitor position is open within
that section.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, I am not expecting you to always have
completely full positions, but I am concerned about overall maintenance of facilities
and parks, and whether we...I would like to see a more systematic approach. I
mean speed humps are not your...and speed tables are not your kuleana, but still
this idea that we would know the life of a...whether it is a fixture or a building or
whatever, and we would put in rehab or replacement in kind of some computerized
format, so we would be doing preventive maintenance in a timely way. Have we...
Mr. Haigh: And we, you know, I do not know if you are aware,
we have adopted a new work order system, which is part of our AS400 overall
County system, and in there we have scheduled preventative maintenance. I know
specifically for our plumbers, we have individual wastewater system inspections
that are programmed. Now sometimes they fall behind on those work orders when
the more emergency work orders take precedence, but we do schedule preventative
maintenance. Now every year we have a challenge at budget time on how much
large preventative maintenance projects we can budget for the fiscal year. So that
is always a budget challenge and we always have a list longer than there is money
available.
Council Chair Furfaro: That list does not come from the Council. It does
not come to the Council. It has to go through the Mayor's administration.
Mr. Haigh: That is correct.
Council Chair Furfaro: Let us make it very clear.
Mr. Haigh: We prioritize it and then the Administration sets
how far down that priority they want to go and then we come to you with the
Administration's list which shows the priority within that. To give you credit, I
cannot remember a time that Council has cut us short from the request that was
made at budget time for maintenance projects. Actually sometimes you have added
some money. Overall the Administration has to...they are looking at the entire
picture.
Council Chair Furfaro: But we may not be.
Mr. Haigh: Okay.
Council Chair Furfaro: How is that? We may not be.
Mr. Haigh: Well, you are always looking at the total picture
too, but sometimes you have a little different perspective.
Ms. Yukimura: Right, we see it in the form of complaints from
users of things not done and that is why, I guess, my inquiry is how could we —and I
think we have asked this before —but what will it take to catch up and then have an
ongoing system of preventive maintenance? And if it takes looking for a sustainable
COUNCIL MEETING
- 71 - February 29, 2012
funding process, if there is a really good system in place, you might convince us to
do that, whatever that might take because I think it is cost effective, right, to do
timely, preventive maintenance. And then the customer angle, the user angle is
really important too and certainly to the extent that it prevents claims and injuries.
That is also a real cost effective approach. I mean I would like to request that you
give —and I think you did give us once a comprehensive program of what it is going
to take to catch up —and let us grapple...
Mr. Haigh: Many years ago, actually, just right before my time
at the Building Division, there was funding for additional workforce to make a
special effort. I think we do a pretty good job staying up on the day -to -day
maintenance issues, and it is really the bigger contract maintenance projects that
we are a little bit behind on.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, if those are bigger contract positions, then
those are those that can be bid out.
Mr. Haigh: That is exactly what we do.
Ms. Yukimura: And that is useful for serving some of the
construction industry needs right now. So, in terms of job creation or construction
job sustenance, I think that is something we would like to know about in terms of
the potential and what the cost would be so that we can look at that.
Mr. Dill: (Inaudible) some of those things coming up in the
budget, all those large non - recurring maintenance projects (inaudible).
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, all right, very good, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Dill and Doug, I just want to point out to you a
couple things that the Council has done and let us not forget it is there, the
$100,000 Revolving Fund that you can draw on. So I do not care if it is a clerk in
the Permitting Department. That fund is something that I think Mr. Rapozo, Vice
Chair Yukimura, and myself have participated in, and we actually, when I was
Finance Chair, developed the forms to forecast the replenishment. It is the
Building Report. I have almost six years' copies of it since we introduced that.
What is the value of the permits going forward, how does it compare to the previous
year and so forth, and that is used for building forecasting because that is what
replaces the revolving fund. But it is also used to, in the year for the year, how
much potential additional tax revenue we added to the forecast because now they
can use...they have been taxing the land, but when you build a new building, that
actually contributes, for Finance, some more of the tax piece. But that was
developed, so we absolutely know you have this $100,000 amount of money that you
use at your discretion and we can use that piece to forecast with the new building
permits issued, how much is going to replenish that fund. I think we have gotten as
low as...I have seen as low as $22,000.00 in there over the many years and I have
seen we have gotten as high with having over $100,000 plus. But that is a fund
that, Larry, you should know about is set up by some of us on this Council to make
sure that you have this little fallback piece.
I also want to say there is a huge difference from the CIP and I have been
saying this many years on the Capital Improvements. And some of those get
aggressively scrutinized because it is a new amenity for the County. But then there
are others that we have no piece for and I think that is what Councilwoman
Yukimura was saying. Doug, you know I am a swimmer. There is no... do you go to
the Kapa'a pool, the back flush and the roof that covers the chlorinators. They are
COUNCIL MEETING
- 72 - February 29, 2012
in desperate need of repair and maintenance. But now I do not know where that
falls. Are you guys looking at Parks to do that? Who is doing that? But it needs to,
in my opinion, include your collaboration even for other departments, even going as
far as dealing with chlorine and the training that the lifeguards are expected to
know because it is not easy handling chlorine. But it is that kind of training too
that might crossover to your area and it might be nice to hear the kokua that you
are willing to give them. But we do have those repair and maintenance items that
do not come directly under you, but they are a County asset. They fall under the
Fire Department, they fall under the lifeguards and so forth. We need to develop
that too. All in all, gentlemen, those tools were provided by the Council for the
Finance Department and Building, so you would have an indicator of what
increases we have in tax revenue in the year for the year, what money we might
have to replenish the revolving fund. That is a fund that you folks manage how you
are going to spend it.
Okay, thank you for the nice comments directed back at the Audit
Department and the Engineer contracted services because I think at the bottom line
that is what an audit is all about. It is not about going "aha hana koko lele." It is
about how can we make improvements. Some of us all know that when we were
small kids, but it is not about pointing finger. It is about how we work through
these things. So I am sorry for the literal translation, but it is "aha hana koko lele."
Dickie, did you have your hand up? Members? No? Gentlemen, thank you for
being here the later part of the day and for being able to respond with some
commentary. Thank you very much. Thank you, Doug.
Mr. Haigh: You are welcome.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much for the Audit Department.
Do we have another item for Larry in today's discussion? Did we handle 2012 -63? I
saw Doug walking out the door and we still have one more item for him. So let us
close this piece. I needed a motion to receive. I have it, right. All those in favor to
receive, say aye.
The motion to receive C 2012 -49 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
C 2012 -63 Communication (02/16/2012) from Councilmember Rapozo,
requesting the Administration's presence to provide the Council with:
• An annual (2011 calendar year) synopsis of construction activity in the
County of Kaua`i as reflected in the building permit information that is
normally provided to the Council on a monthly basis.
• A projection of construction activity in the County of Kauai for the
2012 calendar year.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair, I had had a discussion with Mr. Dill a
few days ago and they are awaiting some IT support to get some of these numbers
together and had asked if it would not be a problem to defer this. I am not sure if
they sent over a deferral request. They did? Okay. I know that our staff member
had asked for the deferral and so I do not have a problem with the deferral because
I want to make sure we get the relevant information before we have the discussion.
Council Chair Furfaro: Understood. Thank you, Mr. Rapozo. Mr. Dill, it
looks like we are going to defer this item, and please note that I did get the deferral
COUNCIL MEETING
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair?
- 73 - February 29, 2012
about half an hour ago in writing, but please if you are talking to individual
Councilmembers, attempt to get that deferral to me since I actually control the
agenda. So I think on that note, if we are going to defer this, you can catch the
evening bus home.
Mr. Rapozo moved to defer C 2012 -63, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
C 2012 -64 Communication (01/27/2012) from the Chief of Police, requesting
Council approval to accept and expend $20,000.00 awarded through the Mental
Health Transformation Grant to conduct training to raise awareness, identify
persons at risk, and to provide tools on how to work with and engage persons at risk
or diagnosed with a mental illness; and to indemnify the State of Hawai`i,
Department of Health in this matter: Mr. Chang moved to approve C 2012 -64,
seconded by Mr. Rapozo.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any discussion? Vice Chair Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, Chair, I just want to commend the Police
Department and the Chief for taking on this kind of training. Their work on the
streets is very, very difficult and they do have to deal with all kinds of people. And
to be trained to deal with people at -risk or who have mental illness is really both...I
think increasing safety for all parties and also just increasing the capacity of our
police force, just kudos to them.
Council Chair Furfaro: So noted. Any other discussion on this item? If
not...oh, Mr. Bynum, go ahead.
Mr. Bynum: Real briefly, I intended to wholeheartedly move to
approve this item, but somebody beat me to it. As a person who was a mental
health provider for 30 years, it is so critical that our police officers have this
awareness and training, and I appreciate the initiative on behalf of the Police
Department.
Council Chair Furfaro: So recognized. Thank you, Mr. Bynum. Any
further discussion?
The motion to approve C 2012 -64 was then put, and unanimously carried.
C 2012 -65 Communication (02/02/2012) from the Chief of Police, requesting
Council approval to purchase non - budgeted items with unexpended funds of
approximately $100,000.00 to purchase five (5) workstation consoles to replace
aging and failing consoles in the dispatch communications center, which will be part
of the 800 MHz radio system upgrade currently underway: Mr. Rapozo moved to
approve C 2012 -65, seconded by Mr. Chang.
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, go right ahead, Vice Chair.
Ms. Yukimura: I am going to vote for this. I just wondered if we
could ask for a written update on the 800 MHz radio system upgrade. It is
something that the Council has been tracking. If we can just ask for a written
update and then if we need, to bring them to Committee, but just an update on the
upgrade. Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 74 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: And for the record, in that communication,
Mr. Clerk, as you know here at the Council when we move funds from one account
to the other, they are subject for identifying the wherefrom to the new why
allocation. This narrative is pretty clear that they are purchasing with
unexpended funds of $100,000.00. I think in the future we want to make sure that
all departments indicate to us how they are moving funds. Could you see that that
is part of the communication to the Police Department?
RICKY WATANABE, County Clerk: So noted.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Any further discussion? If
not...Mr. Bynum, go ahead.
Mr. Bynum: Just two things. One is you kind of anticipated it
that I think this is an example where we have a budget that has a lot of flexibility
and they do not need to appropriate new funds because they have them currently in
their budget. And also that last year we had a money bill for close to $2 million for
this 800 MHz radio system that happened after budget, so we really want to
support the continued roll out of that. We had a lot of hearings on it and recognized
the need last year.
Council Chair Furfaro: And again, here is another item that these are
replacement pieces that as we talked to R &M and other things, it is good to have a
repair & replacement budget that we can recognize, so just another example.
The motion to approve C 2012 -65 was then put, and unanimously carried.
Mr. Watanabe: Next item, Chair, is C 2012 -67, which has an
Executive Session 527 that we would take up first prior to this item. Can we move
this to the end of the calendar?
Council Chair Furfaro: We have done all the legal items?
Mr. Watanabe: We have not convened on this one yet.
Council Chair Furfaro: Does everybody understand? We are going to move
this to the end of the session.
There being no objection, C 2012 -65 was moved to the end of the agenda.
LEGAL DOCUMENT:
C 2012 -54 Request from the Office of the County Attorney for approval of
the Grant of Pedestrian Access Easement and Cancellation of Portion of Easement
16, made by and between Kaua'i Lagoons LLC, a Hawai'i limited liability company,
and Mori Golf (Kaua'i), LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and the County
of Kaua'i, concerning property identified and being further described as Tax Map
Key Nos. (4) 3 -5- 01:27, 172, 173, and 174.
• Grant of Pedestrian Access Easement and Cancellation of Portion of
Easement 16
Council Chair Furfaro: I do understand that those members who wanted to
take advantage of a site inspection has occurred, but this deferral request is coming
to us from the owner so they can participate.
Ms. Yukimura: They want to defer this?
COUNCIL MEETING
- 75 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Before we defer may I say something?
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, I did not ask for a motion, go ahead.
Ms. Yukimura: I just want to say that I did have the opportunity to
walk the new surveyed path and I am satisfied that it is a continuous path up to
Running Waters Beach, and then it goes into a conservation area. But I really want
to thank Galen Nakamura and the representative from the Marriott who did walk
with me. And I am satisfied that it is...
Council Chair Furfaro: Excuse me. I thought we were just going to defer.
Councilmember Nakamura has a recusal letter if there is discussion on this item.
So let us let her...
Ms. Nakamura: I will recuse myself from this item because my
husband worked on the legal document.
(Ms. Nakamura was noted recused from the meeting on Legal Document C 2012 -54
at 4:58 p.m..)
Ms. Yukimura: Actually that is all I wanted to say, that I
appreciated the time that was taken to actually help me walk the path. It is just a
beautiful coastline and it is good that we are going to have foot access along it. So I
am ready to vote on it, but as I am hearing now a deferral has been requested.
Council Chair Furfaro: This deferral is to March 14.
Ms. Yukimura moved to defer C 2012 -54, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, let us get Councilwoman Nakamura back in
the room. Thank you.
(Ms. Nakamura was noted present at 4:59 p.m.)
CLAIM:
C 2012 -68 Communication (02/07/2012) from the County Clerk,
transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kaua`i by Enterprise Rent -A -Car
for damage to their vehicle, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of
Kaua`i: Mr. Rapozo moved to refer C 2012 -68 to the County Attorney's Office for
disposition and /or report back to the Council, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Housing /Transportation /Energy Conservation & Efficiency Committee
A report (No. CR -HTE 2012 -04) submitted by the
Housing /Transportation /Energy Conservation & Efficiency Committee,
recommending that the following be received for the record:
COUNCIL MEETING
- 76 - February 29, 2012
"HTE 2012 -08 Communication (02/09/2012) from Committee
Chair Yukimura, requesting agenda time for Desiree Vea of the Hawaiian
Community Assets Corporation, to discuss the findings of their annual
report,"
Ms. Yukimura moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
A report (No. CR -HTE 2012 -05) submitted by the
Housing /Transportation /Energy Conservation & Efficiency Committee,
recommending that the following be approved as amended on second and final
reading:
"Bill No. 2427 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
CHAPTER 17A, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING
TO BUS FARES,"
Ms. Yukimura moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Bill No. 2427, Draft 1)
A report (No. CR -HTE 2012 -06) submitted by the
Housing /Transportation /Energy Conservation & Efficiency Committee,
recommending that the following be received for the record:
"HTE 2012 -06 Communication (1/27/2012) from the Housing
Director, requesting agenda time for Mr. James E. Dannemiller, Executive
Vice President of SMS Research and Marketing Services, Inc. (SMS), to
present data from the Hawai`i Housing Planning Study 2011 for the County
of Kaua`i. The study serves as a tool for planning and developing new
housing opportunities for Kaua`i's people,"
Ms. Yukimura moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Chang, and
unanimously carried.
Public Safety & Environmental Services Committee
A report (No. CR -PSE 2012 -01) submitted by the Public Safety &
Environmental Services Committee, recommending that the following be approved
on second and final reading:
"Bill No. 2426 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
CHAPTER 15A OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED,
RELATING TO THE KAUAI COUNTY FIRE CODE,"
Mr. Rapozo moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Bill No. 2426)
Intergovernmental Relations Committee
A report (No. CR -IGR 2012 -01) submitted by the Intergovernmental
Relations Committee recommending that the following be received for the record:
"IGR 2012 -01 Communication (01/13/2012) from Hawai`i State
Association of Counties (HSAC) President Mel Rapozo, requesting agenda
time to discuss a projected increase in the HSAC membership dues in order
to subsidize the position of the HSAC State Director,"
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Bynum moved for approval of the report, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and
unanimously carried.
Finance /Parks & Recreation /Public Works Programs Committee
A report (No. CR -FPP 2012 -01) submitted by the Finance /Parks &
Recreation /Public Works Programs Committee, recommending that the following be
received for the record:
"FPP 2012 -01 Communication (02/02/2012) from Committee
Chair Bynum, requesting the Administration's presence to provide an
overview and status update on the current FY '11 -'12 Capital Improvements
Projects (CIP),"
Ms. Yukimura: Before I make a motion to defer, I would like to
move to defer CR -FPP 2012 -01. I just noted some things in reading the minutes
that need to be altered, so it will just give staff time to alter it.
Ms. Yukimura moved for deferral of the report, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and
unanimously carried.
A report (No. CR -FPP 2012 -02) submitted by the Finance /Parks &
Recreation /Public Works Programs Committee, recommending approval of the
following on second and final reading:
"Bill No. 2428 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ARTICLE 4, SECTION 19 -4.5 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS
AMENDED, RELATING TO CAMPING AT LYDGATE PARK,"
Mr. Bynum moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Bill No. 2428)
Committee of the Whole
- 77 - February 29, 2012
A report (No. CR -COW 2012 -05) submitted by the Committee of the Whole,
recommending that the following be received for the record:
"C 2012 -53 Communication (2/09/2012) from the Council Chair,
requesting agenda time to discuss the timeline for proposed Charter
Amendment Resolutions that will be submitted for consideration by the
voters in the 2012 General Election,"
Mr. Rapozo moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and
unanimously carried.
RESOLUTIONS:
Resolution No. 2012 -24, RESOLUTION REPEALING ITEMS 25 AND 33 OF
SECTION XIII, RESOLUTION NO. 54 -91 (1991), AND ESTABLISHING A NEW
MAXIMUM SPEED LIMIT OF 20 MILES PER HOUR ALONG THE ENTIRE
LENGTH OF MAIKAI STREET AND OPU ROAD, KOLOA DISTRICT: Mr. Bynum
moved for adoption of Resolution No. 2012 -24, seconded by Mr. Chang.
Council Chair Furfaro: I know we had Valerie here this morning. Is there
any further comments from anybody? Go ahead, Mr. Chang.
COUNCIL MEETING
BILLS FOR SECOND READING:
- 78 - February 29, 2012
Mr. Chang: Thank you. Yes, I did want to thank Valerie
Freitas and the Koloa Neighborhood Watch within those roads in the community,
and it just brings to light to our public about the importance of slowing down and
that came in conjunction with Mr. Parks up in Hanalei also. Being that more
people are trying to get physically fit, walk, bike, job, what have you, I think it is
important that we all realize that we are on a small island and like I said earlier
like my mom always says, better five minutes late than never. I just wanted to
throw that out there. Thank you to Ms. Freitas and to Mr. Parks.
Council Chair Furfaro: And to your mom.
Mr. Chang: Yes, thank you Chair, and to my mom.
Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: Just echoing Councilmember Chang and also
saying that for Valerie, our change of rules that allowed her to speak this morning
kept her from having to hang around here until 5 o'clock and so that was a good
thing. I want to do a saying too by Malani Bilyeu which is "slow down, it is only an
island."
Council Chair Furfaro: Any further comments? If not, this will be a roll
call vote, please.
The motion to adopt Resolution No. 2012 -24 was then put, and carried by the
following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
Bill No. 2426 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 15A
OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE
KAUAI COUNTY FIRE CODE: Mr. Bynum moved for adoption of Bill No. 2426 on
second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval,
seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and carried by the following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
Bill No. 2427, Draft 1 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
CHAPTER 17A, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO
BUS FARES: Ms. Yukimura moved for adoption of Bill No. 2427, Draft 1, on second
and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval,
seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any comment? Vice Chair Yukimura.
COUNCIL MEETING
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the
students of KCC; the late Kaulana Donovan; Ian Ross, who I think is the President;
and all the students who sent emails and testified as to the value of free bus service
through the student pass process, also John Constantino who advises the students.
It was a wonderful example of students participating in democracy, seeing a need
and then going out to make it happen. And I want to thank the KCC
Administration who supported them and also our Transportation Agency, who has
worked very closely with them. This bill will allow them to continue the fares to get
more data, and then they will come back to us with a proposal for a system that is
going to provide affordable bus fares for all of the students. So I think that is a
great development, and it was very wonderful to hear how the bus is serving
students in their pursuit of education. Thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any further comments? Mr. Chang.
Mr. Chang: Thank you, Chairman. I would like to echo what
Councilmember Yukimura had to share. But I also wanted to say, for the record,
Mr. Mickens had to leave, but he did submit written testimony. So he asked me, in
lieu of reading his testimony, that we make sure that we just submit this in for the
record on behalf of Mr. Mickens. Thank you and thank you to Mr. Mickens for his
written testimony, as always, thank you.
Council Chair Furfaro: Any further discussion?
The motion for adoption of Bill No. 2427, Draft 1, on second and final reading,
and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval was then put, and carried
by the following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
Bill No. 2428 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE 4,
SECTION 19 -4.5 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED,
RELATING TO CAMPING AT LYDGATE PARK: Mr. Bynum moved for adoption
of Bill No. 2428 on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor
for his approval, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and carried by the following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: None
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i
- 79 - February 29, 2012
TOTAL — 6,
TOTAL — 0,
TOTAL — 1.
Council Chair Furfaro: I believe we are now calling up the County
Attorney and I also need to say that we might be coming out of executive session to
handle a vote on an item. So to the captioner, please note we have some business to
do when we come back.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
AMY ESAKI, First Deputy County Attorney: We would like to request to go
into executive session for ES -523, also for ES -527, and finally ES -528.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 80 - February 29, 2012
ES -523 Pursuant to Hawai`i Revised Statutes Sections 92 -4, 92- 5(a)(4),
and Kaua`i County Charter Section 3.07(E), the Office of the County Attorney, on
behalf of the Council, requests an executive session for Council to consult with the
County Attorney regarding the Council's release of the County Attorney's written
legal opinion dated January 17, 2012, regarding the delegation of fee setting for
Wailua Golf Course and related matters. This briefing and consultation involves
the consideration of the powers, duties, privileges, immunities and /or liabilities of
the Council and the County as they relate to this agenda item.
ES -527 Pursuant to HRS sections 92 -4, 92- 5(a)(4), and section 3.07(e) of
the Kaua`i County Charter, the Office of the County Attorney requests an executive
session with the Council to provide the Council with a briefing on the retention of
special counsel to provide legal counsel for the County regarding development of the
landfill and related matters. The briefing and consultation involves consideration of
the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and /or liabilities of the Council and the
County as they relate to this agenda item.
ES -528 Pursuant to HRS section 92 -5(a) (2), (4) and (6), and Kaua`i
County Charter section 3.07(e), the purpose of this executive session is to allow
Council to consult with the County Attorney on questions and issues pertaining to
the authority of the Mayor and Police Commission to hire, evaluate, dismiss and
discipline the Chief of Police and for a briefing on the status of the action taken on
the Police Chiefs subordinates and related matters. This briefing and consultation
involves consideration of the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and /or
liabilities of the Council and the County as they relate to this agenda item.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Amy. There is no one in the
chambers to ask if there is anyone wanting to testify on these executive session
requests through the County Attorney's Office, so let the record reflect that. Now I
would like to vote on these items one -by -one with a roll call.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Ms. Yukimura moved to convene in Executive Session for ES -523, seconded
by Mr. Chang, and carried by the following vote:
FOR CONVENING: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,.
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST CONVENING: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
Ms. Yukimura moved to convene in Executive Session for ES -527, seconded
by Mr. Chang, and carried by the following vote:
FOR CONVENING: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST CONVENING: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL —1.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 81 - February 29, 2012
Ms. Yukimura moved to convene in Executive Session for ES -528, seconded
by Mr. Chang, and carried by the following vote:
FOR CONVENING: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL — 6,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST CONVENING: None TOTAL — 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1.
Council Chair Furfaro: We will be going into Executive Session and we will
have some business when we come out of Executive Session, so Ho`ike, if you can
stay close by, thank you very much.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 5:13 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 7:33 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, we are back from a dinner break and we will
be returning to Executive Session. We have some testimony to take on ES -528 that
I am going to ask the Clerk to read again and then we are going to vote out in public
session on C 2012 -67, which is on page 3 of your agenda.
ES -528 Pursuant to HRS section 92 -5(a) (2), (4) and (6), and Kaua`i
County Charter section 3.07(e), the purpose of this executive session is to allow
Council to consult with the County Attorney on questions and issues pertaining to
the authority of the Mayor and Police Commission to hire, evaluate, dismiss and
discipline the Chief of Police and for a briefing on the status of the action taken on
the Police Chiefs subordinates and related matters. This briefing and consultation
involves consideration of the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and /or
liabilities of the Council and the County as they relate to this agenda item.
Council Chair Furfaro: I am going to suspend the rules and understand
that Chief Perry's wife would like to give testimony on this item.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
SOLETTE PERRY: Good evening and I want to thank each and every
one of you for giving me this opportunity to speak in front of you this evening. I am
sorry I am dressed the way I am. I just came back from Honolulu.
Council Chair Furfaro: We got your phone call and you will have to
introduce yourself first.
Ms. Perry: Yes, my name is Solette Perry. By profession I am
the Regional Human Resources Director for the Kaua`i Veterans' Memorial Hospital
and also the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital. We also oversee three clinics
here on Kaua`i, that is the Port Allen Clinic, Kalaheo and Waimea. I have been in
Human Resources for too many years, probably each and every white hair on my
head right now is from Human Resources. I started as a business agent with
United Public Workers. I was there for approximately four years. I was with
Gary Rodrigues, and then subsequently after I left UPW, I was employed with the
Department of Human Resources Development on Oahu for approximately
five years. Personnel Program Officer, I oversaw collective bargaining for UPW and
HGEA units. Often we stood in as the spokesperson for whatever the assigned unit
was, and since I seemed to have a particular knowledge base and expertise for
UPW, I was their... usually with BU 1 and 10, but I did do the HGEA units. We
wrote legislation concerning the transition of the Department of Personnel Services
COUNCIL MEETING
- 82 - February 29, 2012
into the Human Resources. We did the changes to 76 and it was actually our draft
proposal that became the internal complaint process and the MAB (Merit Appeals
Board) that stands today. After that I was with the Department of Education for
seven years, loved working with the children, a very different aspect from being in a
centralized agency. With the DOE, I oversaw the collective bargaining for all of the
units, including the teachers and the educational officers, who are the principals
and vice principals in our schools. I also did the labor relations, the grievances with
my staff. I oversaw workers' compensation benefits. We did the evaluations for all
of the employees, and it was a very rewarding job. I left that position to come here
to be the Regional Human Resources Director for HHSC (Hawai`i Health System).
So these various experiences —I also have a Bachelor's Degree in HR —have given
me a unique skill set and a unique knowledge that ordinary citizens in the
community, they do not see. And fortunately or unfortunately for me, I see what
has been going on with the Kaua`i Police Department.
The reason I am here this evening is that KPD and the community of Kaua`i
needs your help. I hope I do not get emotional. HR directors are not known to be
warm and fuzzy people. So I will try to uphold that part of my reputation. It
started on January 30 —and I will try to keep my remarks brief because it has been
a long day for you folks —when the Chief of Police was called into the Office of the
Mayor, he actually thought that he was meeting on another issue. While there —I
think it was 8 o'clock in the morning —he was read a letter from the Mayor which he
did not get a copy of and it stated that the office had received a complaint by an
employee concerning an alleged hostile work environment existing at KPD. The
letter goes on to say that we take these allegations seriously. We have a duty and
obligation to provide a safe working environment for every employee. During the
course of this meeting, and again, the Chief is not given a copy of this letter, he is
told that he is not being investigated. But at the end of this letter that is signed by
Mayor Carvalho, it specifically tells him that while this investigation against you is
pending, we expect you to carry out your duties to the utmost of your abilities.
Now any reasonable person and especially one that has been married to an
HR Director /someone in HR for 30 plus years, the red flags are going to start to
raise. So he immediately tried to clarify whether or not he was on investigation or
not. They kept assuring him he was not, but yet the last line in that letter was
clear and unambiguous. He went home that evening... oh, by the way, he was
directed to place on leave with pay pending investigation AC Quibilan. He went
back to his office. He did as he was instructed to do and then throughout that
evening, he questioned, what, am I under investigation? I feel unsafe at the
workplace. At approximately 8 o'clock that same evening, that was Monday
evening, he was told by Managing Director Gary Heu to standby and that he would
receive a phone call the following day to meet with the Mayor. All through the
evening he had been raising the red flag of being subjected to a possible hostile
work environment where he was directed to go to work. He had to continue to work
while the complainant was left at the workplace and he was being instructed to
avoid her at any cost and not have direct contact with her.
ALFRED B. CASTILLO, JR., County Attorney: Excuse me, Council Chair?
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, excuse us for a moment.
Mr. Castillo: Al Castillo, County Attorney. Council Chair, this is
outside of the scope of this agenda item. This is not the proper forum for...I am
assuming it is not the proper forum for discussion or a hearing on the merits of the
case, including the County of Kaua`i (inaudible) and the Chief of Police.
COUNCIL MEETING
- 83 - February 29, 2012
Council Chair Furfaro: I appreciate your caution, but again like any citizen
where we then post an agenda item, if people choose to speak, I can restrict any
questions, but I am giving her an opportunity to speak to ES -528.
Mr. Castillo: Thank you, so she has... you are giving her the
opportunity to speak within the Council Rules. But I just want to say that you, the
Council Chair, can limit the discussion from the testimony from the general public
to be within the parameters of the agenda item.
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes and that is my intention, but no different than
Ken Taylor or Glenn Mickens who wish to speak on an ES item, I am giving this
citizen an opportunity to speak her six minutes.
Mr. Castillo: Thank you.
Ms. Perry: So that letter that was signed by...
Council Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, I just want to make sure you folks reset
the clock for another three minutes. Okay, go ahead.
Ms. Perry: So that letter that was signed by Mayor Bernard
Carvalho in a meeting that was held with the Chief of Police, was also attended by
Gary Heu, Managing Director; Justin Kollar, Deputy County Attorney; and Marc
Guyot, Deputy County Attorney. Throughout this period of time, which has been
approximately one month now, the Chief of Police has been under constant —and I
will say this word — attack from the Office of the Mayor and his Administration.
What was not truthful and not disclosed to the public because it is personal
personnel information was that the Mayor of the County of Kaua`i suspended the
Chief of Police for seven days. Now I do not see that language in our Charter
anywhere that gives the authority of the Mayor to do that. In fact, I do see specific
language which provides a hearing and a written statement to the Chief if there are
any proceedings that are coming before him in front of the Police Commission.
Further, as we continued through all of this, recently when the Chief was directed
to return by the Police Commission, on that first day that he returned and he asked
the Assistant Chief Mark Begley for his badge, his gun, his ID and his keys to his
office, Mark Begley, for three occasions that the Chief directed him to give him his
equipment, refused to give him his equipment and demonstrated grave
insubordination in accordance with the Standards of Conduct. And Assistant Chief
Begley and also Hank Barriga stated that they were doing so under the directions of
the Mayor. Now I do not see that anywhere in the Charter provisions that allows
the Mayor to withhold the Office of the Chief, under whose appointment was
through the Police Commission. That is where they have the appointing authority,
it is with the Police Commission, and it is the Police Commission that should direct
the Police Chief.
Further, on Monday...
Mr. Castillo: Excuse me, I am sorry to interrupt. Council Chair,
Al Castillo, County Attorney. The real grave danger here is that there are police
officers that are being named, that are defenseless, and it opens up this County to
liability if the Chair should allow further discussion. I agree with the speaker that
this is an employment matter. Therefore, it should not be aired in public.
Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you for that caution. I will remind you
again that I do not plan to have this body do anything other than hear the
testimony, by this individual here. Yes, she is the spouse of the Chief of Police, but
COUNCIL MEETING
- 84 - February 29, 2012
she is also here speaking on ES -528 before we go into session. It is not our
intention to pursue this discussion. I will ask them to refrain from naming officers,
if we possibly can, but the circumstances that they wish to testify on, I am going to
let them continue. Thank you, again.
Ms. Perry: Further, the evening before the Chief returned to
his office on that Wednesday, Mike Contrades, who is the Deputy Chief of Police,
had received a communication from Gary Heu directing him to not provide the Chief
of Police with his gun, his badge, and his equipment in order to effectively conduct
his duties and responsibilities.
Lastly and to expedite my discussion and to allow you to question me if you
want, there was a meeting on Monday evening in which a settlement discussion and
I know Mr. Castillo is going to jump up any minute, where there was settlement
discussion where the Mayor and all of the parties that were with him...
Mr. Castillo: Excuse me, Council Chair.
Council Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Mr. Castillo: This is extremely... not permitted and I cautioned
the Council already that talking about any settlements is prohibited.
Ms. Perry: I am going to continue because Mr. Castillo is about
to learn that we are not going to engage in a settlement that compromises the
integrity and the honesty of the Chief of Police, where he is asked to disregard open
insubordination towards him from his two senior officers. That is not something we
can live with.
Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, and on that point I want to share with you
this, the role of this Council is to be a body to hear from our citizens about items
that we interact with the Administration, and so forth. The body does not have any
authority at this particular time as it relates to certain Commissions that the Police
Department is part of. I also want to make sure that bringing personnel issues up,
I will not allow for a discussion here because they are truly personnel issues, and we
are getting ready to go into an executive session specifically on these items. Your
testimony is received, but I just want to make sure, again, we caution ourselves
with referencing employees and some of the particulars as you have just brought to
us about a settlement offer. I think that is material that we need to be briefed on,
but at the same time I am not wanting not to let you testify. Your personnel
background, your professional background certainly contributes to an
understanding for us, but I think the rest of these questions, we will be focusing
towards the County Attorney.
Ms. Perry: Yes, and the reason why I am here is to
demonstrate that that authority that is in question in executive session has been far
exceeded within the constraints of the Charter, and I am asking this body, under
3 -17, to seek an investigation, a full and fair investigation on the matters
concerning the Kaua`i Police Department, and I am asking this body to consider
that there be special counsel to assist the Police Chief and the Police Commission so
that they can fully effectuate their authority under this Charter, which they have
been prevented from over and over and over.
Council Chair Furfaro: That is the end of the time? Thank you. Ms. Perry,
I want to thank you very much for coming to speak on ES -528, which is on our
agenda. We will be going into executive session, and I want to thank you for your
COUNCIL MEETING
- 85 - February 29, 2012
feedback and comments. But because it deals with personnel items, of which we
will have a discussion with the County Attorney's Office, I will not be pursuing any
other questions, but thank you very much for your testimony. Is there anyone else
that would like to testify on this item? If not, I will call our meeting back to order.
There being no objection, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as
follows:
Council Chair Furfaro: We already had a motion to go into executive
session earlier. To continue our business for the evening, I would like, if we can, go
to C 2012 -67 on page 3, which is a discussion that we had earlier in session and I
believe there might be a motion to defer this item.
There being no objection, C 2012 -67 was taken out of order.
C 2012 -67 Request (02/23/2012) from the Office of the County Attorney for
authorization to expend funds up to $50,000.00 to retain special counsel to provide
legal counsel for the County regarding development of the landfill and related
matters.
Ms. Yukimura moved to defer C 2012 -67 to March 14, 2012, seconded by
Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
Council Chair Furfaro: We will reconvene into executive session.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 7:54 p.m.
(Note: Executive Session ES -528 was recessed at 9:27 p.m. and scheduled to
reconvene on Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 1:30 p.m.)
ADJOURNMENT.
The meeting was called back to order at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday,
March 1, 2012, and there being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
RICKY WATANABE
/wa County Clerk
(February 29, 2012)
FLOOR AMENDMENT
Resolution No. 2012 -25, Related to Approving the Issuance of Special Tax Revenue
Bonds for CFD No. 2008 -1; Authorizing the Application of the Proceeds of the Bonds
to Fund Certain Facilities Relating to Such District, Approving the Forms of the
Bond Indenture, Preliminary Official Statement, Bond Purchase Agreement and
Continuing Disclosure Agreements Relating to the Bonds; and Authorizing the
Taking of Further Actions Relating to the Bonds and the District
INTRODUCED BY: JoAnn A. Yukimura
Amend Resolution No. 2012 -25 Exhibit A, Designated County Projects in its
entirety to read as follows:
"EXHIBIT A
Designated County Projects
The projects designated by the County for funding from the Net Construction
Proceeds of the Series 2012 Bonds are: (i) the restoration, rehabilitation and
reconstruction of the Kaneiolouma Heiau Complex within the Poipu Beach Mauka
Preserve administered by the County Department of Parks and Recreation; (ii)
public parking improvements for the Poipu Beach Park; [and] (iii) the Koloa -Poipu
Complete Streets Initiative[]; and (iv) Expansion of Poi`pu Beach Park.
The Net Construction Proceeds of the Series 2012 Bonds and Special Tax
collections available for such purpose under the Acquisition Agreement are
authorized to be used to pay all or a portion of the capital costs incurred by the
County and payable with respect to the foregoing projects in accordance with the
Acquisition Agreement, including without limitation costs incurred for the
construction, rehabilitation, renovation of the project sites, associated planning and
design costs and costs for the acquisition and installation of fixtures, equipment and
other capital improvements included in the projects."
(Material to be deleted is bracketed. New material is underscored.)
V /CS Office Files /Amendments 2010 - 2012 /CFD Reso SS_ds
Ptsp ty-140 vh 02 - al - 4
V,44-44-/-F- 3 -3 ,- r1 )e.