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COUNCIL MEETING
December 15, 2010
The Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to
order by Council Chair Jay Furfaro at the Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road,
Lihu`e, Kauai, on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:09 a.m., after which the
following members answered the call of the roll:
Honorable Tim Bynum
Honorable Dickie Chang
Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Honorable Mel Rapozo
Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura
Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair
Chair Furfaro: Aloha, good morning, this is our final meeting for
the year and I'm going to make a couple exceptions to the Communications section
of our agenda today. And I want to say that before we actually call the meeting
together, we have two requests to give testimony on item C 2011-07 during the
communication because the prosecutor's office will be traveling today and we have
Dr. Monty Downs here, who also wants to offer testimony, and their schedules have
need of them to be in another location. If you don't mind, when we get to the
actual... after the communication, we'll take other testimony, but these requests
came to me by email this morning.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA.
Mr. Nakamura: First matter is Approval of the Agenda.
Mr. -Rapozo moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously carried.
MINUTES of the following meetings of the Council:
Council Meeting of November 10, 2010
Mr. Chang moved for approval of the minutes as circulated, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously carried.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Mr. Nakamura: At this time, Mr. Chair, if we can have...on page
one of the council's agenda i£..for receipt are Communications C 2011-04, C 2011-
05, and C 2011-06.
C 2011-04 Communication (11/03/2010) from the Chief of the Building
Division, Department of Public Works, transmitting for Council information, the
Building Permit Reports for October 2010:
1) Building Permit Processing Report
2) Building Permit Estimated Value Summary
3) Building Permits Tracking Report
4) Building Permits Status
Mr. Chang moved to receive communication C 2011-04 for the record, seconded by
Mr. Kawakami, and unanimously carried.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 2 - ~cember 15, 2010
C 2011-05 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a $1,571,001.00 appropriation from the
surplus and appropriations estimated in the General Fund for Phase 1 of the
upgrade to the County's 800 Mhz radio system to bring it into compliance with
Project 25 (P25), as required by the Federal Government, and to qualify for future
federal funding for additional upgrades: Mr. Chang moved to receive
communication C 2011-05 for the record, seconded by Mr. Kawakami, and
unanimously carried.
C 2011-06 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a $2,767,592.00 appropriation from the
surplus and appropriations estimated in the General Fund for the shortages in the
Golf and Sewer Funds of $62,719.00 and $2,704,873.00, respectively: Mr. Chang
moved to receive communication C 2011-06 for the record, seconded by
Mr. Kawakami, and unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Yukimura?
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, I do have a question about the 800 Mhz
radio system. Is it possible to get someone from the police department here?
Chair Furfaro: We will do as such.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
(?): Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: We'll do that when the bill comes up for first
reading.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Just so that we both understood. Okay, could we
read communication 2011-07?
Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Chair, next matter for receipt is
communication C 2011-07.
C 2011-07 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a $2,328,554.00 appropriation from the
surplus and appropriations estimated in various funds to provide funding to
eliminate furloughs effective January 1, 2011.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: You want to start with a motion to approve?
Chair Furfaro: Yes, please.
Mr. Rapozo: I'll move to approve.
Mr. Kawakami: Second
Chair Furfaro: Receive.
Mr. Bynum: Receive?
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 3 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Kawakami:
Motion to receive.
Check that, yeah, move to receive.
Second.
Mr. Rapozo moved to receive communication C 2011-07 for the record, seconded by
Mr. Kawakami.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Rapozo, second from
Mr. Kawakami. On that note, I'm going to suspend the rules and Mr. Mickens, did
you want to come up and share something with us?
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you, Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens.
Yes, Jay, I have some short comments on 06, 07, 08 and 09, which are also bills,
2388, 2389, 2390, and 2391. They're not very long, so i£..with your permission, I'll
go ahead and give my testimony for those and won't have to come up again. Is that
okay?
Chair Furfaro: I don't have a problem with that, Mr. Mickens, but
let me ask you again. I asked for the courtesies to hear from the prosecutor, who's
going to be catching a plane...
Mr. Mickens: ~ Okay.
Chair Furfaro: ...this morning.
Mr. Mickens: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: And then Dr. Downs...
Mr. Mickens: Right.
Chair Furfaro: ...and then I'll allow you to come up. Would you
yield the floor?
Mr. Mickens: Oh, by all means.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you (inaudible).
Mr. Mickens: Especially for my friend Dr. Downs. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. We'll start with the prosecutor's office.
SHAYLENE ISERI-CARVALHO, Prosecuting Attorney: Good morning,
Council Chair Furfaro and other honorable members of the county council. 'It is a
pleasure to be here.
Chair Furfaro: Good morning.
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: Thank you. Thank you all for accommodating my
schedule. I'm flying out this morning for the annual Hawaii Prosecuting Attorneys
Association meeting on Oahu and appreciate your consideration. I have prepared
written testimony for... so that we would be able to expedite my testimony in light of
my scheduling conflict. We do have copies that we will prepare for the record. My
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 4 - ~cember 15, 2010
name is Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, prosecutor. Dear Members of the Council, the
office of the prosecuting attorney (OPA) hereby submits its testimony in support of
the furloughs...of ending the furloughs as soon as possible and additionally requests
that should furloughs be considered in the future, that the staff of the office of the
prosecuting attorney be excluded.
The furloughs imposed. on the office of the prosecuting attorney have had a
tremendously detrimental effect on the safety and welfare of our community. While
the county has saved roughly $66,000 as a result of placing the OPA staff on
furlough, the savings simply do not justify the cost. Sixty-six thousand dollars
represents less than one-half of one percent of the county's $147,000,000.00 budget
for the 2011 fiscal year. However, as a result of the county's effort to save this
extremely small percentage of the overall budget, justice has been unnecessarily
delayed, criminals have been released, and many of our staff have been forced to the
brink of financial ruin.
As stated in the Charter of the County of Kauai, our office has the duty, as
do all other county offices, to promote the general welfare, health, peace, good order,
comfort and morals of our community. The furloughs represent an absolute
contradiction to this directive by drastically reducing the number of working hours
our office can utilize in order to perform its duties. A total of 1,384 work hours were
lost to the furloughs, but this does not represent the total amount of the hours
sacrificed in the name of meager savings to the county. Rather than focusing on the
day-to-day operation of the OPA, our office's administrative personnel devoted
countless hours to the scheduling and administration of the county's furlough plan,
striving to reduce its overall impact on public safety. Different approaches were
attempted, including implementing a complicated staggering system to ensure that
our office was at least partially staffed on furlough Fridays. However, despite our
best efforts and numerous hours spent designing a workable plan, we were unable
to operate as effectively as we should have been when faced with the crippling
effects of furloughs.
As we anticipated, when the furloughs were proposed, criminals that might
otherwise remain in custody have been released because of the strains of the
furloughs on our office's resources. Unlike most other county departments, our
office must comply with strict time standards imposed by law. When a person is
arrested, the judge must review the facts of the case within 48 hours of arrest to
confirm that there is probable cause to keep that person in custody. After this
48-hour probable cause determination, the court must then schedule an
arraignment within 48 hours. If the defendant remains in custody after the
arraignment, the defendant is entitled to a preliminary hearing within the next
48 hours. Each step in this time-sensitive process requires the OPA to generate
significant amounts of court documents, locate witnesses, and conduct witness
interviews. If the time requirement is violated at any point in this process, it is
considered a violation of the defendant's constitutional rights, and the defendant is
entitled to immediate release regardless of the nature of the charge. This
unfortunate reality has become an occurrence during the furlough period because
cur. office has lacked the resources to operate as effectively as it could have been.
After doing a thorough evaluation of the furlough impacts, it is quite evident
that furloughs should not have been imposed on county employees that are directly
responsible for the safety of our community. Almost all of the employees of the OPA
are classified as exempt for one important reason: Their absence has a direct
negative impact on public safety. However, despite this classification, the decision
was made to impose the furloughs without due consideration to their unique
position. As a result, felons have walked free only days after their arrest and the
safety of the community has been jeopardized unnecessarily.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 5 - ITecember 15, 2010
As a further result of the furloughs, the OPA has seen a resurgence in the
backlog of cases. The current administration took office in the middle of the
2008/2009 fiscal year with over 4,000 cases of unserved documents and case files
left over from the previous administration. To address this problem, we created an
investigator services unit and assembled a review team of law clerks and attorneys
to specialize in different types of cases and prioritize the processing of the
documents and case files based on the level of severity of the offense. We refined
these efforts during the last fiscal year, disposing of over 500 felony cases and
making significant progress toward eliminating this cumbersome backlog. As a
direct result of the furloughs for our support staff, we have seen a dramatic increase
in the number of cases that are put on hold pending further review. This increase
indicates that the progress. in clearing the backlog has begun to reverse at an
astonishing rate. Before the implementation of furloughs, our office had
366 cases...felony cases pending review. After the furloughs were in place, that
number nearly doubled to 604 even though we received approximately the same
number of incident reports from the Kauai Police Department during that same
period. The significant increase in the number of cases pending review clearly
illustrates the furlough's effect on our office's productivity. With office staff
furloughed two days per month, there remains little time to focus on processing the
enormous amount of cases that are beginning to amass.
While public safety and productivity have clearly suffered, the furloughs have
had an alarming impact on the personal lives of our personal support staff. The
sharp reduction in salary has pushed many to the brink of financial ruin. Anxiety
and the necessity of taking on a second job in order to adequately provide for their
families have reduced both morale and productivity throughout the office. In
speaking with the employees, although their commitment and dedication in serving
the community have been unwavering, their increased stress level has caused an
unprecedented number of sick leave hours to be taken every week, which
compounds the problems caused by understaffing. We simply cannot afford to
impose this kind of burden on the people that are directly responsible for the safety
of the community.
The economic crisis we are facing needs to be balanced with the safety and
welfare of the community. With crime increasing at an astonishing rate, county
offices directly responsible for the safety of the public should never be considered for
furloughs. The minimal financial savings simply do not justify the overall negative
costs. We should learn from the failures of the furlough system and the harm it has
already caused to our community. If future economic hardships require county
offices to implement a furlough plan, public safety should never be compromised in
the name of financial savings.
Thank you all for your consideration in support of ending the furloughs as
soon as possible.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, thank you very much. I'm going to"see
if we have other questions on your testimony at this point. Mr. Bynum? " ~ ~ ` '-
Mr. Bynum: Good morning, Shaylene.
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: Good morning.
Mr. Bynum: I want to thank you for being ~ here -today. As an
elected official, you're in a position to be independent and speak your mind about
furloughs and I appreciate that you have. Other department heads may not have
that same latitude and you know, I think although a majority of the council
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 6 - ~cember 15, 2010
supported furloughs, I believe a majority of the council also wanted public safety to
be exempt and felt like we had some assurances that that was the case. To me, that
would have included your office, it would have included the HGEA employees at
KPD, it would have included the lifeguards which I thought were going to be
exempt and I'm hearing that maybe they weren't in the long run. And we didn't
have an adequate discussion about the impact o£..on county services, be it public
safety or community center, or you know, elderly programs. Because of the way the
budget process came down, those questions were never entertained or even allowed.
So, I appreciate your testimony today and I agree with it. I don't...I think...I'm
hopeful that we move to end furloughs effective January 1St today or begin that
process, and I know that the county auditor intends to do a follow-up audit about
the impact of furloughs not only on county services and employees, but on the larger
economy as this big section of the middle class had their pay cut 10-12%, and you
know, I think that affected the larger economy. So, thank you very much for your
testimony today and I appreciate it.
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: Thank you, Councilmember Bynum. I recall very
vividly sitting here on April 20, 2010 when we were prepared to go forward with the
evaluation of the furloughs and that was delayed, and we never were consulted and
we never had that kind of discussion that we would have wanted to at that time.
We had already been very open with the county council throughout the term of my
administration in trying to bring forth the issues that the office had faced even prior
to me being elected as the prosecutor. We are also in a unique position because the
police department was not put on furloughs. In fact, they were still contractually...I
believe the county obligated for atwo-year period, and so the...when the police
department, and I don't know if this is common knowledge, but if the police
department does all of their investigation, nothing will happen to that person until
the prosecutor's office files a document in court holding that person and explaining
all of the rights that the defendant is entitled to and making sure that we don't
compromise those where we do have felons that are left on the street. And that was
clearly a very unique position that our office was in because the police department
came in with the same amount of reports that they had been doing because they
were not subjected...the officers weren't subjected to the furloughs and yet our staff
basically were .not able to comply with a lot of these time constraints simply because
not only of our furloughs but the judiciary furloughs as well. So a lot of times there
were hearings... although we have up until 48 hours in order to bring the case
forward and to a hearing, a lot of times because the furloughs happen on Friday, if
there was a person who was in custody on Thursday, the furloughs were on Fri...I
mean on Wednesday, we would have to do the hearing in 24 hours, which would
mean on Thursday because they were on furlough on Friday, and it was impossible.
A lot of the victims were witness...I mean witnesses to testify at the preliminary
hearings were those that came from off-island. There were a lot of visitors that
were impacted that moved and we were unable to get to those witnesses within a
24-hour period. It caused, again, an extreme amount of stress on the employees
because they are very dedicated to making sure that the community was safe or
remained safe and yet we were really unable to accomplish what we wanted to do as
far as public safety because of them not being able to work when it was clear that
we needed their time to be spent at work.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, any more questions? Mr. Rapozo, go
right ahead.
Mr. Rapozo: And thank you for being here today. Even with the
furloughs, I mean you've mentioned quite a bit of hours, and I did have the
opportunity to work in your office, so I understand exactly where you're coming
from, but how long will it take you to recover? Should furloughs be restored today,
how long will it take you to recover? And the caseload is no fun at your office, and I
COUNCIL MEETING • - 7 - ITecember 15, 2010
think it should be noted that in anticipation of a tough economic period, you
restructured your office and actually had let some employees go, which is very
uncommon in the county. And you had enjoyed a savings of...I forget what that
amount was... it was substantial, and yet you still were required to furlough, which
I thought was unfair. I think real simply, you know, to furlough education and
public safety is really a crime, period. But how long do you think it'll take you to
recover and at what cost to catch up to where you were pre-furlough?
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: It would be really almost .impossible to estimate
because there have been cases that we actually have lost because of the statute of
limitation, because of the time that we hadn't been able... and serious cases. We
had a child pornography case that...because the case wasn't brought forward within
a period of three years, which was the statute of limitation, a 490-count child
pornography case was dismissed on a technicality because there was insufficient
time or staff to review those reports. There are a lot of these horror stories. KPD
shares -our pain in going through these steps because we consult on a daily basis
with the Kauai Police Department, and that's the only way that we have been able
to try to manage the lack of resources on both sides, the police department side as
well as the prosecution side. So it would be, in answer to your question
Councilmember Rapozo, it would be very difficult to estimate.
We had been making a lot of strides, I believe, in overcoming the backlog and
in fact we are...were, prior to the furloughs, probably about 300 cases behind and
that was a good amount when we talk about the 4,OOO...and we're talking only
about felony cases because we also have misdemeanor cases and traffic violations
that are voluminous. But with respect to the serious felony cases, we had made
great strides in addressing the backlog and as indicated by our numbers...I had
asked our staff to pull from our database how really, in numbers, has the furloughs
affected our office and clearly we are double behind where we were before the
furloughs had started. And so, it's an alarming number and you know I just, again,
am here, you know, really to shed light on the seriousness of the issue.
The mayor, I believe, has had some indication from the community about the
effects of the furloughs and effects on crime in general. They had just created, as
part of us being on the committee, a mayor's crime task force that has already met,
I believe, three times (two meetings and one initial meeting) because it was
(inaudible) is made up of members from...business members from the community,
as well as the police department and ourselves, to try to shed light on the issue and
try to collaborate as to how best to handle the situation. Whenever the economy
goes bad, clearly it has an inverse relationship to our office. It means that our office
exponentially increases the workload and so to see this kind of dynamics in place
and not having the ability to address them as competently as we would have wanted
to is...(cell phone alarm) oops, I think my time is up. That's my...that's actually my
alarm to go catch my flight.
Chair Furfaro: Hawaii 5-0.
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: Thanks, Jay; 'so again, I appreciate the time in
bringing forth the issues to the county council, and we're more than available to
share with you, all of the data that we have. I realize there's going to be a public
hearing and we'll be able to shed more light at that time because I realize there are
new councilmembers that may not have been privy to a lot of the information that
we had provided over the past year and a half.
Chair Furfaro: Shay, I do want to thank you, especially for the
written testimony, and I also do want to say that, you know, as Mr. Bynum
mentioned, it was not the intent of this council at the time to really have these
COUNCIL MEETING. - 8 - ~ cember 15, 2010
conditions placed on public safety, which is certainly the primary focus of
government. I also acknowledge the fact that fire and police, their contracts are up
this year and so they, in fact, were not affected. But we're here today because it
was this council that put the provisos in for the Dec...to start the December 15th
reviews, two provisos: one on the furlough and the other one as it relates to
developing a clear reserve policy. So, I do want to thank you. I know you're on a
time limit. The schedule shows the public hearing right now tentatively for the 12th
of January, followed by a second meeting on the 19th of January. Hopefully we get
it done by the 26th and then the mayor has five days to look at it. How he would
want to approach the month of January based on the outcome, I'm not sure. Does
he want to do something retroactive depending the way the council's moving or not,
but your testimony is very much appreciated. We appreciate you getting here early
so that we can take your testimony before you fly out. Have a successful trip.
Ms. Iseri-Carvalho: Thank you and happy holidays to you all.
Chair Furfaro: Same to you, merry Christmas. On that note,
Dr. Downs, you're here to give testimony even though we're on...even just on the
communication section? I can give you that time now.
MONTY DOWNS, M.D.: Good morning, Chair Furfaro and councilmembers.
I don't have a plane to catch, but I definitely am a busy man and I really appreciate
you allowing me to give some testimony early in the meeting today. Reading the
paper last week, it sounds like ending furloughs is a done deal, so I don't want to
beat a dead horse and give you a lengthy testimony on something that sounds like it
may be in the works. But on the other hand, I don't get too many opportunities to
talk about our lifeguards and the importance they have to Kauai and to the visitor
industry.
I've given you two pieces of testimony. One is a written testimony pretty
quick after the elections, in fact before you councilmembers were sworn in, and I
hope you all got that testimony that was entitled "Time to Right a Wrong" which
had to do with the lifeguards pay cut. They didn't get furloughed, but they did get a
pay cut, and I want to make sure if we're ending furloughs that we also end the pay
cut. I feel I need to shepherd that through.
And the second testimony I brought with me today, it's just a couple graphs.
These are generated by the State epidemiologist, the guy named Dr. Dan Galanis,
and what they show is that for visitors, the overwhelming cause of catastrophic
mishap is drowning, and to me, in that way that makes ocean safety a critical part
of the visitor industry, which we all hang our hat on, so to speak. And this...these
terrible numbers where drowning is so prevalent as the cause of death exists even
despite the fact of having a good lifeguard service that thanks to the previous
councils we've had tremendous evolution in our lifeguarding in the last 20 years.
Despite that, it's still a terrible challenge.
Our oceans here are very, very rough. You'll see that Kauai always stands
gut like a sore thumb on the third chart compared to the other islands. For some
darn reason no matter how much we try, we still end up having the highest
drowning rate of all the islands, and I've thought about that. I think I know the
reason...the reasons for it, couple reasons. One, we have a lot of unguarded beaches
that guidebooks, unfortunately, tend to tell people how beautiful they are and
places like Larsen's and Secret Beach, and Hideaways. I mean just the names alone
mean that they're just what adventuresome visitors want and get in trouble there.
The second reason I think is more kind of a weather reason. We have... the other
islands all have their resort communities in lee areas when you think of the Kona
Coast or Waikiki is lee of the Koolau mountains and on Maui you have Lahaina and
COUNCIL MEETING ~ -~9 - ITecember 15, 2010
I~ihei that are in the lee. Here Po`ipu is sort of a lee, but the trade wind...if you look
at the geography of Kauai, the trade winds definitely wrap around... the whole
Coconut Coast is right there slam-dunk in the trade winds. In the summertime,
Hanalei and other resort areas are fairly protected, but Po`ipu is our very big resort
area and that's heavily impacted by the trade winds, and sometimes it looks calm
for 30 yards offshore, but as soon as you get past that, the wrap is right there and
people...people get in trouble there. So I think there are a couple factors which no
matter how hard we try Kauai still stands out like a sore thumb.
Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes, Mr. Chair.
Dr. Downs: As far as our lifeguards themselves, I don't ask you
for sympathy for them because every county employee took a pay cut. But I do ask
you for respect and on the basis of what they do. We ask them to do two different
things: not only be experts in the water, throwing themselves into conditions which
would kill me in (cough, excuse me) literally a heartbeat, but also they have a second
job, and that's to be ambassadors. We...part of our ocean safety message is please
swim near a lifeguard and please ask a lifeguard where is the safest place to swim.
So we expect that of them. So every day they're out there talking with people and
we've documented...actually last year they had 248 rescues, but like 120,000 what
we call preventions, and those are people coming up to them and asking them where
should I swim. So they have to be both concierges and daring watermen who have
done rescues that have been noticed around the world for their courage and
intensity. 'Anyway, so they... in the letter that I wrote you, I kind of went through
the very details of how I feel a wrong was committed to them. At one point they
were in the budget for no furlough, which I had lobbied for quite hard and I believed
in very strongly, so that happened. But all of a sudden out of nowhere behind some
closed doors, it was decided well, okay guys,' you're not getting a furlough, but you're
getting a pay cut, and that's been a pretty heavy morale hit. They're supposedly in
the fire department and kind of had to watch as their fire department colleagues get
a 4% raise because of their contract. In the face of that, not only did.our lifeguards
not get the 4% raise that they had bargained for a couple years ago with HGEA, but
they got a 5% cut. So... and all the while, of course, inflation going up. So they're
kind of feeling, again, a little morale problem, which I think is wrong because I
think they do an incredible service for Kauai and for the visitor industry.
I'm there in the ER, I see two different things. One, I see the terrible cases,
which is what got me involved in the first place, in ocean safety of these visitor
tragedies that you're seeing and local tragedies. But number two, we see some
unbelievable rescues that our lifeguards make on jet skis and the people come in
alive, maybe need a couple of hours of oxygen, maybe need one night in ICU for
oxygen and a pressure mask that we put on them, and they would have been dead
were it not for all the resources that our councils and our mayors of the last few
sessions have put together getting jet skis that can go to even these remote beaches
and make incredible rescues.
So anyway, if you take away furloughs, bottom line, please also take away
the pay cut and don't let that slip by unobserved is what I'm asking of you today:
Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Dr. Downs, as I told you privately in a meeting, by
way... no means did the council negotiate this package on reducing the pay scale.
That was certainly never our intent, as Mr. Bynum pointed out. We tried to exempt
public safety which included the lifeguards, but I can reassure you that this money
bill for $2.3 million is intended, in my opinion, to end furloughs and pay reductions.
And I do want to point out, though, that the administration found themselves
dealing with a third party and that third party wasn't this council in coming into
COUNCIL MEETING • - 10 - ~cember 15, 2010
what they felt was continuity on those pay reductions. But clearly to me, the money
bill is addressing furloughs and pay reductions, and I'll make sure we send a
communication. I'll ask the staff to reconfirm that with the administration... Now,
let me see if there are any questions for you, sir. Would anybody like
to... Councilwoman Yukimura?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, thank you, Dr. Downs. As always, thank you
for being here to inform us and keep us clear about what the needs are for water
safety. You mentioned that there were 248 rescues this past year and you
mentioned something about prevention and another figure?
Dr. Downs: Yeah, I think it's 120 plus thousand, the lifeguards
kind of document every time...
Ms. Yukimura: They advise or counsel somebody?
Dr. Downs: (Inaudible) Yeah, advise someone, yeah, yeah. So
whether...how many of those preventions...even if it's a tenth of one percent, that's
like 10 dead people a year or something, so a pretty big deal.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. And then on your last map or page of
your presentation which shows a map of the island and where the drownings
occurred, you...they show that total island drownings are 378 and shoreline
drowning are 76.7% of that, which is 290 drownings. Am I to assume that the other
drownings are swimming pool and that type of drowning, so not along the shoreline?
Dr. Downs: And streams and rivers...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes.
Dr. Downs: And even some boating accidents and...yeah.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Dr. Downs: So some of those are included.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Um...
Dr. Downs: The... if I could interrupt you...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, sure.
Dr. Downs: ...for a second, the part I kind of outlined in orange
on the upper left shows a very unique thing where actually drowning is responsible
for more deaths on Kauai than motor vehicle accidents, which is... and this isn't just
with visitors, it's local people and visitors, so it's a rough ocean.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, it's very telling. You show that between 1990
and 2008, there were 144 traffic deaths and there were 166 ocean drowning deaths.
So yeah, that's showing that ocean drownings are a bigger problem actually. Okay,
well thank you very much and... so your basic request is to just stop into the future
the drowning? I mean, excuse me, the furloughs and the pay cuts?
Dr. Downs: The pay cuts. I would not object to retroactive, I'd
have to admit. The...
Ms. Yukimura: Because I thought there was your letter...
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 11 - 1Tecember 15, 2010
Dr. Downs: I think that was a wrong that happened back on
July lst. We didn't really get a feeling for why it happened, but within the...in late
June based on the fact that the Oahu lifeguards did not get a pay cut or a furlough,
our lifeguards were led to believe in the budget that they were not going to get a pay
cut and then something very clandestine happened that I still haven't quite been
able to put a finger on where all of a sudden they got a pay cut. So to me if I was
making the decision, I'd make it retroactive to July 1, 2009 (sic), but...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, so how is it that O`ahu...that on Oahu the
lifeguards did not take pay cuts?
Chair Furfaro: Are they not two different bargaining units?
Dr. Downs: No, no, we're all in the same...all the lifeguards are
in the HGEA.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, they're HGEA.
Dr. Downs: Yeah, so each island that's part of where...we're
trying to work on that on a statewide level, getting all the state...the lifeguards in
each county sort of together as one unit, but that's a whole other story.
Ms. Yukimura: But it does sound like it varied from county to
county, which means it was either the administration or the council... and/or the
council that made those decisions.
" Dr. Downs: The rumor that I heard was that Mayor Hanneman
just strongly believed that lifeguards cannot take a pay cut and...just the way police
and fire can't, that it kind of ...
Ms. Yukimura: Well certainly the pay scales indicate that.
Dr. Downs: Yeah, so I don't know, but I kind of heard
some...when I asked the same. question how did they swing it on Oahu and we
couldn't swing it here, I heard there was a certain point where the mayor just said
hey, I'm sorry, lifeguards are off limits; they're too important.
Ms. Yukimura: And what about the other counties of Maui and
Hawaii?
Dr. Downs: The other counties... Big Island has exactly the
same thing we do and Maui has one furlough day a month. So every county,
yeah...we're hoping to get...a large part of the problem is that lifeguards don't have
a bargaining unit that supports them. They are part o£..because of things that
happened way back in the '70s actually when you go back historically, there were
just a few lifeguards and (inaudible) what bargaining unit should we put them in?
Okay, that one. It was sort of a random choice, putting them iri°tlie bargaining unit
with clerks, and it turns out years later the job description is totally different, and
it's a very inappropriate bargaining unit for them to be in. So we're trying to work
on statewide getting a separate bargaining unit for the lifeguards, but that's
actually a huge undertaking that requires the legislature itself, the state leg to
make a new law about it and it'll be, I'm afraid, years of lobbying before we can
achieve that.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 12 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. You know, Mr. Downs, this is only the
first reading and I've made some exceptions here because much... there are some
variables that, you know, we will visit when we get to the public hearing portion.
But since we've gone there, I will let Mr. Bynum pose another question.
Mr. Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: I mostly just want to thank you for your testimony
because I didn't know that the counties had behaved differently and I think... Do
.you recall that during the budget hearing this council was pretty adamant that
lifeguards should be off limits?
Dr. Downs: I do recall, yeah.
Mr. Bynum: And... so, you know, I didn't know until I got your
letter that this 5% pay cut was imposed, and then to hear that it didn't happen on
Oahu and it happened to...you know, I'm very uncomfortable with that. So, thanks
for bringing that to our attention.
Dr. Downs: You're welcome. Thank you for your support.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Bynum, and. Mr. Downs, it is
something that we are researching. I don't...as you shared it as a...the Honolulu
conclusion was based on the direction of the mayor there.
Dr. Downs: I think so. I don't...
Chair Furfaro: Okay, we need to do a little research ourselves
because I think Maui County might have been in a different kind of compliance as
well. So, we'll have that reviewed as we get to the public hearing and the public
hearing will be on January 12 and then of course, there'll be a second reading and
go into committee. So we -have some opportunities to really surface these
challenges. But I just want to restate my earlier statement that as we review
furloughs we're also reviewing those payroll reductions, who didn't get furloughed.
I don't know how possible it is in our current financial (inaudible) to even look at
anything going retroactive. But the money that has been allocated is in fact, in my
opinion, for January going forward. Are there any more questions of Mr. Downs?
Go ahead, Mr. Chang.
Mr. Chang: Not necessarily a question, but again thank you for
your testimony and on another note, your tubing program.
Dr. Downs: Okay.
Mr. Chang: You just had a really nice article written up at
Kealia lookout. So it started off with a few tubes hanging on trees, but now they're
very visible and you mentioned Lepeuli or Larsen's and I know that those were
places that the tubes were used to actually save, I believe, two lives within the rip
current area. So, thank you on that note for moving on and getting the community
involved with sponsoring your tubes...the rescue tubes on the beaches. Thank you.
Dr. Downs: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Dr. Downs, and thank you for all you do
in our community.- Thank you very much.
Dr. Downs: Mahalo for sneaking me in here. Have a good day.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 13 - ITecember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Mickens, I'm going. to let you speak and then I
hope to move on to the predetermined time for the auditors.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you again, Jay. Since we're on Bill 2389, I'll
comment about that first. Then, with your permission, Jay, I'll shortly give you
my...
Chair Furfaro: I'll let you go right ahead, go right ahead.
Mr. Mickens: Thank you very much. I certainly concur with
everything Shaylene had to say about ending furloughs. But if my friend Dickie
with his quote in the Garden Island about possibly losing $12 million in TAT funds
is true, I believe his statement needs serious investigation. I haven't checked that
out, but if we're saving in this furlough thing $2,328,544.00, but we do take a
chance of losing $12 million, I don't think that trade-off is something that I
think... and again, I'm highly in favor of cutting these furloughs. I don't believe
anybody should have to lose money or as Dr. Downs said, I don't believe that the
lifeguards should be taking any pay cut. But again, maybe Dickie can expand on
that at his will whenever he wants to.
Regarding that Bill 2388, are we going to perpetually subsidize the golf and
sewer funds? That's $2,767, 592.00 this year. That's a lot of money. Or can't they
be made to pay for themselves? I know that the golf fund-Jay you made reference
to this-once supported itself, so where is the leadership to make it happen again?
And why should the sewer fund be in the red for almost $3 million? Who monitors
the rates charged and collections?
Regarding Bill 2390, we are subsidizing the bus system enough already. I
believe Jay said something like a half a million dollars or more, maybe it was...I
don't remember the exact figure. Why not give the mass of the people who use their
vehicles to commute a gas subsidy and help them out? Yes, the elderly and those
who cannot drive need transportation, so keep the buses running or possibly have
the county contract with a cab company to pick people up and take them to their
destination and take them home. I understand that this method is used in other
municipalities and works well. So it could be tried here. It could be cheaper than
engaging a fleet of buses and it could be more efficient, but I would oppose spending
$575,000.00 on more buses. People... any of you, as an example, will not abandon
your vehicle for a bus or bike, JoAnn. So put these funds into making vehicle travel
more economically possible and alleviate traffic. You people use your vehicles to
move around and so do I and all my friends. So, please live in the real world and
address the masses and not the minorities. Take care of the needy but direct your
major efforts to the 99% who need it.
And Bill 2391, since Kauai is trailing our other islands in tourism, it appears
that our funding $1 million is going to the right... is not going to the right
promoters. I applaud Sue, George, and Dickie for their hard work and efforts to get
tourists back to Kauai with the marathon, etcetera, but I would suggest, 'as I have
...
said before, that this -$200,000.00 and a'ny other funds appropriated for "KVB lie'
directed to airlines as vouchers for air discount fares for Kauai only. Cheaper
airfares will bring people to Kauai. I'd bet on it. Research has proven that airfares
are the major factor in determining if, when, and where a person and their families
will travel.
Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Mickens: It can also let Kauai hotels and restaurants issue
discount vouchers to join the effort to get people back to Kauai. In other words, I
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 14 - ~ cember 15, 2010
don't see that our efforts in the KVB are working that well, if you read the figures in
the financial section of the paper. But I think we should try something else and I,
you know, I haven't heard any opposition to try and get vouchers. They did have
these a long time ago when I used to come over here on vacation, and people just
suck them up, ahundred-dollar round trip airfares from the west coast here, you
couldn't afford not to take those. So I think they would at least be worth trying.
And lastly, Jay, we're spending $7,767,146.00 out of our general fund. We're
using the above amount out of the... shouldn't these funds be appropriated in the
budget? Couldn't we budget these things? I see that in 3-6-09, our general fund
balance was $22,061,141.00 unencumbered, but I've heard you say before that I
think, you know, basically it's there for emergencies, like hurricanes and things.
You have to have a balance in that general fund to be able to take care of
emergencies and things. But this $7,767,000.00, I don't think they're really
emergency funds. I think they could be appropriated, you know, in the budget
itself. Anyway, this is my testimony. I've said quite a bit, asked quite a few
questions, and at your convenience maybe you can answer some of them.
Chair Furfaro: Let me give you a quick summary before I ask some
of the other councilmembers if they have questions for you. First of all, our county,
and the auditors can confirm this in...because they're next on the list, we do not
have a clear resolution on a reserve policy. A reserve policy is recommended for
most municipalities so that in the event of a hurricane, an airline shutdown, any
type of economic blast we should take, we have an identified reserve to adjust that.
These recommendations that you'll see from many accounting firms go anywhere
from 15% of your operating budget to 20% of your operating budget, okay. So, we're
starting off with these money bills that you've given testimony on and the mayor is
proposing spending about $7 million... $7.6 million I ,believe. This is for the
expansion of the bus, this is for reinstating furloughs (sic), all of those particular
pieces. We have approximately...or started the year with a $44 million what is
called surplus. In reality, part of that should be earmarked as a reserve. And so we
have a $150 million operating budget, and let's say the recommended reserve is 20%
or at minimum at least two months of the operating cost for the county, which
amounts to about 17%, but let's stay with the 20. So that means $30 million of
what is labeled as a surplus should be handled in a resolution and called a reserve.
So that puts $30 million in at the end of each year, and at the beginning of a new
budget session that reserve is replenished and each new council should put in place
a resolution that earmarks what that percentage is. So we have the $44 million we
started with. We have spent $3.2 million in emergency programs in the first
six months of this year. That brings us to $41 million. We then have a total
$7.7 million of emergency request... a new request from the administration that
we're going to be having public hearings on that amounts to $7.7 million. So that
will bring our $41 million down to about $33.5 million. And in the proviso that we
put into the budget, we're saying to the mayor we want a clear reserve policy so that
it's not referred to as a surplus but rather as a reserve. If that's 20%, that's
$30 million. So the real surplus we have only for the balance of this year should
really anly be about $3.3 million. That's the quick accounting of it.
Now, I know you have individual comments that I've heard in your testimony
regarding the mayor's plan to expand the bus and so forth, but those are things that
we can do because of our conservative approach to managing our money, and I just
wanted to say that from the beginning here because now we're going to have a
series of public hearings on those bills and your answers will come up in those
public hearings. And I appreciate your testimony, but you know we're not through
this yet. I think some of the answers you're looking for will come up in those public
hearings.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 15 - I.Tecember 15, 2010
Mr. Mickens: So the money you're saying in the general fund
should be what percent of the total amount?
Chair Furfaro: Depending... and we can pose this to the auditors,
depending on the guideline set by other municipalities and I would keep this short
because this is not an agenda item right now. It can be anywhere from 15% to 20%
of our operating budget. '
Mr. Mickens: And the $30 million that you say will...well, I
think...
Chair Furfaro: The $30 million represents 20% of our current
operating budget of $149.8 million.
Mr. Mickens: ~ And you'd like to have that in basically a locked box
so you can't just go ahead and use it for anything?
Chair Furfaro: So that you see it as a line item called reserve.
Mr. Mickens: Yeah, okay, I understand. Thank you, Jay.
Chair Furfaro: Now let me see if there are any questions regarding
your testimony. I just wanted to give you an oversight.
Mr. Mickens: I appreciate it.
Chair Furfaro: ~ Glenn, I think Councilwoman Yukimura had a
question.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, thank you very much for your testimony. I am
in agreement with you about the golf fund in particular, and in this
particular...actually this is a bit uncomfortable because your testimony is on all
item...three items. But for this particular request from the finance director it
shows a $62,000.00 request, but actually in the budget already, the one that we
would be amending, there is a much bigger subsidy, I believe, almost to the tune of
a million dollars.
Mr. Mickens: The golf and sewer funds you're talking about,
right?
Ms. Yukimura: The golf fund. They're two separate funds.
Mr. Mickens: Yeah, right, exactly. The golf fund was $62,000.
Ms. Yukimura: So, I do believe we should make it our goal to have
the golf fund pay for itself and I hope we'll be able to ask questions of the parks
department to see what their plan is for that. On your... ~' ~ ~' " "" '
Mr. Mickens: What about the...what about the sewer fund,
JoAnn?
Ms. Yukimura: Well, that...
Mr. Mickens: Don't you think that should..: - ~ ~ -
Ms. Yukimura: We need to look at that too. I don't think that is as
easy because... 1
COUNCIL MEETING • - 16 - ~ cember 15, 2010
Mr. Mickens: It can be made to pay for itself, though, can't it?
Any more than your water bill or anything because...
Ms. Yukimura: Anyway, so my question to you is about your
testimony about tourism, unless, Chair, you want us to bring that up later?
Chair Furfaro: Let's do that later.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, but we will have a chance then, because
Mr. Mickens has already testified, to bring him up again to ask those questions?
Chair Furfaro: Well, again and I want to remind the
councilmembers and perhaps I was a little broad. Mr. Mickens can be a little bit
more flexible in his testimony. We need to be focused on the particular item. So
when we come to that item, we'll visit the visitor stimulus and I hope... at that time
I'm sure Mr. Chang will have answers for that.
Ms. Yukimura:
been better for Mr. M
Chair Furfaro:
Ms. Yukimura:
Chair Furfaro:
when we...
Mr. Mickens:
Okay, yeah and in actuality perhaps it would have
ickens to come up at that time and testify.
Okay.
And in retrospect. Thank you.
In other words, they're inviting you back to testify
Okay.
Chair Furfaro: The whole reason for taking this testimony on the
communication was those individuals in front of you were either needing to get back
to the hospital or catch a plane, so.
Mr. Mickens: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: You're welcome to come back.
Mr. Mickens: I understand.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Mickens: Thank you, Jay.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. And for the general audience, I
explained why we went to that item at this point, but we do have auditors here and
may I call the meeting back to order and ask for a motion on item C 2011-07 dealing
with furloughs? ~ .
The meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows:
Mr. Nakamura: We do...
Chair Furfaro: Can we receive that item for right now?
Ms. Yukimura: I believe there is a motion.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Nakamura:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Nakamura:
Chair Furfaro:
Ms. Yukimura:
Chair Furfaro:
Ms. Yukimura:
- 17 - • ember 15; 2010
Mr. Chair, we do have a motion and a second.
Oh, we do have a motion and a second?
Yes.
Any discussion? Councilwoman Yukimura?
No.
No?
Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Ms. Yukimura: Oh yes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: We're going to receive this and it's going to come up
again later.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, we'll have a chance to speak at the time the
bill is before us.
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Then no discussion right now.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. All those in favor for the receipt of this?
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to receive communication C 2011-07 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, since our auditors. are in the
house, may we go to the audit item.
Mr. Nakamura: Council Chair, we're on page two of the council's
agenda on communication C 2011-11.
C 2011-11 Communication (12/07/2010) from the County Auditor,
requesting agenda time for R.C. Holsinger Associates to provide the Council with a
report of the independent audit of the County's programs for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 2010.
Chair Furfaro: ~ Thank you and on that note, I'm going to suspend
the rules so that our audit firm can have the floor. The rules are suspended and
welcome.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
JOHN HOLT, President of RC Holsinger Associates: Mr. Chairman, thank
you very much for your time to present the financial statements. ~ --
Chair Furfaro: Would you hold one second, John?
COUNCIL MEETING • - 18 - ~ cember 15, 2010
The meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: I'll look for a motion to receive.
Ms. Nakamura: Move to receive.
Mr. Bynum: Second.
Ms. Nakamura moved to receive communication C 2011-11 for the record, seconded
by Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I'll suspend the rules now.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
JOHN HOLT, President of RC Holsinger Associates: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We appreciate the opportunity to present the audited financial statements of the
fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, and RC Holsinger is our accounting firm that has
been retained to be the independent auditors. I am John Holt, the president of RC
Holsinger, and I have with me Dr. Vivian Viar, who is the manager on the
engagement that handles the day-to-day operations of the account. The report has
been previously distributed and I wanted to point out three things that are new in
the current year's report.
In the prior year, we had... the County of Kauai had adopted the statements
of GASB, statement 54, which would allocate out various fund balances. And one of
the things that we do is GASB requires us to report budgetary amounts that are
passed, that are enacted, and are reported in the CAFR. And one of the things they
did this year, the department of finance felt that in the sense of better user
friendliness of the statements, abetter transparency and accountability, was
starting on page 37. What they added to the report new this year, which wasn't in
the previous year's reports, is a breakout by project of all of the capital projects that
are in place. And so starting on page 37 is all the projects for the general capital
improvement fund. And then starting on page 40 are those projects that are in
process out of the bond fund. And in particular why I started showing what's new
in the report is just that so that you can see the additional reporting that is in place
that is required. On page 42, the important thing to point out on page 42 right
there in the middle is that you will see...that's where you'll see that's where we
have $60 million of additional funds...of bond funds that were issued earlier in the
year, in March of this year. The County of Kauai did this bond issuance, raised
$60 million for capital expenditures and you can see on the far right-hand side the
balance, what is remaining in the bond fund for those projects and for the use of
those funds. So, as the county looks as to where is its fund balances, moneys that
are being set aside and appropriated, this was just an example of the transparency
and additional reporting that is being put into place to make sure that those funds
are being accounted for and the public can track how those are being spent.
One of the items to point out on these bonds, these bonds are under the
federal stimulus program. They were issued under the Build America Bonds and
they were also under the Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds. It's an
important item to point out because that makes these bonds, as far as the county is
concerned, very cost effective. And what I mean by that is that the federal
government, because you have issued bonds under these programs, they will
reimburse you 35% and 45% of the interest expense that the county would normally
incur. So, in the current year, none of the subsidy has been received because none
1
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 19 - ecember 15, 2010
of the bond payments have been made by June 30. But in the current fiscal year,
you will see that those moneys will be coming in and they'll be recorded as revenue
to offset the interest expense on the bonds.
So two of the items that are new is the fact that there's expanded reporting
and accountability that is reflected in the financial statements. Another new item
is just the issuance of these bonds and the economic impact that that's providing to
the county.
A third thing, which' relates again to the federal stimulus program, is that
the County of Kauai was awarded $3.9 (sic) million of ARRA funds . ARRA funds
are those that are issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or
commonly referred to as the stimulus program.
In the Single Audit, which is the smaller report that has been issued, that's
where we need to delineate all of the federal funds and we need to audit the federal
funds. One of the requirements of the ARRA funds is that 100% of the ARRA funds
need to be audited, whereas with regular federal programs, we do sampling and do
sampling techniques and we rotate through different programs to be audited.
ARRA funds are required to be 100% audited. Of the $13.9 million that's been
awarded, $9.4 million of those ARRA funds are in process or in projects that have
been committed to and $1.8 million of those funds have been expended.
Ms. Yukimura: Can you repeat that?
Mr. Holt: Sure. The federal government had awarded
$3.9 (sic) million of ARRA funds. Of those funds that have been awarded, projects
totaling $9.4 million have been started. Of that $9.4 million that have been started,
$1.8 million has already been spent by June 30, 2010.
Ms. Yukimura: Wait, $3.9 million of funds received or authorized?
Mr. Holt: Correct. Thirteen, I'm sorry, $13.9 million.
Ms. Yukimura: Oh 13, okay, okay, and then so $9.4 million of that
has been awarded and $1.8 million of that awarded has been expended?
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you.
Mr. Holt: And just to help you out on page 6 of the report,
page 6 of the small report, which would be the Single Audit Report, at the very first,
at the top of the page, the very first section is where we have indicated where those
ARRA funds are. The ARRA funds show the $9.4 million, that's in the program
award amount. Okay, the total amount of the $13.9 million doesn't have a column,
I guess, reported on yet. Those moneys are typically awarded as those projects are
put into place. ~ -
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, thank you very much.
Mr. Holt: Yes. While on the subject of the Single Audit, one
of the things that is different this year that I wanted to touch base on is the findings
that have come out of the Single Audit. The county has, in previous years, worked
down through its findings and has been having minimal findings, let's say for the
last year. This year, because we have all this new ARRA funding, these are new
programs, new reporting, guidelines, guidelines that were still being issued during
COUNCIL MEETING • - 20 - ~'ecember 15, 2010
the year, and new reporting procedures that are being put into place. For example
there's quarterly reporting and transparency that needs to be reported on the
websites that reports back to the federal government. Any time you have new
programs you usually end up with new findings. This year's report reflects an
increase of findings and we have 17 different findings in our Single Audit. On the
surface, that sounds like a lot of findings, but I can boil those findings down
rather...rather quickly for you. According to federal reporting guidelines, each
department that has a finding, that finding needs to be reported. So for example if
we have a finding that a report wasn't filed timely, if two departments did not file
timely, you have two findings, not one finding. We don't get paid based upon the
number of findings, but we're required by the federal government to repeat that
finding for each department. What they do on their side is they take the reports,
they pull the reports apart and hand them to each one of the different departments
to have it resolved. So that's why they ask for it to be repeated several times. So of
the 17 findings, 16 of them related to ARRA. Of those 16 findings, we really only
-have two different types of findings.
One finding relates to the timeliness of the reports. And because there were
new guidelines, because people were trying to figure out the process to get things
reported, we found that at some times people might have reported for a March 31St
date their spending on March 10th. Other people might have reported that on
April 1St. So there wasn't a consistency on the time. If you're going to report on
March 31St information, you need to report March 31St information. So there was a
timeliness issue. We have talked to the departments and that issue has been
resolved and they're filing their reports on a timely basis.
The other problem that we had noted was that the expenditures were...that
were reported on the reports were hard to reconcile back to the general ledger. And
the key thing to point out here is that it was hard to reconcile them back to the
general ledger. It's not that they were not appropriate expenditures because we had
to audit the expenditures, we had to vouch the expenditures, we had to trace them
back to the invoices and expenditures. So they were adequately supported and they
were appropriately made, but if somebody files a report on March 10th at 2 o'clock,
the general ledger doesn't get closed until 4 o'clock, and so therefore as auditors
when we go back to look at those numbers, we cannot reconstruct the report that
was actually filed. So in our auditing, we did not note any funds that were
misspent, inappropriately spent. We just noted that reports were not timely filed
and that trying to hit the cutoff of the reports on particular dates did not work. But
as we audited as a whole, the numbers were there, the numbers were substantiated
and the numbers we believe to be appropriate. It resulted in no questioned cost.
So the 17 findings, 16 were related to ARRA, and there were basically two
reports. We've discussed them with the departments and they have put steps into
place to get those resolved.
The 17th finding related to the housing agency, related to one particular
report that was not filed. It was not filed due to some employee turnover and
sometimes when you're trar~sit~c~nir~g, an employee is na longer there, and you're
bringing in another employee, a report might fall through the crack and so one fell
through the crack, and it has subsequently been filed. So that item has been
resolved as well.
So... and in summary there were 17 findings, 16 on ARRA, timeliness and
reconciliation, and then the third finding was basically an untimely filed report due
to employee turnover. So all of them have been resolved and none of them resulted
in questioned cost. Any questions on the Single Audit before I move back into the
financial statements side of this.
COUNCIL MEETING
Chair Furfaro:
to the Single Audit and just to
that basically indicated all of
delinquencies in timing...
Mr. Holt:
- 21 - llecember 15, 2010
John, I'm going to ask that we keep the questions
reconcile this...of the 16, you found an audit trail
those issues were pretty much dealing with some
Yes.
Chair Furfaro: ... at this point? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and
recognize Mr. Bynum and we'll stay focused on the Single Audit portion. Go ahead,
Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: Hi, thanks for being here today and...
Mr. Holt: .Thank you.
Mr. Bynum: You know over.the last several years our number of
findings has decreased, right?
Mr. Holt:
Right.
Mr. Bynum: And what I hear in your testimony, just to make
sure I have it clear, that an increase in findings is almost entirely related to the
ARRA funding and is to be expected given the nature of that ARRA program and its
rapid rollout. Is that a fair summary?
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: But in terms of our record of decreasing findings in
the regular operations of the county, we're still on target. Is that...
Mr. Holt: Correct. As far as the regular ones would go, it was
basically one finding due to some employee turnover.
Mr. Bynum: Right and so you know...I know when
Councilmember Furfaro was the finance chair, we very systematically looked at
those findings and how we could prevent them from happening and you know, the
administration responded really well, and so we're in really good shape with this
issue. The findings that have come...it may appear like an increase on paper, but
it's really about the ARRA funding and that's to be expected given this rapid rollout
and...
Mr. Holt: Right and as we deal with the various departments
that we need to audit under the non-ARRA federal funding, we do see that there. is
a very heightened sense of attentiveness, awareness and concern to make sure that
things are being done properly and adequate documentation is there. And I could
tell you all kinds of stories of them jumping through hoops to make sure that
e"verything was there. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' ' " ~~ ~ ` ° '°
Mr. Bynum: Right and so I just want to make sure we frame
that correctly. We're on a great course. Administration's responsive, 'the council's
providing the proper oversight, and the situation in terms of findings has improved
over the last five years.
Mr. Holt: Yes, the situation has significantly improved as
long as we've been involved the last three years. We've seen a steady decline.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 22 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Bynum:
Thank you very much.
Chair Furfaro: John, I do want to point out to you that although
I've been working with you for the good part of the first three years of this contract,
Mr. Bynum is the finance chair now. So he's your contact point at the council.
Councilwoman Yukimura, you had a question?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, just a clarification about the Single Audit
Reports. These are basically of federal programs, right?
Mr. Holt:
federal programs.
Correct. The Single Audit reports only on the
Ms. Yukimura: Okay and the new kid on the block is the ARRA
funding?
Mr. Holt: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay and... all right, and then we will go
subsequently to the larger, countywide audit after we're done with this?
Chair Furfaro: After we're done with this piece, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Thank you, I have no more questions on the
Single Audit.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. John, I guess we'll go to the larger document
and the financial report of the County of Kauai.
Mr. Holt: Thank you. On the financial statements for the
County of Kauai, the best place to start, in my opinion, is starting on page 27.
Twenty-seven is traditionally the government funds that are broken out into
various funds that the county maintains. One of the items that we see starting on
page 27 is that we have an increase in our investments, and an increase in our
investments is mostly related to the fact that we had received the $60 million worth
of bond proceeds, and those funds, since they were just recently issued in March,
weren't spent or haven't been paid out in repayment yet. So that's in the state of
transition at this time.
The bottom line of this page is when we get down to the fund balance. On the
fund balance, as I mentioned earlier, last year the County of Kauai had adopted
GASB 54, which is the allocation of the fund balances, and the fund balances get
broken up into several different categories. And so I...because it's kind of new, I
just wanted to reiterate it.
There are items of the fund balance that are reserved for things that are non-
spendable. The non-spendable items represent loans receivable. For example, you
can't spend a loan because you don't have cash. It represents inventory; you can't
spend a wrench ~or you know... something, and so those are all non-spendable, you
have the asset that exists. Another item that you can't spend, for example, would
be prepaid balances. If you prepay your insurance, well you can't...you can't spend
that again, you've already spent it. So there are items that sit on the balance sheet
that are non-spendable in nature and those are those categories because they
mostly relate to loans and because they relate to inventories and prepaids. You
mostly find that over in the housing and community and development revolving
fund, and over in the other non-governmental funds.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 23 - Ijecember 15, 2010
Restricted fund balances are those that are restricted from third parties, from
outside sources. The largest non-spendable item that we see, is over in the third
column on the solid waste fund and that $6 million... $6.6 million basically
represents a portion of each bill that people pay that goes toward reclamation of the
landfill sites, and' so that money is received, that money is restricted in that nature,
and therefore can't be spent except for on that. The landfill's not full, it's not closed,
so the money has... is being built up to cover some of that cost. Back in a footnote,
we explain further what those total costs are anticipated to be. So, restricted is that
which is restricted by a third party, an outside source.
Our committed fund balance represents those items that we have
encumbrances for. Items that we have budgeted in the current year but for various
reasons are in process. We have let a purchase order, we are spending money
within the budget, but the goods and services had not been expended yet. An
example of that is usually our audit fee. We come in and audit at the end of the
fiscal year, okay. It's not prepaid, but it's money that is in the budget to be auditing
that year. The services have not been rendered fully because your books are not
closed, but that's 'money that is committed to be spent. So that would be an
example of committed and items that have not been spent.
Assigned fund balances are those items that are... have been assigned let's
say by a...the department of finance is able to assign that. The council is able to
assign the fund balance and the largest portion of that assigned balance would
basically be moneys that are being assigned to balance budgets for the next year.
So it's money that action has been taken for the money to be reserved, for the
money to be spent in the future.
One of the things that I should do at this point, though, would be to have you
turn to page 83 as I talk about our committed and assigned fund balances. I'll give
you a moment to flip to page 83 on the report. What you'll find on page 83 is those
fund...these Fund Balance Constraints, which is what this footnote is entitled,
footnote 15 lists out for each of the major funds these commitments in these various
categories. So, for example, on the Assigned Fund Balance which is down in that
lower section, you would be able to see that $15 million of the fund balance has been
assigned in order to balance next year's budget. By statute, the county has to issue
a balanced budget and so from the surplus $15 million is being used for next year
and that's just out of the General Fund. All the way over in the far right-hand
column you can see a total of $21.9 million is being reserved for... is being assigned
for balancing future budget shortfalls. One of the other things that is in the
Assigned is the County of Kauai is self-insured to certain limits and so each year
money is set aside for that self-insurance, and traditionally it has been $3.5 million
that has been set aside for self-insurance provisions. Over on the Capital Projects
Funds, certain funds have been also assigned and so this footnote here, page 83, will
break out those assignments.
So out of the fund balance, funds that aren't spent that are non-spendable,
funds that aren't restricted by third parties...you can see 'there's ' a' hierarchy of
accountability: ' ~ things that are non-spendable, things that ~ are''restir`icted' liy"third
parties, items that are committed based upon actions or encumbrances, you know
commitments, i.e. the budget. The other place that can be committed funds would
be...these encumbrances are committed because council takes action to say we're
going to fund the items that we've committed to, but we haven't spent, and so this is
one of the areas of commitment. It takes an authoritative action to commit fund
balances. And you do that - in two -ways, you do that once by doing your
encumbrances and then the other thing you do is you do it later on your assigned
balance. I believe you do that more in January of the year to get your balanced
budget, and then your assigned balance. Things that don't fall into those categories
COUNCIL MEETING • - 24 - ~7'ecember 15, 2010
fall into the unassigned category which is then available for action or for spending
or for future needs. And of that amount in the general fund, we have approximately
$43 million in unassigned balances.
Chair Furfaro: I... so excuse me, John.
Mr. Holt: Sure
Chair Furfaro: Earlier you heard me recap that $43 million. Did
you have anything to add?
Mr. Holt: Yeah, I appreciate you asking the question. The
unassigned balance, it is not just a, for the lack of a better word, a cookie jar to say
let's go spend. Just because it is there doesn't mean that it's actually showing up in
cash and is available, and that's just due to normal accrual accounting type of
items. And so one of the things that the department of finance...that the
administration is working on is, I believe, that you guys need to establish a policy,
okay, so that people are aware of what that money is committed and used for. And
yes, you had mentioned earlier that there's a lot of different things to cover that.
Whether those are future shortfalls, whether those are for various claims, whether
those are for natural disasters that do occur...have occurred here, those are items
that need to be taken authoritative action to get them out of an unassigned into
assigned because there are items that are out there that you have.
Gosh, we can take a look at the current year. The current year, if I...I'm on a
little digression, but I...will get to your point. If we take a look at the budget to
actual for the general fund...if we...it starts actually on page 31 of the financial
statements and it concludes actually on page 34. So I'll just have...I'm a bottom line
type of guy and I'll just have you turn to page 34. On page 34, this is where we
show the excess funds that might have been incurred in the current year. On a
GAAP basis, if you look at the third column, the first two columns are the budget
amounts. There's an original budget that gets passed early in the year and then
there's modifications that occur during the year and you end up with the final
budget. So we have the budget amounts and then we compare that to (1) the actual
amounts, which is the third column. The actual amount reflects the items that are
in the financial statements. And we can see that the actual amounts on a GAAP
basis, the general fund had a surplus of $14.6 million. In a certain sense that's a
little bit deceiving because we have $6.6 million worth of encumbrances that you
have really committed yourself to. And that goes back to the comment that I made
earlier, that gets reflected as... as a committed fund balance. So you look at the
current year, then actually under that non-GAAP budgetary basis, the amount of
surplus you could see in the current year would be about $8 million.
As we looked at the financial statements, as we reviewed the activity of the
County of Kauai, there are certain things that we noted that kind of contributed to
the surplus. One of the things we had noticed was that out of your self-insurance
fund based upon reserves that were put into place in the prior years, based upon
settleme~`i; of large cases that were in play at the begir~ni:-~g of the year; because
those were settled, our self-insurance fund...there were no payments that needed to
be paid out. Therefore, that resulted in a $3.5 million worth of savings. So we can
quickly see where some of these savings are coming from. Each of the departments
are listed out on the budget to actual and so you can take a look at each one of the
different departments to see where each department had contributed. We had
noticed various cost-cutting measures that were in place. We also noted that there
were various payroll positions that were unfunded and vacant account as well, and
the unfunded or vacant positions is basically where the largest savings of that
budget to actual came from. Other items that were. of note was...well, the County of
COUNCIL MEETING • - 25 - December 15, 2010
Kauai was hurt the hardest out of the four major islands with their tourism dollars.
The amount of tourism in Kauai had decreased significantly and so therefore, the
amount of TAT that was budgeted to be coming in was less than what actually came
in. The county had put into place certain development and tourism promotions and
so therefore, we received about a million dollars more, 10% more than the TAT that
was budgeted. So there are various things that are on the cusp here. One of the
other items that was out there was the county did not move about $7.4 million that
was originally budgeted to go to capital expenditures. And so if that $7.4 million
was moved out and put into the capital expenditures, we would not have the
surplus that is actually there. So that's part of why I say you can look at a number
and yes, we have the surplus that is there on a budget to actual basis, but because
we didn't transfer moneys doesn't necessarily mean that's still there. One of the
things you did do was you did issue the bonds. One of the things you have received
is some ARRA funds to be spending. And so that has allowed you to defer that and
have the surplus to show up.
So, what I'm trying to demonstrate is that last year we had a very similar
issue where it looked from a GAAP perspective that we had a large surplus, but
when we looked at the encumbrances that were in place, we actually had a very
short budgetary shortfall. This year it looks as if we have a large surplus from the
budget, but there were different things that have taken place during the year that
weren't necessarily known. You know, gosh one of those other items that just
wasn't known was I believe there were three different films... major films that
brought, you know, influx of about $64 million o£..new dollars coming into the
island that eventually show up in taxes or spending and revenue and other places.
I mean that was new, that was different.
So, it would be wise for the council for the County of Kauai with the
administration to work toward figuring out what they want to do with that surplus.
And yes, we heard testimony from several people today as to different places that
could be used and I would recommend highly that you put into place some type of
policy to commit or assign those dollars to various projects.
Chair Furfaro: John, I'm going... at this point I'm going to take a
few questions from Councilman Rapozo, Bynum and I believe Councilwoman
Yukimura, if you don't mind?
Mr. Holt: No problem.
Chair Furfaro: And I didn't mean to divert you from that
$43 million number, but I thought it was a good place to give some explanation.
Mr. Holt: Yeah:
Chair Furfaro: So, Mr. Bynum, i£..I'm sorry, Mr. Rapozo, if you
can start first? Mr. Bynum and then .Councilwoman Yukimura, and I'm going to
step °oiit for a second, if I can. Mr. Bynum, would you run the financial portion"of
this until•~I ge't back? Okay: '~ ~ ~ • °~ ~~=~''' °~'' '~
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you and thanks for being here. I guess, you
know, it's...we look at the...this is the June 30, 2010 balance sheet or financial
statement, and me as a councilmember looking at a request for...to transfer about
$7.5 million today in various money bills out of surplus, is there a way for the
administration to be able to tell us from exactly which of these categories those
funds would be coming from? Is that a reasonable question to ask the
administration or is all of that $43 million sitting in unassigned... in an unassigned
account?
COUNCIL MEETING - 26 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Mr. Holt: That's a very good question. All the moneys would
come from the unassigned, okay, because all the other fund balance is committed,
assigned, is untouchable. So only the $43 million can be moved. So if they wanted
to move $7.5 million for various spending that was being proposed, it would all come
out of the unassigned.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay, and then the other question is...I know you
mentioned this was a unique year because of the ARRA funding and we had some
other things happen, including a couple of movies...you know I was on the council
for six years prior to a two-year break, but it seems like we've always had this
problem. Whether we had ARRA funding or not, we've always ended up with quite
a substantial surplus, and some will call it a reserve, but basically it's a surplus.
And the example you give on the movie, I don't think that affects us because, I
mean, they spend money in the community, but that money doesn't necessarily
come to the county as far as taxes or anything because we don't really charge them
as far as the county. So, I guess what I'm looking for is some guidance as to...we
can set a policy, whether it's 20%, 15% as far as a reserve policy, but... and you've
been doing this for three years now with the county.
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: What's causing the...is it a tendency to over
budget? Is it a tendency to fund positions that we don't fill? I'm trying to get a
better grasp on how we as a council can get a more accurate budget passed so we
don't end up with $40 million, $50 million and then you end up with the tendency to
go out and spend it. And as I'm looking here today, I think this is just the .start of
many more money bills as we approach the end of the budget year to get rid of some
of this surplus. So was it apparent to you as you did your audit where, in fact, we're
either over budgeting or you know, intentionally not spending budgeted funds to
create this surplus? I need guidance on that.
Mr. Holt: We have found during the auditing process that
most of it is related to, as I said, personnel and positions, vacancies or some of that's
just timing. Some of that is just kind of concern about where are the dollars going
to be and will they show up. That's just something that you need to work through
on the budget. The County of Kauai is conservative in its budgeting process, and I
think that that does bode the county well when it does hit a tough economic time
where, for example, one of the items that was a new regulation, so to speak, that
came about was three years ago, the County early adopted the provisions for other
post-employment benefits that are being paid out. And the county adopted that
policy early and the county is fully funding those amounts that it has promised to
pay to its employees as part of retirement packages. If you weren't in a surplus
situation, then you wouldn't be able to fully fund that commitment that you've
made to your people. You're funding that over a 30-year period and I mean that's
costing you, I don't know, anywhere from $4 to $6 million more from apay-as-you-
go to a fully funded basis. So, yes, I find the county conservative, but because it's
conservative, they've been able to do things appropr+stely and .. honor its
commitments that it's made, for example, to its employees.
Mr. Rapozo: So I mean, I guess the bottom line is in your
expertise and in your experience, is the way the County of Kauai budgets...the way
we do our budget, is it an acceptable... industry acceptable standard or method of
budgeting because yes, we prepaid a lot of our employee expenses up front. I think
that was a wise choice because in the long run we make out quite a bit. But do we
actually have a $150 million operating government? Is the intent.,.and I think the
reserve policy lets the public know up front, yes, we have $20 million or $30 million
COUNCIL MEETING • ~ ~- 27 - December 15, 2010
in reserve, surplus, whatever you want to call it. I think it's... and the complaints
you hear or the comments you hear from the public is it's kind of deceiving that we
have this much budgeted but at the end of the year we always have this excess; it's
a lot. And it's been...it's not just this year, it's not just because ARRA and because
of the federal money, it's really just the way we budget. And if you tell me it's an
acceptable way in your experience, then I'll buy that, but I don't know if that's...I
mean mo...if you look at just in our state, the counties are struggling. They don't
have this... surpluses and we do. So we're in a much better financial situation,
but...
Mr. Holt: Right. And I say you're in a much better financial
position because of the way that you have budgeted.
Mr. Rapozo: Right.
Mr. Holt: Okay. Is there room to improve budgeting? Yes, I
can say there's great room for improving budgeting. My experiences, I've seen
government entities with as much as you have as a budget surplus. I've seen people
with budget deficiencies, okay. And so there's the spectrum that goes throughout
the place. We do not audit the budgetary process, so I don't believe from what I've
seen based upon my communication with budget heads, with my communication of
just auditing and looking at the differences that people are sandbagging and trying
to pull together an appropriate budget. I do know that there are different
departments that are looking to fully fund areas of public safety and public health,
but trying to find the appropriate qualified people to want to come to the island of
Kauai is just a longer process than one would want in that department and so
therefore it just takes time to find and to fill those positions. Maybe there needs to
be a little bit of a factor that's put into play for this is what we want or to be fully
staffed. Earlier we heard testimony regarding the judiciary, I believe it was,
department. I think they would appreciate more people, so I think they'd put in
their budget more people. So that's why I go back to I don't think people are
sandbagging and' just saying let's make up people. I think they look at the
workload, I think they look at what is ideal, and they put it in the budget. So the
difference between what is ideal and what you can actually execute, there's always
that shortfall. And how to adequately estimate what is that shortfall is a very
tough thing to do, part of which you need to do just based upon experience. So you
might say well our experience says this is ideal, we only had 80% of ideal; maybe we
only ought to budget 80% of ideal. But to know what really...what your budget is,
you should be looking at your prior expenditures, okay. But then there is that
element, what do we want to do, what have we not done because we didn't think we
could do it, to put that in there. So the budget is a tough thing between what we
can do and what we want to do and to try to make the two meet. I don't know if I've
answered your question.
Mr. Rapozo: No, you have and I guess it's up to us here, this
body that determines what in fact this county will spend. And it's ironic that the
timing of all' `of tlii's...you had the prosecutor, you had the emergency room 'doctor"
come up and testify about ~firiancial ruin of some of the employees, about how many
of our employees got cut... their pay got cut to provide public safety, and on the same
agenda we have $7.5 million of surplus that we want to go and spend, and it's just
kind of awkward to be in a situation here like...wasn't this money available last
year? I think it was and...but the perception to the public was we're so broke, we
are so worried about TAT, whatever the case was that in fact we need to cut and in
fact we need to cut so much we're going to send people home two days a~ month, and
we're going to cut your pay. And then as soon as...I don't know what happened, you
know, the magic dust fell from the sky, we have all this extra money. So I think it's
the...maybe the timing is good so the public gets to see this and all on the same day
COUNCIL MEETING • - 28 - ~ecember 15, 2010
because I know for a fact and I know many of the councilmembers here today have
received emails or letters or phone calls from employees, county employees that are
struggling.
Mr. Holt: Yeah. Well, the...it is very interesting. Last year
when I was sitting here, any surplus that appeared on the financial statements was
actually fully committed by all the encumbrances, and so therefore, there was really
no excess dollars. The fund balance was being tapped into in order to meet the
current 2010 budget that was being passed. And so when people recognized that
tourism is down, that the TAT was in question, that the State was taking furloughs
and was requiring that of counties to participate in that as well, the other thing
that I didn't mention but I did notice in there as well was that there were other cost
saving measures that went into place, okay. People were taking better care of
equipment. Capital lease arrangements were not entered into. So a lot of different
things showed up because there was a lot of concern about what dollars are really
going to be there. I guess I would liken it to when...I'm sure a lot of people when.
they heard about the furlough, ideally people were saving and had savings and they
were going to call upon that savings. And the question is how much savings can
you really use? And when they hear about the furlough they started to make
budgets, they started to make plans, they started to cut. And some people are able
to cut certain things and other people aren't able to cut certain things. Some people
that have a larger amount of savings are able to take those cuts and are able to
weather through it. So it's good to have the surpluses, okay, because now you're
able to weather through it, but I do liken it to that...you know that individual
saying oh, my goodness I got a pay cut, I need to cut something out. And so they cut
something out of their budget until they see that the money has shown up. And yes,
I mean it is timely. You are the... gosh, the fastest county to get out its reports,
okay. The time frame that is imposed on us by council to have the department of
finance turn over the reports is very fast. You'll be the first one to issue their
reports. So, again, the numbers are showing up and I think it is very timely. I
think they have... the county as a whole has taken actions to try and protect itself
and protect some of its revenues.
Chair Furfaro: John, I'm going to go to Mr. Bynum and then
Ms. Yukimura, and we'll go from there. Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much for the report today and I
really appreciate the expanded reporting that's in this report. It's very helpful and
you know, it's something we discussed last year and to see it here is helpful in terms
of this analysis. The only suggestion I would have is I end up putting all these little
stickies with tabs. You know, here's this report, here's this report, maybe you'll
consider putting the tabs on it next year?
Mr. Holt: There is a lot of information.
Mr. Bynum: That's minor; we can do all those stickies. You
know, and just another comment that we have a county auditor now who has
announced pan intention to audit the budget pro~:~rss and I think that th~a's a very
positive thing to do. I don't know that everybody in administration agrees with that
because they kind of like the way we do it now. And the way we do it now is very
conservative, very conservative, in my opinion. Would you agree with that?
Mr. Holt: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: And I like that, I like very conservative. I am
particularly proud of this county for funding our future OPEB. You know, that is a
wise decision that prevents a fiscal time bomb for some future council, right, and
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 29 - • ember 15, 2010
puts, us in good stead and that's one of many examples where I like the conservative
approach. At the beginning of this fiscal year, we started with an unassigned fund
balance of roughly... do you recall? Not... not... the end of this year, the beginning of
the last one was like 32, right? And now it's 43.
Mr. Holt: It's 43.
Mr. Bynum: Okay and even with the one-time things that you
discussed and you report well in the report, you know the transfer from CIP into
operating and the ARRA funding and...I mean... it's still... we still had... that
unassigned surplus went up by over 9 million, right?
Mr. Holt: Right.
Mr. Bynum: So and that's in a year where we said oh, things are
so tight we have to furlough our employees. And so I agree with
Councilmember Rapozo that yes, we've had this very conservative approach to the
budget, which I hope we continue, but why do you do that? You do that for the
rough periods and we entered this last fiscal year in the best shape of all the four
counties in this state, bar none. Maui was second, not far behind us. Maui chose to
do one furlough day. We still did two, right? So those are like my political
comments and I'll get to the questions.
The...you know in your report on page 21, it says "As mentioned earlier, the
County has adopted a conservative budgetary approach, mainly due to anticipation
of certain expenditures within the year." Said another way is we present the budget
that we know is going to generate surpluses from day one. We, you know, pad the
budget in essence. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because during the course of
the year we do have various money bills that go to unexpended surplus, you know,
to fill up the sewer fund, the golf fund, and these funds that are not self-sustaining.
But we have the previous unassigned budget plus the one we're accumulating right
now. If we could dry...wave a magic wand now six months into this fiscal year, we'd
see a pretty big surplus. So when you say conservative funding, basically we know
those budgets going in that we're' unlikely to spend those in each department,
correct?
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: Okay. So and then you point that out. Council
Services had a favorable variance of $0.8 million, eight hundred thousand dollars.
So we had budgeted for council services...that's the first paragraph here,
$3.2 million or something like that. We didn't spend, you know, close to a third of
it. Office of the County Attorney $0.9 million that would fall in that category you
said. I know in public safety, particularly the police department, we want to keep
those positions in the budget because we want to make sure that the chief can hire
those officers when he gets them and we want to...I think we all want to expand
that and as you pointed out, they -have difficulty with recruiting in those positions.
So that..: in that area that makes ~ some ~ sense; ~ right? Office of the Prosecuting
Attorney $0.6 million, accounting and budget had a favorable variance of
$0.8 million. So favorable variance meant money we budgeted we didn't spend,
right?
Mr. Holt: Right.
Mr. Bynum: And... and again, I'm not arguing that we should
change this. I like the conservative approach. It put us in a position as we face
these economic uncertainties to go ho, glad we're not in the boat that city & county
COUNCIL MEETING • - 30 - TJ'ecember 15, 2010
is in, glad we're not in the position that Hawaii County is who were carrying 10%
unassigned fund balances, right? When ours was 32, 38%, right? So I think the
debate that we'll have as a council is not do we want to be conservative, but at what
level is it too conservative, right? And at what level do we have funds available to
provide services that are critical for the community, and you know, to work more
efficiently.
So I talked about the findings, I...you know, you al...we already did that.
But you know, I think really significant things are coming up. I totally agree
that we need a reserve policy and it should probably be conservative, right?
Because then I think it increases transparency to the public about how their funds
are being expended and so I think...I'm pretty sure a unanimous group of the
council would support a conservative approach to budgeting. It certainly has served
us well in these difficult times that we're in right now. You know, if the TAT would
have gone, in my opinion that's a separate issue and we shouldn't make budget and
certainly shouldn't make staffing decisions based on something that might happen,
some irresponsible act that the legislature might do, and fortunately we made a
very strong argument and won the day on that last year. I believe we'll do that
again. But if that would have occurred, we would have been in a better position to
handle that than the other counties, agreed?
Mr. Holt: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: Okay, so I really appreciate the leadership that
came from Mr. Furfaro as finance chair and as vice chair to address the findings, to
really, as you said today, and it feels great to hear that, you know, for our county
that there's real strong diligence from the administration about their
responsibilities for reporting and having those clean audits, and they've done a
great job. I really want to acknowledge that, as has the council oversight, and the
leadership on establishing this reserve policy because people are confused. I
already made my political comment.
I believe furloughs were unconscionable given that we had taken this
conservative approach and it really has hurt our employees and it has hurt our local
economy because our...we're a small town, right? The city and county workers are a
big percentage of the middle class, and their rent didn't go down, their electric bill
didn't go down, so it was disposable income, if there is any, that got cut. It's like no
dinners, no T-shirts, no...you know, cut back on Christmas spending which affects
all of our retail stores. And I...I'm very...there are many things I'm excited about in
government this coming term, lots of positive changes, very much appreciate your
work and your diligence, very happy that we have an auditor department coming in
that can address some of these concerns that we hear from constituents over and
over again, and so, good job, John, again and in improving in terms of...now put
those tabs in there and I'll be really excited.
Mr. Holt: Well, it is (inaudible).
Chair Furfaro: John, if you can hold on here because I want to get
to all the councilmembers.
Mr. Holt: Sure.
Chair Furfaro: We're coming up on a break here and I've identified
three members that have questions and I will go to Councilwoman Yukimura.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 3T - Isecember 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you and thank you, Councilmember Bynum.
Between you and Chair Furfaro, it's helping me to get a better picture. My
questions are on page 83. '
Mr. Holt: .Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: The balancing assign... under the assigned
category, balancing future budget shortfalls, this section Other Governmental
Funds, now is that the sewer fund and the golf fund that are being subsidized? Or
maybe it's here, it's under general fund, huh?
Mr. Holt: No. Our...those particular funds, your sewer fund,
your golf fund, your housing fund, those are proprietary funds, okay, which are
separate than these funds that are reported here. These funds are your government
funds which are broken into basically two categories: your major funds which are
your larger programs, and then all your other government funds fall into that other
category. Examples of those...
Ms. Yukimura: So your...excuse me, your proprietary funds is like
enterprise funds? Is that what...the distinction?
funds.
Mr. Holt:
Yes, your proprietary funds are your enterprise
Ms. Yukimura:
government funds?
You're talking about proprietary funds versus
Mr. Holt: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: So you're talking about enterprise funds, so to
speak, yeah, because our solid waste is not yet. Hopefully one day it will be an
enterprise fund.
Mr. Holt: But your other funds are basically your highway
fund, your liquor fund, your beautification fund, I'm just kind of reading from the
table of contents. Okay, if you go to...
Ms. Yukimura: So that's also where sewer and the golf are?
Mr. Holt: No. Well...let me flip to a different page for you.
Your other governmental funds are your other non-major funds, okay. Your
proprietary funds, if I'm on page... for example of your financial statements which
are your government-wide ones, on page 24, you have all your governmental
activities, your major funds...I'm on page 24...and then that second column, your
business type activities, those are those other funds. Those are the proprietary
funds, those are the fiduciary funds. That's where the golf course is, that's where
the sewer fund is.
Ms. Yukimura: All right. They're not identified on page 24.
Mr. Holt: No, but they're further broken out in the financial
statements on page 44.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, so where does that show the subsidy from
the general fund in, for example, the golf fund?
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 32 - ~ cember 15, 2010
Mr. Holt: Okay on page 45, which is a statement of revenues
and expenditures, that would show dollars coming in and we can see that we have
transfers. I'm down at the very bottom part of the page. Okay, we have our regular
operating revenues, we have our operating costs, we have non-operating revenues
and expenditures, and then we come down to other items. We have capital
contributions, which would be those items that were purchased in the capital
nature. The golf fund, for example, has some insurance proceeds that were received
of $965,000.00 and then we have a transfer into the golf fund of $822,000.00.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay and. that's as of June 30, 2010?
Mr. Holt: For the year ended, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. So when you say that balancing fu...back on
83, balancing future budget shortfalls, where do these things show up in our
budget?
Mr. Holt: In the budget, we have a budget to actual on those
particular funds. Public housing, for example, would start on page 1...105. And so
the public housing enterprise fund, the sewer fund, and the golf fund would be those
next three pages that show the budget to actuals and any budget shortfall.
Ms. Yukimura: That's on page 105, did you say?
Mr. Holt: Page 105 is where we start with those enterprise
funds.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. All right, so...I mean what...I guess what
I'm wanting to know is when do we see that there's going to be future budget
shortfalls and how do we estimate that?
Mr. Holt: That would not be in an audited report.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Mr. Holt: An audit report covers historical information. So
.future budgeted shortfalls would be in your current year budget that you're working
on and that would not... that's not the scope of the audit work that we do.
Chair Furfaro: May I... may I add something there? So basically
when. we get the P&Ls for the month, for lack of any other term in government,
these profit and loss statements, the variances for that department would show up
in those monthly. For example if we don't get timely checks from the State for the
TAT money, we'll be able to see the variance in that monthly report.
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: That would be the best place for us to look.
Mr. Holt: Right, for the current year operations and
(inaudible) anticipated. Correct.
Chair Furfaro: Yes, in the year for the year.
Mr. Holt: In the year for the year. This is all old historical
information.
COUNCIL MEETING
Chair Furfaro:
tell you...
Ms. Yukimura
- 33 - December 15, 2010
I didn't mean to interrupt, JoAnn. I just wanted to
No, that's...that's helpful.
Chair Furfaro: ...we can probably pick , up that money...we can
probably pick up that information from those sheets.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, all right. I can see that I have many other
questions and I don't want to take up the time at this time, but perhaps I can meet
with you later?
Mr. Holt: We'd be glad to do that.
Ms. Yukimura: All right, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: JoAnn, would you mind if I yield one minute to
Mr. Bynum? I'm sorry I'm going to go to Mr. Kawakami, then Mr. Bynum, and then
we're going to take a break. Mr. Kawakami.
Mr. Kawakami: Okay, I just want to make a comment and maybe a
clarification on the surplus and the role of the furloughs and my take on it. You
know, what we kind of failed to mention is when you look at the proposal from the
State Legislature on that TAT takeaway, it would have been fine and dandy if it
were for one year. Sure, we have enough to cover. But the proposal was always for
five years. Now you multiply that by five years and that nice cushion we have is
decimated. So we had to contemplate tough decisions and yes, Maui chose to go one
day, but they also shifted some of that burden upon their taxpayers. They raised
their property taxes in some categories. And so while we're contemplating how do
we deal with the unforeseeable future, and if anybody can tell me that they could
forecast the downturn and not only downturn but worldwide economic collapse that
we experienced, I would certainly say that they have some psychic abilities because
I think it caught everybody off-guard. It caught the private sector off-guard. They
got hit first. And it caught many municipalities and counties off-guard. And so
while we had to furlough, there were certainly other cases where there were jobs
being cut, there were people being laid off, and so the conservative approach I think
saved us in the end. But how do you forecast? And hindsight is 20-20. So we are
all cheering that eh, we saved the TAT, but let's always be reminded that it was for
five years and not just one year. So you multiply 12 times 5 and it's a different
scenario. Maui, they raised their property taxes and they went to one day. Now, is
that the right thing to do in light of just the downturn in the economy where the
private sector is not necessarily laying people off but cutting workers, and
businesses are shutting their doors? That is a whole different debate, but that is
the reality of that situation. So I feel that it was a tough decision, but I don't think
anybody in this room, unless you've been through the Great Depression, was able to
experience quite what we had experienced in this past few years.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Kawakami. M'r:`~"Bynum; `I'm going
to go to you and then I'm going to just make a comment, and we're going to go to a
break.
Mr. Bynum: Just a follow up to the page...the constraints page.
Ms. Yukimura: What page?
Mr. Bynum: Twenty uh...83.
~ COUNCIL MEETING - 34 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Mr. Holt: Eighty-three.
Mr. Bynum: Okay, there's this line in the general fund,
balancing future budget shortfalls $15 million. Who decided on that figure? Was
that a council decision or was that an administration decision?
Mr. Holt: I believe that to be an administration.
Mr. Bynum: So this is really set aside that they are saying we
are likely to put this into next year's budget.
Mr: Holt: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: Right?
Mr. Holt: Yeah.
Mr. Bynum: But it could also be seen as part of the unassigned,
so it's just kind of an arbitrary thing. Hey, we're anticipating that we're going to
put $15 million into next year's budget.
Mr. Holt: I...it's not as arbitrary as let's just pull a number
out of the air. There is substance behind it.
Mr. Bynum: Right, this... do you recall what the figure was this
year that we put into the budget? It was like $10 million I think?
Mr. Holt: Yeah, it was less than 15 and more than 8, but I
can't recall that off the top of my head.
Mr. Bynum: Right, so just...the way you move these numbers
around and what you call them, you know, doesn't always say the whole picture,
right?
Mr. Holt: Yeah.
Mr. Bynum: We could have said oh, let's make the unassigned
$59 million and we'll take some of that for next year's budget. But we .put it in this
line item and called it assigned for future budget shortfalls.
Mr. Holt: Generally speaking, the guidelines are that you
would do it just for the next budgetary year...
Mr. Bynum: Right.
Mr. Holt: ...for how it's classified here as opposed to a
separate reserve. So, I mean I think there's some judgment that goes into that.
Mr. Bynum: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I... maybe I'm being too
flippant. But just...you know, those are real dollars that exist and they've been
assigned at this point anticipating that they'll be part of next year's budget
proposal.
Mr. Holt: Right.
Mr. Bynum: Okay, thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 35 - December 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: I think that's along the line of a FIFO principle
with managing an inventory. You can move cash like that, that becomes your
starting point for your new year going forward, like that's money that was first in,
so it's also the money that's first out. So we're having some interesting discussion
and we need to take a caption break. And I do want to come back to the original
rationale of the proviso, also the fact that, you know, we have an issue to query on
the post-employee benefits that we're prepaying because it's all going into one
bucket, and then of course, our reserve policy that I talked about in the beginning.
And then I'll give Councilwoman Yukimura a few more minutes for questions she'll
have. So, we're going to take a 10-minute break right now.
Mr. Holt: Appreciate it.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 11:10 a.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 11:26 a.m., and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, we're back from our recess. I do want
to point out a couple things here. As we go forward, I think it's extremely... as I've
stated earlier, very important for us to come up with a resolution establishing a
reserve policy. I think you heard my comments earlier. I also want you to give
some thought to...you know, the thing that has taken down a lot of municipalities is
they have not funded 100% their retirement system. We were very active with this
three years ago and...but yet the question about that funding deals with...it's all
going into one bucket, and I'm wondering how we might, if we con... as we continue
. with this policy and put ourselves in a better position than other municipalities who
have actually gone into a very bad predicament, what is the step for us to earmark
that contribution? And the fact of the matter is, you know, we need to establish
that, the reserve policy because, you know, in the last 41 years, we've had. three
hurricanes and we've all gone through a period of time when property values
dropped and the fact of the matter is the only recovery we have is a situation with,
you know, moving on taxes unless we have a, you know, a reserve earmarked, not
just a surplus, but a reserve. And we've been facing a lot of very awkward rain
events here and flooding in the last couple of years as well which have an impact on
that.
I think two other things that I've heard you say, we need to extend, you
know, our financial reporting and at budget times, specifically, go back a few more
years about our trend report. Not just go back one year, but go back several years
to see what the trend has been as we develop these policies.
And we also need to be more timely with our revenues and expense reporting
monthly, which led to Councilwoman Yukimura's question. And so, I appreciate
your being here and us being able to have some dialogue, but we do have some more
questions and it is... you know, it is possible we can refer this, you know, this to a
committee for more dialogue so that members are more familiar with the actual
reporting system. But on that note, I want to thank you' John' for 'all of your
commentary today as questions were solicited by different members. On that note,
again, provisos that we put in here got us to this point, but we still have questions
and I'll recognize Councilwoman Yukimura.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a question about
where we are. Are we anticipating a discussion on the reserve later on in the
agenda or is it appropriate to talk now about the reserve policy?
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 36 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Based on a communique that I sent over to the
administration, and more importantly based on the proviso that the previous
council, I drafted, questioned about the reserve, I anticipate having reserve
discussion with~the administration later.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, so I won't focus on that now. I basically have
two questions. Well, will you be here for that reserve discussion or should I ask the
questions now beca...on the assumption that Mr. Holt is it, will not be part of that
discussion?
Chair Furfaro: John, if we direct a few questions to you now
regarding the practice of setting up a reserve policy, would you feel comfortable
having discussion?
Mr. Holt: I'll be glad to hear what the question is and see if I
would be able to respond.
Chair Furfaro: Take it from there. Okay. So Councilwoman, the
floor is yours.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. I certainly appreciate the coincidence
of having you here and the fact that we're discussing the reserve. In terms of best
practices among municipalities, there's usually a range of percentage that is
suggested for a reserve. Is that correct?
Mr. Holt: _ There is a range that is kind of a rule of thumb
that's out there, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: And what is that range to your knowledge?
Mr. Holt: Well, it would depend upon (1) the fiscal ability of a
county to be able to set aside that...
Ms. Yukimura: Of course, yes.
Mr. Holt: ...based upon its revenue stream. But I've seen
anywhere from well... from zero, but from good reserves I've seen from 5% to about
20%.
Ms. Yukimura: Five to twenty percent and what is the base? Five
to twenty percent of what?
Chair Furfaro: Isn't that the operating budget of the previous
year?
Mr. Holt: Well, you would take a look at each individual
fund, okay, because each fund has basically its own budget. But yes, for the general
f~.nd. you would generally take a look at your- previous years operating
expenditures.
Ms. Yukimura: You'd look at each...each fund and it would go by
the previous operating expenditures. Actual? Or budgeted?
Mr. Holt: Um...
COUNCIL MEETING • - 37 - December 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: John, let me clarify my earlier statement. As we...I
talked in terms of 15% to 20% based on our $148.9 million operating budget and
therefore, I arrived at roughly the $30 million as the reserve.
Mr. Holt: In 2010, your operating budget was about
$110 million, so the...
Ms. Yukimura: Actual.
Mr. Holt: Yeah.
Ms. Yukimura: Mm-hm.
Mr. Holt: That was what the budget was. The budget was
$110 million. The actual expenditures were less than that and then it gets back to
well, what number is appropriate, but I think there's discussion as to what is the
best budget number. If you feel that your budget is high, you might go a little bit
lower. If you feel that your budget is really tight, you might go a little bit higher.
So, this is more of an operational question, okay, that I would think would take
more dialogue in order for me to tell you what I would think would be appropriate
for the County of Kauai.
Ms. Yukimura: But it wouldn't be good to use the 11 or whatever
our TAT allocation is because that is not a very stable or reliable fund?
Mr. Holt: I'm not sure I understand the question. Part of
your TAT is part of the...
Ms. Yukimura: Operating.
Mr. Holt: ...operating part of the general fund. And I...
Ms. Yukimura: Well, it goes into...it goes into the gen...well, no,
our general fund is all property taxes only.
Mr. Holt: No, it also has the TAT in it as well.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, okay, all right. So, we would include the
TAT in that base then even though it doesn't seem to be as reliable as real property
taxes... revenues?
Mr. Holt: Well, there are different ways that you pull
together a budget. A budget to me is kind of like a stew. You put a lot of things into
it, a lot of different assumptions, a lot of different ways to look at things. You could
budget a reserve because you feel that you're losing revenue, okay? And so
therefore, you would want to set aside moneys in order to recoup those revenues. So
that would lie looking partly at the revenue. But generally speaking, if you feel that
your revenue`s •are solid,'then you'rre looking at your expenditures, and you're saying-•
okay, what would be a good base for expenditures. Maybe I want to set aside
several months' worth of expenditures because we believe that we can react in an
appropriate amount of time. That it's very much like a...you know, an individual
who needs to set aside the personal savings. How much money do you keep in long-
term savings? If you think you can get a job within two months, you're probably
keeping two months. If you feel that economic times would be really bad and you
want to save six months, you would save six months based upon your expenditures.
So that's why I say a budget is like a stew. You look at your revenues, you look at
your expenditures, you look at different economic factors, and you pull it all
COUNCIL MEETING - 38 - ~ecember 15, 2010
together. You have people dreaming this is what we'd like to do, these are the ideal
levels that our departments would like to be funded at, so there's a lot of different
things. I don't know if I can adequately address your question during the time I
have.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, may I add to that? John, could you
access for Councilwoman Yukimura at least three typical policies from other
municipalities?
Mr. Holt: I'd be glad to do that.
Chair Furfaro: (Inaudible.) Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: You mean later on or now?
Mr. Holt: No, later on.
Chair Furfaro: Later on. I'm saying, you know, I...
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, that'll be great. Thank you. So I've only two
more questions. You mentioned that last year's amounts were fully encumbered
and I wasn't quite clear about that. I think you were explaining the difficulty of
setting aside reserves and deciding on expenditures. But the unassigned balance
last year was $33 million? Is that right?
Mr. Holt: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: And that became encumbered over the year?
Mr. Holt: Thank .you, I'll try and clarify some of my
comments.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Mr. Holt: My comment was last year looking at the budget to
actual, it appeared that there was a, from an accrual basis, a large excess. But
when you looked at what was encumbered, what was committed to have been spent
under the budget, there was actually a small deficit of I believe about $900,00.00 in
the previous year. So from a budgetary basis, the entire budget was spent.
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Holt:
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Holt:
Ms. Yukimura:
Including the reserve?
No, only that year's budget.
Okay, okay.
Okay.
All right.
Mr. Holt: And so this year...I was comparing that to this
year. This year we had $14 million of excess revenues over expenditures and so
from an accrual basis, from an accounting basis, you're like wow, we made $14
million; however, we have $6.6 million that's encumbered. So therefore on a
budgetary basis, the excess from a budgetary basis was only $8 million. So my
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 39 - ISecember 15, 2010
comment was last year we had...I don't know, I think it might have been about $10
million that was in excess, but it was encumbered fully and so there was no
budgetary excess. There was no increase, okay, this year.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, that's independent of the reserve. It's about
the budget:
Mr. Holt: Correct. La...last year there was no amount added
to the reserve; we took out of the reserve.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Mr. Holt: This year we're putting into the reserve about
$8 million.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, then my other question is you .talked about
excess in CIP and I wasn't clear how that fed into reserves or does it at all? I mean
you said...I think you mentioned something like $9 million in CIP that was not
used?
Mr. Holt: Let me flip back to page 83, if I may.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. I mean CIP doesn't go into surplus, does it?
Or unless they're from finished projects?
Mr. Holt: I'm trying to get back to the number you're
referring to. I would have to apologize. I don't think I understand the question.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, I think and actually
Councilmember Nakamura was remembering too that you said something about
$9 million from CIP that wasn't used that went into the surplus. Unless we just
misheard.
Mr. Holt: Well, I did say that of that $800,000 or that
$8 million that we had spoken of from the $14 million less the encumbrance of
$6 million, resulting in the $8 million, that part of what occurred was that you...in
the original budget, $4.7 million was anticipated to be transferred out of the general
fund and into the capital projects fund, okay. So that's a $7.4 million number and
the budget was revised and those moneys were taken out of the budget and were
not paid over. So the original budget was anticipating paying $7.4 million over to
capital projects, which was not paid.
Ms. Yukimura: In the original budget, the anticipated transfer of
$4 million from the general fund to CIP, but that did not happen?
Mr. Holt: $7.4 million, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: Oh, $7.4 million, from the general fund to the CIP
and because that didn't happen, there was a...it remained in the general fund.
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Ms. Yukimura: And that was part of that $8 million surplus?
Mr. Holt: Yes.
COUNCIL MEETING - 40 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura: Okay and the inference you draw from it not being
transferred to CIP was meaning that they didn't need it in CIP or we don't know the
reason.
Mr. Holt: Well, you did issue a bond of $60 million for CIP
and we do have a lot of stimulus money, a lot of ARRA funds, that are put forth to
capital projects.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, okay, right, okay, because I mean...I'm...I
don't know if this council has discussed it, perhaps they have, but there appears to
be a problem in getting out CIP projects and therefore, having money in the CIP
account doesn't necessarily mean that it's good for the county. Because if there's
not a good pro...I mean that means that our infrastructure needs are not being met
in a timely way. So, I'm just trying to interpret these various numerical or fiscal
signs in terms of what that tells us about the operations of the budget.
Mr. Holt: Right and while you need to draw those inferences
and look into those items, that's why those additional reports were added...
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Holt: ...for budget to actual. Now you can see each one of
those capital projects...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes.
Mr. Holt: Now you...people who need to manage them, people
that need to hold them accountable...
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Holt: ...that information is there and available for you to
use that.
Ms. Yukimura: I think that information is going to be extremely
valuable and I very much appreciate that you have produced that for us.
Mr. Holt: Well, that was the department of finance.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, good for the department of finance, then they
need to be commended. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, John. And I would also point out that
when we take in bond money, there are some critical steps to the spending period
that we have to encumber those moneys. But I think earlier your comments on the
fact that we have these moneys from ARRA provided us an opportunity not to spend
some of the money that was transferred over from the general fund, which therefore
contributed to our surplus and I would ay that would be my summary. But am I
correct, the spending period is, I think, 36 months without penalties, typically?
Mr. Holt: I'm sorry. I'd need to go back and look at that.
Chair Furfaro: I'll follow up on that. Mr. Bynum, you have a
question?
COUNCIL MEETING • - 41 - December 15 2010
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, just following up on what JoAnn said. I
think the $8 million was what was a£..I don't know the exact figure, but the
$7.4 million...you listed an amount in the report $7.4 million, $3.9 million ARRA
and $1.7 million something else, they were kind of one-time shots into that, right?
But then that still was like $9 million, right? Or close to $9 million?
Mr. Holt: At the end of the day, right.
Mr. Bynum: At the end of the day.
Mr. Holt: $6 to $9 million.
Mr. Bynum: And then just about the...real briefly about the
ARRA funds, I mean part of what I heard was good news. We got $13 million; we've
only spent so far $1.8 I think you said, which means that stimulus is still going to
be coming, you know, into the community and you know...
Mr. Holt: Right.
Mr. Bynum: And I know some of those projects are going out to
bid as we speak, right? So and we have high unemployment in the trades in
particular, so it's really important that those funds get out there and I share
Councilmember Yukimura's frustration, which we're addressing through staffing
and other issues about getting those CIP projects out.
Mr. Holt: Right and on the ARRA funds, I know that the
department of finance is keenly aware of the deadlines of what needs to be
committed so that you don't lose dollars.
Mr. Bynum: It's the same with the $60 million bond, 30 of that
is for the county, 30 for water.
Mr. Holt: Well, there was $120 million.
Mr: Bynum: Oh, that's right. I'm sorry.
Mr. Holt: Sixty was for county, sixty was for water.
Mr. Bynum: Sixty and sixty. So I know...the water department
has a pretty good record of getting their projects out the door and I know they're
looking at our 60 and saying, well, if you guys need help spending that...because
there's time frames on that. It's like 36 months, right?
Mr. Holt: Thirty-six or five years.
Mr. Bynum: Right.. ..., . .
NIr. Holt: ~ ~ Now it's three years or frve years. `
Mr. Bynum: So it's very important for the administration to get
those capital projects out or we could have penalties or you know, lose funding
that...yeah, anyway, so. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Just for clarification, John, we've actually spent out•
$1.8 million, but we've encumbered more than that.
COUNCIL MEETING - 42 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Mr. Holt: You spent out $1.8 million on projects that have
been identified, and approved of $9.4 million out of a total of $13 million.
Chair Fu"rfaro: Right, so we got $13.9, we've identified spending for
$9.4, and we've actually paid in the form of contract, deposits, designs and so forth
$1.8.
Mr. Holt: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: Right.
Chair Furfaro: I just wanted to get that clarified.
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, because $7 million of that is one project in
Waimea, right? That's a big chunk of that, so.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. Let's see, do you have any more to share
with us?
Mr. Holt: Let's see, the other comment just on the financial
side is you know, gosh, it's been a...it's been a pleasure working with you for these
last three years, that's been the term of our contract, and gosh you've done a lot in
those three years. The first year we were working through resolving those findings
that council was holding the departments accountable toward and it's good to be
able to see those things come to fruition, come down. Also, during that year was
when the county had adopted the provisions of OPEB 45, which was funding the
post-retirement benefits. And you guys decided to fully fund that. And that was
early adopted. That was, you know, hard work to...instead of just following people,
you were in the forefront of that. And then on our third...last year then you
adopted the provisions of 54 which you can see the benefits that you're receiving
right now. Okay, the fund balances are being identified, the projects...the capital
projects are being identified even out to this year. And so in a certain sense I kind
of liken it to...well, our lives. When we first get out of school, there's a lot of things
we need to worry about. We need to worry about our house, how do we get that
mortgage payment? We need to worry about...well, we're going to have kids, are we
going to put them through college and we need to worry about our retirement. And
so as you've been going along, you've been taking care of these things in various
stages. You took care of your findings, you've taken care of your funding, and now
you're going to take care of, you know, I highly recommend that you take care of
your allocation of your fund balances. So, it's been exciting. It's good to see a
government entity that takes serious its fiscal responsibility and tries to manage
that in a very conservative basis. It's great to be working with employees and
leaders who are very caring and ask very good questions and make sure that the
dollars are there, and really wrestle with those hard decisions as to what you really
need to do. So, it's been a pleasure and we hope to continue to work with you in the
future.
Chair Furfaro: John, it ,.is my understanding and I've had ari
extreme pleasure working with you folks over the last three .years, but you will be
responding to our request for a proposal?
Mr. Holt: Yes, we have.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, okay, very good. And.I just wanted to pass
out one sheet to everybody here, the TAT so that everybody knows this is the
revenue summary sheet from our budget forecast and so our TAT actually shows up
in this account called intergovernmental revenues. It's showing up as budgeted as
COUNCIL MEETING • - 43 - ITecember 15, 2010
an estimate of $11.2 million. We received $12 million even and it was forecasted at
$800,000, better than we projected in the budget. I might point out, though, that
was only $200,000 better than the previous year. So the visitor industry still needs
to make a comeback, but I wanted... since this was a question where it's reported, I
wanted to share the revenue sheet. And I want to thank you and I want to thank
Vivian for all your work and commitment to us. But we're going to go through a
period here where we're going to have the public give testimony on the audit, and
then we're going to see what we're going to do with the item. If it's going to be
received, if it's going to be continued to be reserved in the...reviewed in the finance
department will come at the end, but right now we need to see if there's other public
comment.
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair?
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: I would like to thank you, Mr. Holt and Ms. Vivian,
for what appears to have been...because I wasn't on the council...maybe the
last...first year...but very good professional guidance from the auditors and so...and
it's good to hear of the progress and I want to commend you, Chair Furfaro...
Chair Furfaro: It was a team effort.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, I think your leadership, I know, was quite
apparent when I was on the council in the terms of following up on the audits. So,
it's nice to have a good team and it's good to know that we are setting our house in
order financially and that we have really benefited from it because our decision to
fund the pensions really did help us in getting the bond.
Chair Furfaro: Absolutely. It greatly improved our bond rating.
Ms. Yukimura: So it's all paying off and thank you very much.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, John, and I'm going to ask the public, is
there any public testimony on this portion? None? Any comments from the audit
department? Mr. Ernie Pasion? No? Okay, I'm going to call this meeting back to
order.
There being no one else wishing to speak on this item, the meeting was called back
to order, and proceeded as follows:
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair?
Chair Furfaro: And we're open for discussion. Yes,
Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Councilmember Nakamura and I were discussing
the fact that we only received this report today and that it's quite~extensve. And so
it seemed appropriate that perhaps we refer this to the finance committee at least
to keep the matter alive while we review this report and if in the first meeting of
next...committee meeting of next year we feel we would like to bring back the
auditors we would do that or if we have satisfied ourselves, we would then just
recommend receipt to the council.
Chair Furfaro: Well, we do have a motion to receive that's already
on the table.:.
COUNCIL MEETING - 44 - ~cember 15, 2010
Ms. Nakamura: I made that motion.
Chair Furfaro: ... and a second. I also want to point out if a return
from the auditors is not covered in the current financial scope of their bid, so if
there was a request to have them come back and give commentary, we would have
to...also have to have money for travel and. accommodations. So, you know, that's
kind of where we're at. We have a motion to receive. I do think that we have a very
capable audit department that can help us through this after we formulate other
questions and we can put it back on the agenda in those particular areas where
there's questions at, so.
Ms. Yukimura: Well then, would you prefer a motion to defer for
the... as a council matter rather than sending it to committee? And then, you know,
perhaps all our questions can be answered by phone calls or further consultation?
Chair Furfaro: You know, my preference is I'm extremely familiar
with the outcomes that we have right now. I'm fine with receiving it and putting a
new item on after I get your questions, so that we can have the audit
department...our audit department and finance here. That's where I'm at. I'm fine
with soliciting your questions. If I share this with you, you know, I think if we get
to a portion where we want to develop a reserve policy, we're going to have to put
some of this back on the agenda as well as to actually come up with a resolution
that would be binding for this elected council.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: And then therefore,. each previo...each following
council would come up with their own resolution as to our reserve policy.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. So yeah, fine.
Chair Furfaro: So, there is a motion to receive. There's a second
along with it.
Mr. Rapozo: Just one question. Are we expecting a response
from the administration, the finance department as far as the findings?
Chair Furfaro: Ah...
Mr. Rapozo: I have read what was in here, but I mean...you
know typically we would get a plan of action that I haven't seen. I haven't even
seen finance here.
Chair Furfaro: No, they were here earlier. I do want to say,
thought, and John, if 'you don't mind coming up to the mike again. I'm sorry. I
spent time with the audit staff yesterday and I am of the impression that of the
17 points that were made, we clearly have one that is outstanding with housing and
we have adds=essed the other variables through the late reporting, but have satisfies
the challenges according to the audits.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Holt: I believe that you've satisfied all of them, okay.
There's not necessarily a plan of action. I mean, you're appropriate in asking, you
know, is there a problem, is there an action plan to resolve the problems. And what
we're saying is that there is a measurement response...
COUNCIL MEETING • - 45 - ~ISecember 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: Yeah, I see that.
Mr. Holt: ...to each one and what I was trying to convey
earlier was that based upon what we presently see in our auditing that those
actions have been taken and management has put into place, and these issues are
resolved.
Mr. Rapozo: Then is that going to be coming in as a
supplemental report to this audit report because the record will not reflect that
other than your testimony. If you look at the report, the only resolved issues are the
Section 3 issues and all of these remain open in the. report. So I mean if that's the
case then and I heard you testify to that earlier, but if that is the case, then I think
a supplemental statement from you, from the auditor saying that in fact those
findings...
Chair Furfaro: ~ Findings issues.
Mr. Rapozo: ...have been resolved, then I'll be satisfied. But I
don't see that here.
Mr. Holt: Yeah, the...
Mr. Rapozo: Because I see the management response, we
understand our discrepancy, we've taken corrective action, but I haven't seen that
from the auditor to validate or verify if that in fact has occurred.
Mr. Holt: Right and let's see, what happens is our current
year findings are current year findings. These are findings that we found through
June 30, 2010.
Mr. Rapozo: Right.
Mr. Holt: Okay. So for us to come back and say that they are
resolved, that is, as you said Section 3...
Mr. Rapozo: Mm-hm.
Mr. Holt: Section 3 .relates to the prior year...
Mr. Rapozo: .Correct.
Mr. Holt: So the next year's audit would reflect...
Mr. Rapozo: Right.
Mr. Holt: ....the testimony that I've ,provided today.
~,- _ , 'Mr.~-Rapozo: ~ Okay: ~ - :.- ....... .
Mr. Holt: So in the current report, it would stand as is. Next
year's report would reflect...
Mr. Rapozo: But I...I mean in prior years, and let's... and I
wasn't here in '09, but prior, at the time the auditor was here, those findings had
not been resolved and we would have had the opportunity to find out from
management or from the administration what the plan was. So your testimony
today is it's all been resolved as of this date.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 46 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Mr. Holt:
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Holt:
Without having audited it...
No, but that's my point, sir.
Sure.
Mr. Rapozo: You're the auditor and if you're comfortable in
telling me today that it's been resolved, then that's fine and I would expect or ask
for a supplemental report to be attached. Otherwise, I'm asking that the
administration provide their plan of action to resolve the issues. If in fact they have
been resolved, they can submit that as their statement. That's all I'm asking for.
Chair Furfaro: Well, we can approach this two ways. We can ask
you if there's going to be a supplemental report saying that those timing matters
have been cured or I can put in a separate piece of correspondence to the
administration having a report from them telling the finance committee how they've
cured it.
Mr. Holt: We can't do...we can't add a supplement...
(?): Okay.
Mr. Holt: ...because the next .reporting period would be
September 30th.
Chair Furfaro: Understood.
Mr. Holt: So therefore, the...I would think the appropriate
thing would be...to do would be to require the communication saying this is what
we've done and this is how we have it resolved and would come from
administration.
Chair Furfaro: Then I will prepare the communication and I'll ask
Mr. Bynum to follow up in finance regarding those pieces. Mr. Bynum, you had
your hand up?
Mr. Bynum: I just...I thought the communication was
appropriate and then you're saying that next year's audit will address these, right?
Mr. Holt: Correct because our audit period covers through
June 30th.
Mr. Bynum: And if you are successful in...it may be you or it
may be someone else, right?
There being no more questions for Mr. Holt, the meeting was called back to order,
ar~3 proceeded as follows: .~ .
Chair Furfaro: Okay, so I will send that communication over,
Mr. Rapozo, asking for a response to the summary report and showing us how those
particular items were cured and by what date and we'll put it in the finance
department.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 47 - December 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: No problem, not a problem. John and I understand
your position. I couldn't find myself expecting anything different because it's
actually going to be part of next year's report. But I thought I'd try. Okay, so,
Mr. Bynum, you're accepting to that (inaudible) in finance?
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, sure.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, any other questions before I call for the vote
on receiving this document? None? Okay, all in favor, we have a motion and a
second to receive, signify by saying aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to receive communication C 2011-11 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, will the clerk so note that we are going to
ask for follow-up correspondence for the finance committee.
Mr. Nakamura: So noted, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. We are at 12 o'clock and I want to say
thank you again, very much, but we've got about another half an hour of business to
attend to here, so next item.
Mr. Nakamura: Council Chair, at the top of page two of the
council's agenda, we have three communications for receipt. Communication
C...I'm sorry, let's take two communications C 2011-08 and C 2011-09.
C 2011-08 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a $575,000.00 appropriation from the
surplus and appropriations estimated in the General Fund for the expansion'of the
Kauai Bus Service, by including Sunday bus services and expanding existing from
Monday through Friday services to 10:00 p.m.: Ms. Yukimura moved to receive
communication C 2011-08 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously
carried.
C 2011-09 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Director of Finance,
transmitting for Council consideration, a $200,000.00 appropriation from the
surplus and appropriations estimated in the General Fund to fund promotional
efforts by the .Kauai. Visitors Bureau: Ms. Yukimura moved to receive
communication C 2011-09 for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously
carried.
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Clerk, I just want to take a moment to thank
the auditors in person. Can we take athree-minute break here? Thank you.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 12 noon.
The meeting was called back to order at 12:01 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Okay, I think we're back in order.
Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Chair, we're on page two of the council's
agenda. Next communication is communication C 2011-10.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 48 - ~ecember 15, 2010
C 2011-10 Communication (12/03/2010) from the Mayor, requesting
Council consideration and confirmation of the following appointments and
reappointments to various Boards and Commissions for the County of Kauai:
• Michael Kano -Building Board of Appeals (Fire desLgnation)
• Miles Tanabe -Building Board of Appeals (Public At-Large)
• Kurt Akamine -Board of Ethics
• Mark Hubbard -Board of Ethics
• Brad Nagano -Board of Ethics
• Randall Nishimura -Board of Water Supply
• Leland Kahawai -Board of Water Supply
• Edgar Justus IV -Charter Review Commission
• Stephanie Aranio -Civil Service Commission
• Gilbert Maerina -Civil Service Commission
• Lawrence Chaffin Jr. -Cost Control Commission
• William Gibson -Liquor Control Commission
• Shirley Akita -Liquor Control Commission
• Dane Oda -Liquor Control Commission
• James Nishida Jr. -Planning Commission
• Charles Iona -Police Commission
• Sheri Kunioka-Volz -Salary Commission
• Robert Crowell -Salary Commission
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I do want to share with the group that
I have tentatively asked the clerk's office to set up interviews on January 11, 2011,
which is a Tuesday, from 8:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. with this group of 18 candidates.
That's where we stand right now. I'm allowing a quarter of an hour for each
interview. But is there anyone that may have a date challenge with January 11?
It's a Tuesday.
Mr. Bynum: It's in my calendar already.
Chair Furfaro: Very good, so. No? Okay, so I'm asking for a
motion to schedule these interviews on Tuesday.
Ms. Nakamura: Move to receive and schedule interviews on
January 11, 2011.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you.
Mr. Bynum: Second.
Ms. Nakamura moved to receive communication C 2011-10 for the record, and to
schedule interviews on January 11, 2011, seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: Any further discussion?
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, what were those hours again?
Chair Furfaro: From 8:30 to 12:30.
Mr. Chang: 8:30?
Chair Furfaro: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 49 - • ember 15, 2010
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to receive communication C 2011-10 for the record, and to schedule
interviews on January 11, 2011 was then put, and unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Next item please.
Mr. Nakamura: We're at the bottom of page two of the council's
agenda, Mr. Chair, communication for approval, communication C 2011-12.
C 2011-12 Communication (11/04/2010) from the Director of Housing,
requesting Council approval of the following:
(1) to apply for, receive, and expend a $133,000.00 grant from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Housing
Choice Voucher Family Self-.Sufficiency Program Coordinator
salaries, and
(2) to indemnify the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
Mr. Rapozo moved to approve communication C 2011-12, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Is there any discussion from the audience on this?
Seeing none, any discussion from Councilmembers?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Just that I am aware that this is a very wonderful
program that helps families bring themselves up and so it's very worthy of funding.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, any further discussion?
Ms. Nakamura: I wanted to just to recognize the staff of the
housing agency for doing such a good job that allowed us to maintain two positions
rather than one. Because they've maintained a high workload, we've been able to
secure additional federal funding, so thanks to housing agency staff.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you for those comments,
Councilwoman Nakamura. Any other discussion? If not, we have a motion and a
second. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to approve communication C 2011-12 was then put, and unanimously
carried. ~ ~~
Chair Furfaro: Next item please.
Mr. Nakamura: At the top of page three, Mr. Chair, a
communication for approval, communication no. 2011-13.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 50 - ~cember 15, 2010
C 2011-13 Communication (11/18/2010) from the Director of Parks &
Recreation, requesting Council approval to replace equipment stolen from the Koloa
Maintenance Shop at an approximate cost of $1,910.00 from its Parks supply
account: Mr. Bynum moved to approve communication C 2011-13, seconded by
Mr. Chang.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Is there any comments from the
audience? If not...Mr. Mickens, please come right up. The rules are suspended.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you, Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens, just
a short comment. I hope that some measures have been taken for the security of
this place, that, you know, we appropriate money, they bring in new equipment, and
somebody turns around and steals it again. So I hope that parks and recreation or
whoever the responsible party is is doing it. Thank you, Jay.
Chair Furfaro: Comments well received and we will so send a
communication. Councilwoman Yukimura?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I want to thank Mr. Mickens for his very good
point. I mean, I think this is an area for risk management in terms of whether it
was a preventable theft or burglary and how it's going to be prevented in the future.
So if we can send a communication to ask those questions to our...
Chair Furfaro: Risk management?
Ms. Yukimura: ...park, yes. Is this public works?
Chair Furfaro: And we'll address it as well to parks, okay, and risk
management. Any further discussion on this? No? Okay.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: The meeting's called back to order. I'm sorry.
There being no one else wishing to testify, the meeting was called back to order, and
proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. .
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to approve communication C 2011-13 was then put, and unanimously
carried.
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Nakamura
C 2011-14.
Next item.
Next matter for approval is communication
C 2011-14 Communication (11/19/2010) from the Prosecuting Attorney,
requesting Council approval to (1) apply for, receive and expend federal funds from
the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant in the amount of $22,750.00 for the period.
commencing January 1, 2011, and to (2) indemnify the State of Hawaii,
COUNCIL MEETING • - 51 - • ember 15, 2010
Department of Human Services, Office of Youth Services. Funding will be allocated
in support of the Kauai Teen Court Program: Mr. Rapozo moved to approve
communication C 2011-14, seconded by Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Anyone wishing to speak on this item
from the public? Seeing none, is there any further discussion by members?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, Mr. Chair, just that the Teen Court Program is
a really wonderful program that helps our young people stay out of the juvenile
system as much as possible, so a very worthy project.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, any further discussion? If not, may I
ask all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to approve communication C 2011-14 was then put, and unanimously
carried.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, next item.
Mr. Nakamura: Next matter for approval is communication
C 2011-15.
C 2011-15 Communication (11/19/2010) from the Prosecuting Attorney,
requesting Council approval to purchase two Presentation Flag Sets (one for the
lobby and one for the prosecutor's office) for approximately $858.33 with
departmental funds: Mr. Bynum moved to approve communication C 2011-15,
seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Next item, Mr. Clerk.
Mr. Nakamura: Next matter is a matter for receipt, Mr. Chair,
communication C 2011-16.
C 2011-16 Communication (12/06/2010) from the County Auditor,
transmitting for Council consideration the following:
(1) to appropriate $325,000.00 to pay for the engagement of a contract
auditor to conduct Financial Statement Audits and Single Audits,
and
(2) to procure the services of a contract auditor to conduct Financial
Statement Audits and Single Audits, and to pay for the engagement
from the appropriations of a later fiscal year and for more than one
fiscal year (multi-year contract).
Mr. Rapozo, moved to receive communication C 2011-16 for the record, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Is there anyone willing to or wanting
to testify on this? Seeing no one, is there anyone .here at the council that would like
to have any discussion on this matter?
Ms. Yukimura: Question.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, all those in favor to receive say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 52 - ~ cember 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura
No, move the previous question, aye.
The motion to receive communication C 2011-16 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
LEGAL DOCUMENTS:
Chair Furfaro: Members, I'm going to go to legal documents. We
only have about 17 minutes here before lunch, so I'm going to come to item 17 after
we break for lunch. So let's go to Legal Documents, please.
Mr. Nakamura: At the bottom of page three, Mr. Chair, is a legal
document for the council's approval which is attached to communication C 2011-18.
C 2011-18 Communication (11/15/2010) from the Director of Parks and
Recreation, requesting Council approval of the following from the Association of
Apartment Owners of Kapa`a Sands:
• Right of Entry and License Agreement granting entry and access to
Kapa`a Sands, Lot 4-A and construction parcel C-1
(TMK 4-4-3-02:02), to the County for the construction of the
Lydgate-Kapa`a Shared-Use Path along Papaloa Road.
Ms. Yukimura moved to .approve the legal document attached to communication
C 2011-18, seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Anyone
in the audience that wishes to testify on this audience?~ Please come right up,
Mr. Mickens. We will suspend the rules.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
GLENN MICKENS: Thank you again, Jay, for the record again Glenn
Mickens. You have a copy of my testimony. (Inaudible) read it please for the
record.
Chair Furfaro: Go right ahead.
Mr. Mickens: I'm sure that some of you councilmembers
remember when proponents of this path tried to route it in front of the condos along
Papaloa Road, but Bill Sweeney, a lawyer who owned one of those condos, filed a
lengthy suit against this proposed route and stopped it. Those same condo owners,
customers using the Kinipopo Shopping Center, plus people buying gas at the Shell
Station at the intersection of this road need this road to park on and use as a two-
way street, so will probably fight to stop this from being made one-way to
accommodate the bike path. I cannot understand the need to make this path
happen when it is such a super low priority project.
I have two draft proposals here from the DOT going from Nawiliwili to
Anahola, and Phase B and C include the Papaloa segment. I don't know if you
people have copies of this DOT thing, but anyway the clerk can make it if you want.
The original DOT draft of 4/27/10 showed a prospective cost of $1,870,000.00 for this
segment. Looking at the latest map, this figure looks way low to me. I got a copy of
the map. But the revised DOT draft of 7/13/10 showed that $1,560,000.00 for
construction of this amount was deferred and only $370,000.00 was left for
planning, design and rights of way.
•
COUNCIL MEETING - 53 - December 15, 2010
The point I'm trying to make is why are we spending so much of our time and
money, in-house lawyers, staff on a project that will not benefit the majority of
people on Kauai. We need alternate roads and routes to alleviate the traffic that
worsens day by day, not recreational bike/dog walking paths.
I said it before and I will say it again, I'm not opposed to bike paths and
never will be. But this path was ill planned. trying to retrofit it into an area already
congested from the beginning. In these hard times, we should be addressing the
needs for everyone.
Of the $60,420,000.00 originally allocated for the planning, design, rights of
way_ and construction of this path (DOT numbers) from Nawiliwili to Anahola,
$57,260,000 has been deferred or deleted leaving $3,160,000 remaining, which is
mostly for designing. And since particularly all construction money has been cut, I
do not know why over $3,000,000 remains for designing.
Though a lot of us citizens, including Councilmember Rapozo and former
Councilwoman Iseri-Carvalho, have repeatedly asked for details on this total path,
including cost, land acquisition, condemnation, final routes, total maintenance
costs, what the contract or agreement is with the Feds for their 80% contribution to
the path, and many other relevant questions, no answers have been forthcoming.
These figures from DOT are the best we have seen and they are extremely
relevant.
So, as you guys know, I've been a strong opponent of this bike path from the
get go, and again, I'm not against bike paths. No, Tim, I'm not, obviously. If it had
been left to go mauka instead of makai, I think the path had a great chance of
succeeding. Bette Midler, I think, would have probably given her permission to go
through that property and we could have stayed there. But now we're winding,
going through the Safeway .parking lot, it's a mess. It's a total mess. And with
these numbers from DOT showing that they're cutting these funds greatly, the mass
of it except for the planning part, I don't know where the funds will ever come from
to be able to do this.
Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Mickens: Anyway, Jay, I thank you for your indulgence, your
time and letting me testify. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, let me see if anybody has any questions of
Mr. Mickens. No? Glenn, thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Mickens: You're welcome.
Chair Furfaro: Come right up, Alice.
ALICE PARKER: Alice Parker, Lihu`e. I must disagree with my dear
friend, Glenn, because I think the bike path and walking path is terrific for dog
owners and non-dog owners. I think it's a good tourist attraction. When I lived in
California in Torrance near the beach, my friends and I would walk the beach path
down there to go... not as far as this one, but we met lots of people from lots of
places, and I think tourists, as well as locals, like to get out and see the ocean and
see the views. Yes, it is very expensive, but land here is expensive. After all, this is
paradise. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 54 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Bynum: Thank you, Alice.
Chair Furfaro: Alice, Let me see if there's any other... does
anybody have any questions of Alice. Thank you, Alice, thank you very much.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you, Alice.
Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else that would like to testify?
Mr. Rosa, please come right up.
JOE ROSA: Good afternoon, members of the council.
Chair Furfaro: Good afternoon.
Mr. Rosa: For the record Joe Rosa. As I stated before that I
cannot see why the county would be just spending so much money to acquire land,
something like this here, when it's something that could be worked along with DOT
on the highway widening or any highway project that goes within that area. When
I worked for DOT there were plans of putting a new bridge mauka because the
present bridge was insufficient because of the piles that was infested with teredos.
So I don't see why the county don't work with DOT and find out what are the plans
in that immediate area. So, why should they be working for something with two
different parties when it can be solved by one party through negotiations within
DOT and the county administration. Think about it. Money is involved. And at
this critical time, and that's a critical area, everything for land acquisition is going
to be costly. It's high time that you looked into it and work with DOT. Look how
much money is being spent on that little bridge over there, that old railroad bridge.
You know, I never did feel secure because I know it's been prefabricated twice
already because there's always cracks on that old railroad bridge that had to be
fixed by the plantation and also now again before this thing went into construction.
So, it's high time you get DOT down here, look into whatever plans for a new bridge
because that bridge when I was working with DOT had a tonnage capacity of
27 tons. That's why the plantation couldn't say it was sufficient for them to operate
and the last tonnage on those big trailers at times when I was busing at night, I'd
see a truck with a heaping load. I'd go down to the plant the next day at that time
they had 37 tons. And at that time Mr. Yamaguchi, the district engineer, used to
get after the plantation. You see they do things illegal at night thinking
everybody's asleep. But I was awake at night and I seen those things. So as I said,
go see DOT, whatever plans because a lot of those (inaudible) just sit because it
cannot take the tonnage that these people would like to go across with. So in this
incident, just put it aside, leave that area (inaudible), and work with DOT and see
what are their plans in that area. You'll be saving a whole lot of money because I
don't think the initial plan of this resolution was to purchase land acquisition for
this bike path. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Rosa. Are there any questions of
Mr. Rosa? No? Me. Rosa, I will tell you that. I certainly support this next phase
here, but I think it's important for us to be prudent in at least writing to the DOT
and the Feds to get something reconciled in the way of the balances carried forward
and that we will do in the way of a communique to them based on the numbers that
Mr. Mickens gave us. Thank you.
Mr. Rosa: - Yes, sir, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else that would like to testify on
this matter? If not, I'm going to call the meeting back to order.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 55 - ISecember 15, 2010
There being no one else wishing to testify on this item, the meeting was called back
to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro' Councilmembers? Mr. Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: We're starting a new council term today. It's really
exciting and a...well, we already started it, but we're at the beginning of a new term
and whenever there's anything on the agenda regarding the bike path I know Glenn
is going to comment and I fully support your right to do that, and usually I don't
comment about the repeated misinformation that Glenn puts forward, but I thought
I would today given that it's a new term. First of all, regarding Papaloa,
Mr. Sweeney did object to the public using the public land in front of his
condominiums and organized a group of condominium owners to oppose that. He
never filed suit, however, and the compromise, you know, through a public process
was that the path would not go in front of those condos and would go along Papaloa
Road. In terms of the many questions that have been asked about the bike path,
the parks department and since the mayor...previous mayor and continuing with
this mayor set up a committee, they've come to the council regularly. They brought
spreadsheets, they've answered every question. We know what the costs are. There
is very little county money in this project still all these years later. It's mostly
federal funds that are set aside for this type of project and I believe it's a good one
that a majority of the public supports. And so if we brought all the paper here of
the questions that have been answered, it literally would be taller than me. So, I've
had all those questions answered and it's been the practice since Lenny's been the
parks director to come here periodically with a, you know, a full disclosure and
report to answer any questions, so thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Bynum. Is there any other
discussion here? Mr. Clerk, I'm sorry, did... do we have a motion and second?
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, we do.
Chair Furfaro: ,We did? Okay and is this a roll call vote?
Mr. Nakamura: No.
Chair Furfaro: This is a voice vote. Okay, all those in favor, please
signify by saying aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
The motion to approve the legal document attached to communication C 2011-18
was then put, and unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: We can go then to the next 'item.
~'' `= Mr. Nakamura: We're on page four, Mr. Chair," of the ~ council's
agenda, on a legal document attached to communication C 2011-19.
C 2011-19 Communication (11/15/2010) from the Director of Parks and
Recreation, requesting Council approval of three Ratification of Purchase
Agreements (the original Purchase Agreement with the Association of Apartment
Owners of the Kapa a Sands was approved at the July 28, 2010 Council Meeting) to
acquire property for the Lydgate Park to Kapa`a Bike/Pedestrian Path along
Papaloa road as follows: .
COUNCIL MEETING • - 56 - ~ecember 15, 2010
1) Ratification of Purchase Agreement by Elizabeth Ellen VanEttinger
2) Ratification of Purchase Agreement by Willard F. Souza
3) Assignment and Ratification of Purchase Agreement by Mary Ellen
O'Conner Davis and the Trustees of the Mary Ellen O'Conner Davis
Trust
Ms. Yukimura moved to approve the legal document attached to communication
C 2011-19, seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: It's been moved and seconded. Let me get to public
testimony first, Mr. Rapozo. Is there anyone in the public that wishes to testify on
this item? If not, Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair I just receive the ratification of purchase
agreement right now as I just requested it. I apologize. I should have gotten it
earlier. I didn't think. I thought it was more of a formality, but as I read the
purchase agreement, this is a purchase of a 2,100 square foot piece of land and the
purchase is $100,000. Not only that, we're also agreeing to relocate the gas tank
and its enclosure, the trash bins and their enclosure, and the Kapa`a Sands signs,
"enclosures and signs shall have moss rock walls at the entrance and exit." I think
we need to send this to the committee and I think we need to have the
administration come explain to us what they're doing. This is a very small parcel of
land, 2,134 square feet, but we're also agreeing to relocate the gas tank and I'm not
sure what the gas tank...it may be just a propane tank or whatever. But I guess
before I vote to approve this, I would want to get a briefing from the administration
as to what the cost and the impacts will be because I think $100,000 for 2,000
square feet is I think well above any appraised value of land. I just...I apologize. I
should have read this earlier. It wasn't attached to the stack of agenda documents,
so... and they are available for the public at the clerk's office. So I would ask we
refer this to the committee if at all possible.
Chair Furfaro: May I ask are you referring to the Parks
Committee.
Mr. Rapozo: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, any further discussion?
Mr. Rapozo: I... and I'm curious if anyone else knew that it was
a hundred grand for two thousand square feet plus the relocation o£..and maybe
you can convince me otherwise today, but I just don't see the...that's an extremely
high cost for atwo-thousand square foot lot.
Chair Furfaro: Any further discussion?
Ms. Yukimura: I, yes.
C; pair Furfaro: Councilwoman Yukimura. .. .
Ms. Yukimura: I don't believe we can pay more than appraised
value and I presume that an appraisal was done. But I don't know for a fact.
Mr. Rapozo: Well, if you want to move it to the end of the
agenda and we can have parks here in the afternoon, that's fine with me. But I
mean I'm not going to approve $100,000 for two thousand square feet.
Ms. Yukimura: I don't know if time is of the essence or what, so...
COUNCIL MEETING • - 57 - ISecember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro:
I'm sorry, councilwoman.
Ms. Yukimura: I'm sorry. I don't know if time is of the essence for
the parks department,. but maybe a phone call would help resolve this?
Chair Furfaro: I do want to say that I think the previous council
had voted on this item and taken action on it, and we cannot pay...we had to pay
the appraised value. But my understanding of this when I queried and maybe the
county attorney can help me, we actually found additional owners on this parcel,
so...I don't know. Could you help me here from the county attorney's office? Is that
what... did we not already take action on this?
ALFRED CASTILLO, JR., County Attorney: I'm sorry, Al Castillo, County
Attorney. What I... do you want me to answer all of the questions?
Chair Furfaro: Well, I can move this to the end of the agenda as
well, but in my summary I just want to say I believe we...the previous council had
already acted on this.
Mr. Castillo: It's my understanding also, but I don't know
where... at what point legally we are regarding this matter right here because
there's a lot of moving parts to this.
Chair Furfaro: Could we come back and visit this at the...
Mr. Castillo: Yeah, we...I think...
Chair Furfaro: ...end of the session today?
Mr. Castillo: I think we should.
Chair Furfaro: And maybe you can query a few of those things?
Mr. Bynum, you had your hand up?
Mr. Bynum: (Inaudible) let's move it to the end.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, so we're going to move it to the end,
Mr. Rapozo, and get a quick summary of where we're at. I was of the impression
there were more trustees identified in the previous action. So I guess I'd like to
have a motion to move this to the end of the agenda.
Mr. Bynum: So moved.
Ms. Yukimura: Second.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, any further discussion? If not, .all those
in favor to move this to the end of the agenda, signify by saying aye. ~ ~-~
Councilmembers: Aye.
Mr. Bynum moved to defer the legal document attached to communication
C 2011-19 to the end of the agenda, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously
carried.- ~ • ~ - •
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Next item, Mr. Clerk.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 58 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair?
Chair Furfaro: Oh, excuse me. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I'd also like to propose to move this to the end
of the agenda. Housing was to be here to just explain this very good news to us and
to the public briefly. So, if we can have them after lunch that would be best. Or
maybe at the beginning after lunch.
Chair Furfaro: I... do we have anything that's time specific when
we come back from lunch, Mr. Clerk?
Mr. Nakamura: No, Mr. Chair, maybe what we can do is just take
the lunch break now and come back to this matter right after the public hearing at
1:30 p.m. and then we'll have the housing agency present for that.
Ms. Yukimura
Chair Furfaro:
Ms. Yukimura:
Thank you.
Does that fit?
That's fine.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, so after the public hearing, we'll come back
to that item and then for the county attorney, if we can have some dialogue on the
item previous to that. On that note, we're going to go ahead and take a lunch break.
We'll be back at 1:30 p.m. for a public hearing. Thank you everyone.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 12:28 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 1:57 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Chair, we're back on the council's agenda on
page four under legal documents. This is communication...this is a legal document
attached to communication C 2011-20.
C 2011-20 Communication (11/29/2010) from the Director of Housing,
requesting authority from the Council to execute the following:
• Ground Lease conveying a leasehold interest in Lot 4-B,
Subdivision 5-2007-20, TMK (4) 2-6-15-20, Paanau Village Phase 2
to Paanau Village Partners LP for the development of a 50-unit
affordable rental housing project in Koloa for households at or
below 60% of the Kauai Median Income.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. We do have people here
from the housing department, but I would like to see first if there's anyone that
wants to make any kind of a motion or a second to approve.
Mr: Bynum moved to approve the legal dacumer~t attain Ord to communication
C 2011-20, seconded by Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I will now suspend the rules and
Mr. Mackler, if you could come up.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
COUNCIL MEETING • ~'- 59 - December 15, 2010
GARY MACKLER, Housing Development Coordinator: Good afternoon,
councilmembers, and thank you very much for the opportunity to be here to talk a
little bit about this project. Let me just give you just a quick overview of what this
project is. Pa`anau Village Phase 2 is part of the Pa`anau Village Complex in Koloa,
which is near Koloa School. The second phase of Pa`anau Village will be on a 4-acre
parcel which is situated between the existing Pa`anau Village and Complex, which
is 60 units and the Western Bypass Road. The project will consist of 50 units and
will have a combination of unit sizes consisting of one-, two-, and three-bedroom
units. The project will be serving an income group that is at or below 60% of the
median household income. This is one of our neediest groups in our population for
affordable rental housing and along with the affordable rents that will be offered
and at this time the rent structure for one-, two-, and three-bedroom units is $675,
$775, and $875 with the potential of actually being refined down a bit before the
actual lease up occurs. We will have a very important, very significant housing
project situated on the south shore of our island to serve our residents' needs really
in perpetuity because this project initially has to be affordable for 63-1/2 years. But
the reality is that it will be affordable in perpetuity. In the short-term, we're very
thankful that this project is only a few months from breaking ground because it is a
project that will involve upwards of $11 to $12 million of construction funding,
which will in the short term help a lot of people in the construction trades find
work, and of course the long-term benefit will be to have a stable permanently
affordable inventory of rental housing in the Koloa area to serve that population.
We all know that the future of that area is...that it will be an employment center of
Kauai, a growing employment center given the future growth of Koloa and Po`ipu.
And so we feel it...certainly as a housing agency, it's very important today to make
sure this project gets to completion and that these units are placed in service. We
are looking at, as I mentioned, breaking ground in February. And I should back up
and just let you know that this project is being developed by the Kauai Housing
Development Corporation. They are a locally based, non-profit housing
organization. They were originally formed in 1993 and have done wonderful
projects on Kauai. They are led by John Frazier, the executive director, and an
excellent board of directors as well. And after breaking ground, which we expect in
February of 2011, the timeline to put the site improvements and the building
construction... to complete all of that will be approximately 12 months. So we're
looking at occupancy there in the spring of 2012.
Chair Furfaro: Gary, are you planning to break ground in
February?
Mr. Mackler: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Mackler: The developers informed me they expect to receive
their grading permits very shortly and they will be scheduling a ground breaking
ceremony, which they hope to do in February of 2011.
Chair Furfaro:' - `~""~ ~ '"• " Yoiz liave...you have an updated footprint of the
parcel for all the members, the number of buildings, common area elements,
anything like that?
Mr. Mackler: I didn't bring that with me, but I can just share
with you that the parcel is just over 4 acres in size. There will be five residential
buildings placed on the site. They will be two-story structures, 10 units per
building, and there will be one additional building there as a community facility. It
will consist of a manager's office. It will have room available for the supply of
maintenance materials, and will also have a community meeting room. This project
COUNCIL MEETING • - 60 - ~cember 15, 2010
is really made possible through the efforts of the past county council in negotiating
for this affordable housing site to be made available to the county at no cost by
Kukui`ula Development Company, and also to provide all of the off-site
infrastructure that's required for the project. So, what is in place today is all of the
off-site water and sewer and utilities. And concurrent with the site work will be the
extension of Pa`anau Road, which Kukui`ula Development Company will be paying
for, and so we see basically everything lined up to move ahead. We have two
primary sources of financing. One is the Federal Home Investment Partnerships
Program, which past councils have appropriated the funding for and also the
financing will be provided through Development Capital, which comes from the
purchasing of low-income housing tax credits and from the limited partnership who
purchases those credits. They will provide development equity to finance the
development of the project.
Chair Furfaro: I know there's other councilmembers, but I just
want to review a few other items. Did we also provide in the footprint a provision in
the event that we look to access the Western Bypass or...
Mr. Mackler: Yes, Councilmember Furfaro. At the time of
the... going through subdivision of the lots and this lot in particular, consideration
was given to the possibility of connecting Pa`anau Road to the Western Bypass Road
and because there's an elevation gain from where the existing cul-de-sac up to the
connection, it's about an 18- to 19-foot elevation differential, there is the potential
that our access from Pa`anau Road could be impaired. And in the subdivision, there
is a road reservation for access from the Western Bypass Road in the event access is
cut off on Pa`anau Road. So there was...there is provisions made for that
possibility.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, good. I know Councilwoman Yukimura has
questions for you. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, first of all thank you for a very thorough and
succinct description of the project and also mahalo to housing and you in particular,
Gary, for the work done to bring the project to this point.
Mr. Mackler: Thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: What...my only question is...if the county had had
to pay for the land and off-site infrastructure, how much approximately would that
have been? Would it have doubled the project cost?
Mr. Mackler: I don't think so. I think the land... for 4 acres of
R-20 zoned land would be very expensive. I think we would have paid over a
million dollars for the site in today's market. I don't have a number on the off-site.
I do know that Kukui`ula has put in upwards of $29 million of off-site improvements
for their master plan development and part of that goes to support the Pa`anau
Village Phase 2 Project, but I don't really have a specific number or even an
approximate number I can give you today.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, but you did mention in the briefings that you
did that we will have no debt service to operate the project because we've been able
to get tax credits and part of the reason for getting tax credits is because this project
is so doable.
Mr. Mackler: Correct. Any time we have a site that has off-site
infrastructure available to it, an applicant for low-income housing tax credits will
score very high. It a very ...highly competitive statewide competition for those
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 61 - ~ December 15, 2010
credits and you certainly have a leg up when you have your off-site in place. It
certainly reassures the decision makers at the state level that this project can
happen. -And last year we were here before you in December and asked that the
council, prior to Kauai Housing Development Corporation applying for that
financing through the state, if the council would please assist that application and
support site control to the applicant. And we received council support then
and... actually I think this is the sixth time we've been before a county council
asking for support for this project through three fund appropriations, site control,
the limited warranty deed of only a few weeks ago, and now this ground lease legal
document. So we would like to thank the council especially the present and former
councilmembers, all of whom have been very supportive of seeing this project go
forward, so thank you.
Ms. Yukimura: Well, your agency is the one that's brought it all
,together, so thank you for that. It's very exciting to see housing... affordable
housing actually come to fruition.
Mr. Mackler: Yes, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: I just have a brief question.
Mr. Mackler: Sure.
Ms. Nakamura: Is there a waiting list on the Phase 1 project.
Mr. Mackler: There is. I actually...last week I checked with our
site manager actually for both Pa`anau and Kalepa, but at Pa`anau there's a...the
current wait list is 13 families. At the time I checked last week, there were four
vacant...excuse me, five vacant with four move-ins scheduled. So we are...we're
somewhere above 90% occupancy in Phase 1.
Chair Furfaro: You know, I'm...I (inaudible)...I have that report
that I'll share with all of you. I had a separate discussion with housing earlier and I
think of the waitlist in projects that have maybe five vacancies, you have as many
as four already approved. Do you have a copy of that report for us?
Mr. Mackler: I... actually, I have a copy here with me.
Chair Furfaro: We can make some copies.
Mr. Mackler: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: Would we get that from Gary Mackler and make
some copies? Thank you, Gary. Councilwoman Nakamura, did you have more?
No? Okay. Gary, the tax credits are going to last approximately 15 years?
Mr. Mackler: Well, the tax credit partnership will exist for
15 years and one of the provisions in the ground lease is that the county has the
right to cancel or shorten the term of the 63-1/2 year lease to 15 years, which we
will do. We intend to do that because once we cancel the lease, all of the
improvements that are built over the next year will become the fee simple...we will
become the fee simple owner of all of those improvements. So we stand to be the
beneficiary of a very highly valued housing project, and we also are in a similar
COUNCIL MEETING • - 62 - ~ecember 15, 2010
position with two phases of the Kalepa Village Project that were financed with tax
credits. We have the same ground lease provision in there for the two phases of
Kalepa Village.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very, very much, and I just wanted to
point out the outstanding work. At the end of this 15 years, we have this option, the
asset becomes ours. We have targeted occupancy rental rates and so forth during
that period, and thank you very much for this summary for everyone at the council
table.
Mr. Mackler: Sure, you're welcome.
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Chang, yes, go right ahead.
Mr. Chang: Thank you, Chair. Gary, congratulations. I think
it's very, very exciting news for the community. You mentioned a little bit about
ground breaking in February. So it's exciting to know that we can get our
construction people back to work, and that 60% means a lot to that growing Koloa
resort area as far as the housing is concerned. But I wanted to point out that
hopefully we can achieve a goal of being LEED certified and I just wanted to point
out a couple of things that I appreciate about the design because I was able to look
at the floor plans, the designs itself, trees, the ventilation as far as the natural trade
winds, but you know, by sound proofing greater than the required code, I think
many people that live in multi-family projects really appreciate that and I notice
that we will be installing ceiling fans in all the living rooms and the bedrooms. And
the bedrooms, I believe, the rooms are going to be as large if not larger than Kalepa,
which is pretty good size units.
Mr. Mackler: Yes.
Mr. Chang: But also, you know, the compact fluorescents and
the LED exterior lights, but I think it's real important, especially as we talk about
energy efficiency. I like the fact that, you know, I'm very familiar with Pa`anau
Phase 1, but I really like the fact and I think it's great for the public to know, that
you got stack-up washers and dryers and Energy Star appliances, solar hot water
heating, you know, plumbing... great plumbing features, Energy Star quality
lighting features. You know, irrigation, you know, if you...that LEED certified
building with KCFCU, they've been using the appropriate plants and the
groundcover and I think that's very important and I'm glad to see that in the report
here, but you know, recycling areas and solar parking lots, I mean it's going to be
great, great news for those that are looking for that affordable housing, especially
that 60%. But I'm happy because it's location, location, location and yet we got
construction involved and that's going to be employing a lot of our local people in
need of work right now, so it's very exciting. And you know, I saw the color sketch
of the plans and that's...it looks really, really nice.
Mr. Mackler: Thank you, councilmember, I was once told
but...that we should develop afforu~+ble housing that is built with quality but is
affordable to live in and energy cost is one of those variables that comes into
everyone's budget each month, that the more we can do to lower the cost to live in
these units, the more benefiting to the residents that live in the units. So from an
environmental point of view, it's a good thing and of course for the livability and
affordability, it's a very good thing for the project.
Mr. Chang: Thank you, thank you, Gary, thank you Eugene.
Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Yukimura.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 63 - December 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I'm so glad Councilmember Chang raised the
issue of energy use. Now, are these... are we trying for a LEED status on this?
Mr. Mackler: We are...in the application that KHDC submitted
to the State for tax credit financing, they did represent that they were...they had
set as a goal to reach one of the LEED certifications, possibly silver, because I know
we were...we were just short of getting a silver LEED designation for the last phase
of Kalepa Village. So they might reach it on this project.
Ms. Yukimura: That is so exciting because as you pointed out,
Gary, the living costs are not only rent. It's a lot... energy use is a big factor in this,
so it'll really help our families if the buildings are set up to be energy efficient. And
I guess it presumes water heating too, right?
Mr. Mackler: It is designed for solar hot water heating and as
Councilmember Chang mentioned, a lot of thought was given as to how to situate
the buildings to take advantage of natural ventilation.
Ms. Yukimura: Excellent, fabulous.
Chair Furfaro: Any more questions of Mr. Mackler. Mr. Mackler,
let me just say how very pleased we all are where we're at, the work your office has
done, you know, thank you very much.
Mr. Mackler: Thank you and it's...I'm here before you, but there
are a lot of other people in our office that have worked on this project who've been
very instrumental in getting it along this far. Barbara Pendragon is one of those
persons, as well as others. So thank you very much, councilmembers.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. The rules are still suspended and
Alice, if you'd like to come up.
ALICE PARKER: .Thank you, Alice Parker for the record. I'm really
excited about affordable housing. I'm number 28 on a list of one affordable housing
and I hope I make it, you know. But I have two questions about the Pa`anau
Project. One is is it accessible to bus transportation? Are there going to be bus
stops set up in there? And the other thing, is there...I understand the emphasis on
fluorescent lighting. However, there are some medical conditions that say you
should not use fluorescent lights because I had a neighbor who took all the compact
fluorescent lights out and put in incandescent because she has lupus and no
flickering of lights. That also applies to people with epilepsy, migraines and there's
a fourth condition I can't recall. But I hope that people have a choice of
incandescent or fluorescent. Of course, fluorescent is a lot cheaper, but if you have
a medical condition that contradicts that, I think you need to have a choice.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Alice. Mr. Mackler, would you mind
coming up and answering those two questions.
Mr. Mackler: ~ Okay, as to the first which is relating to
transportation, yes, there is bus service that comes into Pa`anau Road presently and
I'm confident it will be extended to serve this second phase of Pa`anau Village.
As for the lighting itself and how it may affect individuals, we are always
willing to make modifications as requested. One of the things we have designed in
our multi-family rental projects is that all the ground floor units are handicap
.accessible. So anyone wanting to live there that needs modifications made to the
COUNCIL MEETING. - 64 - ~ecember 15, 2010
living units, we make them for the tenants. It would be really no different if one
were to request a changing out of light fixtures. I don't think that would be a
problem at all.
So, in terms of transportation I should also point out that with the extension
of Pa`anau Road, they will include curbs, gutters and sidewalks.. And then also one
of the conditions... this is actually on Kukui`ula is to provide connectivity of the
sidewalk which will be all the way to our project but will also connect up to the
Western Bypass Road so that that system will be connected in so that people can
come in or along the Western Bypass Road come down on an accessible path to the
cul-de-sac and then also travel into our project or down Pa`anau Road towards the
school. So I really don't... going back to the concern, I don't foresee any issue there.
Chair Furfaro: Gary, thank you again, and as I mentioned since I
met with Barbara, and please send her our mahalo as well.
Mr. Mackler: Will do.
Chair Furfaro: I will circulate the footprint of the parcel of the
buildings since I have it from my meeting with her.
Mr. Mackler: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum, did you have a question? No?
Mr. Mackler: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Mackler. Lonnie, please come right
up.
LONNIE SYKOS: For the record, my name's Lonnie Sykos. This is a
very impressive project that the county has spent years on and the public is
impressed at all the negotiating that's occurred. I'm from Maui. A&B on Maui is
our big brother. When I was a flower farmer, we looked to A&B, particularly to
Peter Baldwin, who was our champion, even though at times our industries seemed
at odds with each other. A&B is a great partner because. they're invested. Their
lives are our lives and so it's good to see that the Kukui`ula and all that put the
infrastructure in and all of the benefits to the public as well as to the people that
will be living in the units.
I have an observation for the county. For the people that are going to be
living in these units, the ones who are not disabled, not retired or elderly, but the
ones that are trying to work and get themselves out of poverty, one of the crushing
financial things, living on any of the islands in Hawaii, is the difficulty of keeping a
job without owning an automobile. And so when I employed people as a flower
farmer, I used to go pick my employees up. The people that worked for me, I would
just go pick them up. I didn't want them having to figure out how to get to work.
This would be a great...because of the time lead that you have with the
construction, this would be a great...like project for the county council and the bus
and the transportation committees to look at how can we make this functional so
you don't have to have a car and whether you work dayshift or nightshift you can go
to work and get home, never have to stand in the rain, never get beat by the wind,
never get burned by the sun, and have a functional bus service for life... for the
person's whole life, not just the portions of the life that are served by the bus today.
And this is not a criticism. The bus (inaudible) gets expanded over time and its
mission expands over time, but certainly for this project it would be a great thing if
people could live there and expect to get to the doctor, get to work, and get home
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 65 - I~"ecember 15, 2010
without going through like myself I live in the houselots, but if I catch the bus I
have to go stand in the sun and rain. And so that's my two cents is maybe we could
use this to... as part of the bigger outlook for the community as well.
Chair Furfaro: Lonnie, I think Mr. Bynum has a statement that
involves you.
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just...I want to...I couldn't agree with you
more and I want to celebrate today that Bill No. 2390 is on our agenda to expand
bus service into the evenings and on Saturdays. I'm thrilled and for those reasons
that we have folks who are dependent on the bus to be equal participants in our
community, they need to be able to get to work on Saturdays and work nights, and
so, you know, there's a lot to celebrate today.
Mr. Sykos: If I could say something else is that somebody
who's like dealt with these issues, obviously there's no study I'm aware of specific to
Kauai, but in the State of Hawaii, it costs between $300 and $600 a month just to
own a car, right? If you pay registration, one set of tires a year, one tune-up a year,
one oil change a year, and minimal driving, you're $600 a month easy.
Mr. Bynum: Easy.
Mr. Sykos: You got a new vehicle that you gotta, you know,
payments to make, and insurance and all that, $2,000 or $3,000 a month may be,
you know, going into expense in vehicle and so to benefit everyone, that reduction in
expenses for the individual costs more to the taxpayers for more bus service, but we
all win by reducing the number of vehicles on the road.
Chair Furfaro:. Thank you, Lonnie. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I just want to say that related to the overall
expansion of the. bus system . is the Koloa-Po`ipu transportation plan, area
transportation plan that was done which did talk about a shuttle that would take
people into the work area of Po`ipu and would have a bit more and better
connections between the larger islandwide system and the Koloa-Po`ipu area. So,
there's a lot of pieces that are coming together. And at the planning process, one of
the first things the consultant pointed out was that getting rid of a car can qualify a
family for $50,000 in mortgage money, just for the...just because of what you just
outlined, the cost of owning a car. So, and transportation is the second largest
expenditure of a household I think next to housing.
Mr. Sykos: Yes.
Ms. Yukimura: So, you know, we're seeing three things come
together here to help our families. One is housing costs, the other is energy costs,
and the other is transportation costs. And there's a lot of work to do. We have a lot
more work to do in terms of bus shelters and so forth, but we have good agencies
working on these problems and wiL-h the partnership- of"'citizens and -'private
developers, I think we're on our way.
Mr. Sykos: There was a series of...
Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, Lonnie. If there's no question posed to
you and I also gave...
Mr. Sykos: I understand.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 66 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: ...the councilmembers some liberty here. The
agenda item is a housing project, not transportation, busing and so forth. We give
you...we're more flexible, but the agenda for the members, I hope you understand.
Mr. Sykos: I understand entirely.
Chair Furfaro: And plus we have Doug Haigh here only for
another 28 minutes. So I want to get him up on the next agenda item, so.
Mr. Sykos: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Lonnie. Is there any more
testimony on this from anyone in the audience? If not, I will call the meeting back
to order.
There being no one else wishing to testify on this item, the meeting was called back
to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Members, we do have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion? Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Just real quickly. We have here a project that
through this ground lease is going to provide 50 affordable units that will be
affordable in perpetuity. It'll provide construction jobs with no debt service for
operations. It's near a school, right next to a school. It's near businesses and near
the beach via... and work areas via a bus and bikeways that are still parts that have
to be put in. It's aiming for LEED certification and it really is because of a
partnership between private sector...and I really want to acknowledge Kukui`ula
Development Company... Corporation, the county and the wonderful work of the
housing agency, and anon-profit housing developer, Kauai Housing Development
Corporation. So, it's a very exciting project and I want to thank everyone who's
been involved in bringing it to this point.
Chair Furfaro: I think we're all very pleased, very much a team
effort here, and it's awin-win. Any further discussion? Do I have a motion?
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Nakamura:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Nakamura:
Chair Furfaro:
councilmembers
Yes.
Yes, you do.
Approved and second, I do?
We have a motion to approve.
Okay, all those in favor?
Aye.
Chair Furfaro: Are there any opposed? (Silence) Are there any
silent? (Silence) Thank you very much.
The motion to approve the legal document attached to communication C 2011-20
was then put, and unanimously carried.
Chair Furfaro: We have Mr. Haigh here, Mr. Clerk, and so I'd like
to go into the bill that we deferred until after luncheon dealing with the land
acquisition.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Nakamura
Council Chair.
Chair Furfaro
-67-
December 15, 2010
That would be a legal document on page four,
Very good.
Mr. Nakamura: This would be the top of page four, communication
C 2011-19, which was the ratification of the legal document for the acquisition of
property for the Lydgate Park to Kapa`a Bike/Pedestrian Path along Papaloa Road.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Doug, if you could come up and while
you're coming up I'm going to ask Ashley from our staff, Ashley, could you pass out
the cover on the appraised value piece. I do have the appraisal here and I also
would like to refer to Phase V of our bike path report in which, if you go to the
correspondence dated July 2, 2009, it makes reference to this appraisal that was
done and therefore my previous commentary that the council had voted on this in a
previous session. And the fact of the matter is some of the reason it is back on our
agenda is people who may have signed off on the agreement should have actually
signed off as trustees of certain trusts and so forth, and the full appraised value is
here, coming in at $123,470. And there were some credits here for landscaping,
which I assume, Doug, is making up for the other work that Mr. Rapozo would like
to hear from. Thank you for being here. I understand we have until 3 o'clock and so
I'm going to suspend the rules and Mr. Rapozo, go right ahead.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
DOUGLAS HAIGH, Chief of Buildings: Doug Haigh, Department of Public
Works.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you.
1VIr. Rapozo: Thanks, Doug. I guess, did...did this...your cover
letter come with the actual appraisal? Is there an appraisal report that... other than
just a letter saying...
Mr. Haigh: Yes, I brought the...
Mr. Rapozo: Okay. I just...I'm questioning the value of the
appraisal because, if I'm not mistaken, the land area is 2,OOO...a little over
2,000 square feet...right? Is that what we're purchasing, 2,134 square feet?
Mr. Haigh: That sounds right. I haven't memorized...
Mr. Rapozo: That's what...okay and we're basically taking
2,134 square feet of land from a larger parcel of 54, so leaving the remainder 52,000
for the owners. So we have actually...we're going to purchase 2,134 square feet
which equates to about...I guess it's five-hundredths of an acre, :05 acre;' an acre is
43,000 square feet. So it's basically U.05 of an acre. Does that sound right?
Mr. Haigh: Um...
Mr. Rapozo: It's...it's basically 2,000 square feet out of...
Mr. Haigh: 2 out of 40,000, okay, so that's 1 out of 20,000. So it
would be...10% would be 2 out of 20,000, so it would be 5%, yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Less. It's...
COUNCIL MEETING - 68 - Tlecember 15, 2010
Mr. Haigh:
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Haigh:
Mr. Rapozo:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Haigh:
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Haigh:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Rapozo:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Rapozo:
Chair Furfaro:.
5% of an acre.
No, not 5%.
I think so.
No, 5% would make it...
It's 1/20 of an acre.
Yeah.
One-twentieth of an acre.
Which is 5%.
Thank you, my public school paid off.
So... no 1/20 of an acre would be 0.5.
0.05.
No, we're at 0.05.
0.05.
Mr. Rapozo: Yeah, so if... and bear with me because it dust seems
like an astronomical amount of money, but if it's 2134 times 20, you're at 20...hang,
on here. You got too many buttons.
Ms. Yukimura: A little less than $50 is good.
Mr. Rapozo: So you're looking at...if you times the $100,000 fee,
which we're paying, and you times that by 20, that would give you the per acre cost.
You guys follow?
Mr. Haigh: That makes sense.
Mr. Rapozo: 5o if I go $100,000 times 20, I come out with
it...like a $2 million per acre.
Mr. Haigh: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: And that is what the appraisal was based on.
Mr. Haigh: I am not an expert appraiser. I can't really give
yc;u .a.professional opinion on the validity of the appraisal, .but T .can tell you the
process that was used. This appraisal was done by a professional appraiser. Part of
the process is then...we then have to hire another appraiser to review that
appraisal on the appropriateness. And once we have that review done, we submit
these...both these documents to the State Department of Transportation and they
have aRight-of--Way Branch which is staffed by professional appraisers, people with
many, many years in the right-of--way work and then they have their. in-house
professionals review the appraisal for appropriateness, and then they approve it
and tell us yes, that is an acceptable appraisal.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 69 - ITecember 15, 2010
Mr. Castillo: Council Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Yes, to the county attorney.
Mr. Castillo: Excuse me, for the record Al Castillo, county
attorney. I'm sorry, but the agenda item today is regarding the ratification of the
purchase agreement. The...it's not...the agenda item is not to contest the wisdom of
the prior council that authorized the purchase agreement for this piece of property.
Basically what we have before you is what happened after we received
authorization from this council to purchase this property. The county entered
into... did enter into a purchase price considering the appraisal amount and the .
settlement agreement that went...that was negotiated. What you have before you
today is the ratification. What happened was during the title search, because the
purchase has to be approved by each apartment owner, we .discovered that some of
the named owners was kind of erroneous and we just corrected that. So what you
have before you today is a correction of the documentation to clearly identify the
owners of the property and that's all that is before the body today.
Chair Furfaro: I understand your concern, Mr. Castillo, but I
would point out that this was action, as I mentioned, taken by the previous council.
The individuals who were actually members of trustees may have signed the
documents wrong, but I do think we're certainly within the jurisdiction to find out
exactly what we paid for. What is an R-20 zoned piece of property, ocean front, the
appraisal came in, the appraisal was double checked, it was determined it was a fair
market value, and I think it's really getting the current councilmembers to the point
that they're comfortable what the previous council took action on, and why they
took action is based on this appraisal that we have. I don't think the county would
ever pay more than what an appraisal is identified as, but I think getting
Mr. Rapozo up to date is fair and it's reasonable. So, that's how we arrived at it for
those 2,170 square feet, which came out to $43.85 a square foot, and it ties in to an
appraisal that we have right now, so.
Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. May I continue?
Chair Furfaro: Yes, you may.
Mr.. Rapozo: And, Mr. Furfaro, you're well aware of that house
that we almost purchased in Koloa for...
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: $200,000.00 which amounted to be worth less than
$500.00. So you know, it's...I'm just doing it because I was not here and I'm reading
this for the first time and the appraisal did raise a red flag or the price because it's
such a small parcel. Now the other questions...and it may be too late, I guess if it's
already been purchased it's been purchased, but' the facility restoration services,
which was the tank, a relocation with the enclosure, the bins and the enclosure, the
signs with the moss rock walls, the parking lot improvement, the electrical conduit's;
the 6-foot high aluminum fence, the landscaping and irrigation system, the title
report; the attorney's fees that we agreed to pay, what did that come out to?
Mr. Haigh: Well, we still do not have the exact cost of those
because we have not done the work. Now all that work will be part of the
construction project and funded but with the federal highway funds. It's approved
work. The, plans have been approved by the Department of Transportation for us to
proceed. So they...we can't...I can't give you the actual cost of that work because we
haven't bid it out yet.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 70 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: Ballpark?
Mr. Haigh: I...
Mr. Rapozo: I mean you're asking us to...I mean and I'm not
trying to disrespect the former council...
Mr. Haigh: I have not memorized that number. I don't... it
would take me...I'd have to go back and search in my records.
Mr. Rapozo: Well, I have time. I mean and you know obviously
if you folks want to go ahead and approve it, that's fine. But I think, more than just
me, but the public should know what this is going to cost. I mean I think it's not
unfair to ask. It looks like quite a bit of work that needs to be done and I could be
entirely wrong, but I don't think that's unreasonable to find out how much this
scope of work is. It's...I mean is it $100,000 or $200,000?
Mr. Haigh: I...like I said, I haven't memorized that. I'd have to
go back. We do have an engineer's estimate. I can get my, consultant to pick that
out and provide that information. I don't know... and I'd be happy, you know, no
matter what happens today, to provide you that information. That's not a problem
at all.
Chair Furfaro: Doug, I might send over a communication. I intend
to vote for this today, but the appraisal came in and the document that I referred to
from my own records dealing with Phase V of the bike path says that the appraisal
came in at $123,488 based on the fact that there were certain improvements,
whether it was fence, garbage bins, and/or landscaping, which has value. So I'm
going to send over...my assumption is if the land is $100,000 in the appraised value,
the loss of those improvements should not exceed $23,488 because if that's the fact,
then we actually would have paid more whether it's packaged in the construction
cost or not. The whole appraisal with the amenities and the landscaping came in at
$123,488 and I just want to say I appreciate the county attorney's caution. This is
something that's already been negotiated, and the bigger part of that is, you know,
it's a reflection on, you know, us saying this is what we want to exercise based on
these appraisals that are done and so forth. So, I'll send over a communication
asking for you to detail and I hope it's not more than $23,488.
Mr. Rapozo: How time sensitive is this document?
Mr. Haigh: It's important for us to be moving forward. We're
about ready to go out to bid on this work and we do need to have these documents in
place. Part of the problem is we...this was all done over a year ago and approved
and executed, and due to unforeseen circumstances the project got delayed and all
of a sudden we got caught where we had this document expire, and so it is
important for us to get it approved.
Chair Furfaro: I concur is what I was saying. I mean, the previous
council had exercised this acquisition, but I think in Mr. Rapozo's case it is nice to
be assured that we don't have other amenities that we're replacing that exceeded
the total appraised value. So I'll send over the communication.
Mr. Rapozo: Is...I mean how difficult is it to get that
information because I'd like to vote on it today.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 71 - ITecember 15, 2010
Mr. Haigh: I'm going to have to work with my consultant. I
can't get you an answer within an hour. It is probably going to take me a couple of
days. I don't know what his schedule or work is right now.
Mr. Rapozo: Obviously I'm not going to vote unless I have the
information I need. I mean, it...I'm sure you folks all have the votes, but I just...I
don't think it's unreasonable to ask a simple estimate ballpark figure I mean on a
project like this that has been in front of this council for several months and...
Chair Furfaro: As a member of the past council I want to make
sure if I voted in favor of something and we've executed something, that there is a
certain credibility to that. But at the same time I would hope you would take my
explanation that I do plan to send that over. I would like to get something back,
Doug, that said we were in reasonable amounts in trading off the landscaping, the
garbage bin, and the landscaping, so.
Mr. Rapozo: I guess the way I read it...because it's a relocation
of the tank, the trash bins and the signs need to be relocated and constructed in
moss rock walls, the parking lot needs to be extended by 2 feet and they want
asphalt with wheel stops. I mean, it's a huge, huge commitment on our part, which
I think will be way over $23,000.00, Mr. Furfaro. I just...the 6-foot high aluminum
fence and the landscaping and irrigation systems as well, and the attorneys' fees, I
don't know what that will cost.
Chair Furfaro: Well and I will pursue finding out because I don't
remember all of those moving parts when we voted on the acquisition.
Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yeah, it seems like it could likely be over the
appraised value of the small parcel, but if that's what it takes to get this project
ahead and you have to negotiate with landowners and make sure that their land is
restored back to whatever is fair to them for the taking of this land, it just becomes
a normal part of the cost of making this project happen. And you know...and I don't
think... unless we are giving them more value than it takes to get this. agreement, I
don't see anything wrong with that.
Chair Furfaro: Well I am planning to call for the vote,
councilwoman.
Ms. Yukimura: Good, I'm glad.
Chair Furfaro: And I think it is not...you know I think
Mr. Rapozo's point is you know this is taxpayers' money. We want to make sure it's
fair and reasonable at the same way.
Ms. Yukimura: I'm all for that.
Chair Furfaro: We...I think you are all for that, as we alI are. So,
Doug, just so we know, we'll be sending over a communication. I think we will be
voting on this today.
Mr. Haigh: Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Any further questions of Doug? He needs to get
back fora 3 o'clock. Am I correct, Doug?
COUNCIL MEETING • - 72 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Haigh: Yes, correct, my first meeting with my new boss,
the new county engineer.
Ms. Yukimura: Don't want to miss that.
Mr. Bynum: That's kind of important.
Chair Furfaro: I think I used to work with your new boss.
Anyway, thank you very much for coming over.
Mr. Haigh: You're welcome. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: I'll get... Doug, you have this Phase V report that
shows the 128 in it?
Mr. Haigh: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Yes, okay, thank you, thank you. Any members of
the public that would like to speak on this item? If not, I'm going to call this
meeting back to order.
There being no one wishing to testify on this matter, the meeting was called back to
order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Do we have a motion?
Mr. Nakamura: We have a motion and a second, Council Chair.
Chair Furfaro: We have a motion and a second?
Mr. Nakamura: Yes, yes.
Chair Furfaro: And this is simply a voice vote?
Mr. Nakamura: Voice vote, yes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, if there's not any further discussion, all... oh,
further discussion, Mr. Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier
today, I think the parks department...the administration some time ago created a
task force to deal with this bike path project that includes county attorney and
parks and public works. They've given us .periodic reports. They've been
responsive to any questions. This is a project that I'm very supportive of and I
follow closely for all the time that I've worked for government. And I meet regularly
with the people involved and I've come to trust that the myriad of details are
handled well and appropriately. And we saw an example of that today where we
had the process explained to us that -not Drily do we have this appraisal by a
professional appraiser, but it's reviewed by another appraiser, goes to the
Department of Transportation for their okay. You know, there's like standards of
practice in this, and we have competent people that do that standard of practice,
and so I have faith that we're being well served by the people that are involved in
this project because I've seen dozens and dozens of these instances where there's
appropriate and reasonable answers.
COUNCIL MEETING • -.~73 - ISecember 15, 2010
I also think that the amount of $100,000.00 for 2,000 square feet of ocean
front resort zone sounds reasonable to me any way you do the math. If you did
three 2,000-square foot parcels, that's a houselot. Maybe~$300,000.00 for a houselot
in the resort zone seems like about right to me, so I'm prepared to vote on this
today.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, any further discussion? If not...
Mr. Rapozo: I just want to...
Chair Furfaro: Go right ahead, Mr. Rapozo, the floor's yours.
Mr. Rapozo: You know the appraisal is not the only issue I had
as I just explained. I don't think it's the appraisal and our... my experience anyway
with appraisals and this is meant not to disrespect the appraiser, but you know I'll
bring up that ca...we had an appraisal for the house, years ago, and it was just by
chance that I happened to be driving by. Mr. Heu, you remember this, because I
called you from the lot and said, where is this house. And the house was worthless
and it was an appraisal that was written up. I'm not saying this is the case in here,
but it's the additional cost that's not explained, and that's all I am concerned about.
I have not followed this as closely as Mr. Bynum and if maybe Mr. Bynum can help
me with the estimate of the cost for the improvements, I don't know. Mr. Haigh
doesn't know. If I was the administration wanting the council's approval, I'd come
prepared to answer the questions. It's not unreasonable to ask how much do you
think it's going to cost, ballpark. I mean...can't even get a ballpark, then I simply
cannot lay my support. If it was that important, I would not...I don't know who the
consultant is. Maybe parks and rec has that number. You cannot tell 'me that
there has been no discussion regarding this project at the administration's level. I
mean, I cannot believe that in fact nobody knows what the ballpark figure is. So, I
think a phone call would have done it. But if not, and you folks are prepared to
vote, that's fine. I'll respect the actions of the former council, don't get me wrong.
But this is a question I have as this was the first time I've had the opportunity to
actually read the purchase agreement and I was not aware of all those additional
improvements that the county...I would much rather this county improve some of
our parks with those beautiful improvements rather than private property. So
anyway, that's my position on it and I'll stand by it and we'll take the vote.
Chair Furfaro: Your comments are well taken, Mr. Rapozo, and it
is the chair's intent to ask for a report on what is made up of those additional
improvements and are they within the range of the $28,300.00 that were in the
application. Could the clerk's office so note my request for that communication?
Mr. Nakamura: So noted, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum, did you have some more?
Mr. Bynum: ~ I'll leave ~it go for now.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, if not, I'm going to ask for a vote on this. All
those in favor?
Councilmembers: Aye.
Chair Furfaro: Any opposed.
Mr. Rapozo: No.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 74 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Any going silent? (Silence) Okay, we have six yeas
and one nay. Thank you very much.
The motion to approve the legal document attached to communication C 2011-19
was then put, and carried by a vote of 6-1 (Mr. Rapozo voting no).
COMMUNICATION:
Chair Furfaro: Next item?
Mr. Nakamura: Council Chair, at this time we're back on page
three of the council's agenda on communication C 2011-17.
C 2011-17 Communication (12/08/2010) from Council Chair Furfaro,
requesting the presence of the Director of Finance at the December 15, 2010 Council
meeting to provide an update and to discuss the County's Furlough Plan and Draft
Policy Regarding Budgetary Reserves, pursuant to Sections 32 and 33, respectively,
of the Operating Budget for FY 2010-2011.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you and we're at a point that we're going to
receive this communique. Okay, we're going to take a 5-minute recess here as...oh,
he's right outside. Okay, the recess has just ended.
Chair Furfaro: I am going to go ahead and suspend the rules now
that we have Mr. Rezentes here.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Chair Furfaro: He has a passout. Excuse me, Wally, is this piece
you're handing out, is this referencing a reserve policy?
WALLACE REZENTES, JR., Director of Finance: That's on furlough
(inaudible) and I think we'll do the reserves after.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. Yes and Mr. Rezentes, I want to tell you I'm
not looking for, you know, a forensic accounting report here on every detail. Could
staff make a copy for our auditor's office and could our staff make a few copies for
the audience as well? Oh, you already did, okay. Mr. Rezentes, the floor is yours.
Mr. Rezentes: Okay, good afternoon, Chair and councilmembers,
Wallace Rezentes, Jr., Director of Finance for the record. I did pass out a memo as
well as some spreadsheet data on the actual numbers for the first five months of
this current fiscal year. I also included a comparison of the five months of the prior
fiscal year. So it's a comparison between July 1 through November 30 of 2009
to... compare that with July 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010. The numbers
include the cost for salaries, overtime and fringe benefits from all the respective
departments. Overall, the first five months...over the course of the first five months
of the fiscal year; the saw in ~s was approximately 11% and that represents
approximately $4.2 million in savings. I'm not, like you said Chair, I'm not
intending to go through the entire report line-by-line, but it does show individual
performances of the various departments and, you know, it provides further details,
you know, throughout the four or five pages that I have there. Like I said, the
individual department results had varied and that was expected.
As you know, furloughs represented approximately 9.23% of an employee's
salary. Some departments in the areas of public safety, i.e. police officers, fire
fighters and the prosecutor and the deputy prosecuting attorneys were not
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 75 - December 15, 2010
furloughed. Other employees' work schedules that were staggered to reduce...I
mean to obtain a greater level of coverage, other employees (water safety officers,
dispatchers and public safety workers) remained on the job and received a 5%
salary waiver. From a dollar perspective; furloughs, functioned as designed. When
all is said and done, the majority of the county...of our employees would have been
furloughed a total of two weeks and two days over a 26-week period.
As reported by our external auditors this morning, the county's general fund
unassigned fund balance totals $43.1 million, which represents about 29% of the
county's operating budget. As of this date, there are either approved ordinances or
pending money bills for an additional $8.6 million. If all of the pending bills are
approved, the unassigned fund balance would be reduced to approximately
$34.5 million and represent approximately 23% of our operating budget. Please
keep in mind that we are just short of halfway through our fiscal year and based on
historic information as well as some knowledge that I have from discussions with
other department heads, there are at least two, maybe three departments that are
looking at possible additional funding during this fiscal year's cycle.
The county, like our counterparts, are not without fiscal challenges ahead in
fiscal year 2012 and beyond. Future cost increases will occur next year. As an
example, based on the most recent actuarial study that was performed by Aon Risk
Services that we just received a few weeks ago, the county will be required to pay
$17.4 million next year for EUTF or health fund cost for our retirees and employees.
This represents a 46% increase over the present year. It's basically a $5.5 million
increase. Other increases we'll be funding next year is $4.6 million, which
represents the elimination of the furloughs on an annualized basis. We're looking
at a sewer fund shortfall in the range of $2.5 million and a debt service increase of
about $0.5 million as a result of our 2010 bond issuance. These cost increases that I
mentioned will iri part be offset by revenue enhancement measures that have
already been approved, including the sewer fee rate increase that is expected to
derive approximately $700,000 next year as well as the implementation of the solid
waste residential pick-up fee, which will bring in an approximate $2.5 million into
our coffers.
On a positive side as well, based on the recent tourism numbers, we are
hoping for a slight increase in our TAT revenues in fiscal year 2012 as long as we
are successful in retaining the TAT through this legislative session.
Real property taxes is expected to dip slightly. I don't have specific numbers,
but my...based on accounts from my real property staff, we're looking at a slight
decline in real property tax revenues and we'll look to our unassigned fund balances
to potentially cover some of that revenue decline.
I'm not sure...I know that I've met with most of you over the last week or so
and went over some of the information that I provided today. I'm not sure if you
folks may have any questions of me to discuss any specific matters.
' ' ^Chair Furfaro: ~ -' Well first, Wally, thank you for'the 'report. I do,
want to say, though, as I speak out on these questions, I'm going to ask Rick
Watanabe to kind of lean over my shoulder, if he's around, and on your summary
report here, I want to make sure when we're looking in our own backyard here, the
county clerk's office showing a 20% increase.
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 76 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: In the line item that you have here for the county
clerk's office, I'm assuming (1) we have some consideration based on this being an
election period and that the budget trend actually trends out over the whole year
versus just the six months.
Mr. Rezentes: Yeah.
Chair Furfaro: Secondly, I guess you've rolled into this area... it
looks to me that you've rolled in the auditor's department. Am I correct?
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Rezentes: On the second to the last page, you know, I gave a
breakdown of the county clerk's office, which... and breakout of council services,
elections and the county auditor. So, you know, you see a decrease when you...
Chair Furfaro: Oh I see it, I see it.
Mr. Rezentes: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: Much appreciated, so we have council services
actually down 13.4.
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Okay and then we have elections because it was an
election year...
Mr. Rezentes: 2%...I think...you look at the next column over.
Chair Furfaro: Yeah, 2...2%. I was talking in terms of dollars.
Mr. Rezentes: Oh okay, you're right, $13,000.
Chair Furfaro: But it's 2% down.
Mr. Rezentes: Right.
Chair Furfaro: And then we have to add in there elections and the
audit. That satisfies my question.
Mr. Rezentes: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, I'm sorry I asked a question first, but I
wanted to check in oar own backyard. Any questions of Mr. Rezentes at this point?
rAx fxiln ~ lCC~Ii~i:t a iii,
fCa aheau, Cou~ici~.woman Yukimura. And councilwoman, if y ' ', T'-
going to turn the meeting over to you for a minute. I want to check with Rick on
something.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. All right. Well, if I'm chairing
this, I'll take questions first from others. Are there questions? Okay, if not,
Mr. Rezentes, can you give us a list of people who were not...departments or_
divisions that were not subject to furloughs?
Mr. Rezentes: Okay.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 7'7 - December 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Rezentes
bargaining unit.
Ms. Yukimura
Mr. Rezentes:
Ms. Yukimura
Mr. Rezentes:
And the ones that...
Right, it's actually better to go by collective
All right.
SHOPO, the police officers.
Police.
HFFA.
Ms. Yukimura: Fire fighters.
Mr. Rezentes: The fire fighters, and then the prosecuting
attorney, deputy prosecuting attorney, the...then there was the employees that
were on 5% salary waivers. Those folks were the water safety officers, dispatchers
and the public safety workers within the police department.
Ms. Yukimura: So 5% salary waivers meant basically a 5% pay cut?
Mr. Rezentes: Basically, yeah, they worked the 40-hour week...
Ms. Yukimura: They worked their fulltime...
Mr. Rezentes:
as, you know, salary
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Rezentes:
Ms. Yukimura:
was the other one?
Mr. Rezentes:
officers.
Mr. Bynum:
Mr. Rezentes:
Mr. Bynum:
'.1VIr. Rezentes:
Ms. Yukimura:
fighters, police got pa;
Mr. Rezentes:
...and for that period were given what was labeled
vivers of 5%.
And they were HGEA? Is that their bargaining...
Yes, yes.
Okay, so it was water safety, dispatch and what
Water safety, radio dispatchers, and public safety
Jail.
Well, our...yeah, our...
Holding facility.
...holding ;facility at our police:headquarters.
I see, okay. Now, am I to understand that fire
V raises during this time?
Yes, yes.
Ms. Yukimura: And what percentage pay raise.
Mr. Rezentes: I believe it was in the 6% range for both of those
collective bargaining units.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 78 - ~cember 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura:
public safety officers?
Mr. Rezentes:
didn't have any.
Ms. Yukimura:
Mr. Rezentes:
Hm... and what about water safety, radio dispatch,
They were HGEA, so my understanding is they
They didn't get any pay raise?
No.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, all right. Well, that seems like a pretty
heavy cut for them, then. All right. Any other questions of Mr. Rezentes? If not,
are you going to discuss the reserve at this time, then?
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Councilmember Yukimura, I do have one... and I
may have...I stepped out and you may have covered it and if I may?
Ms. Yukimura: Sure.
1VIr. Rapozo: The bill will restore the pay cuts as well.
Mr. Rezentes: The bill will not cover the July 1 through
December 30. It will...it provides enough funding for the reestablishment of...to
basically get rid of furloughs effective January 1. So the 9.23% factor will not be
there going forward effective January 1. The funding that we requested for
basically would, make the furloughs...elimination of furloughs effective January 1.
Mr. Rapozo: Right, but in those...like the people that
were...their salaries or their pay was cut or whatever, they took the pay cut. Does
this restore it back to...
Mr. Rezentes: No.
Mr. Rapozo: Oh, it doesn't?
Mr. Rezentes: It doesn't go back in time.
Mr. Rapozo: So they're going to start all over? I mean they're
going to remain where they're at or...
Mr. Rezentes: Oh no, the waivers will be restored for the guys
that had 5% reductions.
M~. Rapczo:
Mr. Rezentes:
95%, they'll go back to 100.
Mr. Rapozo:
the pay cut.
Mr. Rezentes:
Mr. Rapozo:
Yeah. --
Yeah, so they would go back to 100...instead of
They're going to get their pay that they had prior to
Right, restored.
This bill will cover that.
COUNCIL MEETING
Mr. Rezentes:
Mr. Rapozo:
Mr. Rezentes:
Ms. Yukimura:
-79-
Correct.
Okay, thank you.
December 15, 2010
I'm sorry I misunderstood you.
So Chair, please, I hand back the chair to you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Wally, two comments. So
you know, as this bill works its way through and it's subject to approval of the
councilmembers, what I want to make sure I heard because I touched on this briefly
with the auditors earlier, the administration is looking to go back to January 1.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct. The funding that we're requesting will
allow us to effectuate the elimination of furloughs and the waivers January 1.
" Chair Furfaro: Okay. And then my next questions, I went back to
check on our records in the area of the clerk's office, we're showing the full burden of
the elections. You didn't put any credit in yet for what we get reimbursed at the
end of the year from the State.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct, whatever is on our books right now.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, so just for the members right here, what
you're looking at at the council numbers, because I just checked on that, we don't
bill until the end of the year for our reimbursement from the State. But you're
showing the full burden of expense in this summary report.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: So we have a credit coming.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct. In the '09 time period, you...you know the
numbers were really low because the election had not...
Chair Furfaro: Right.
Mr. Rezentes: ...you know, started really. You haven't...you
didn't wrap up yet.
Chair Furfaro: But for a portion of it, we incurred...if I can go to
your second to the last page, and I know I'm guilty of saying I wasn't going to do
any forensic accounting here, but...there is a reimbursable to us tied to that election
number on the second to the last page. Okay. And am I reading this right? For the
auditor's office, this would have only been for two months?
Mr. Rezentes: No, five.
Chair Furfaro: Five months, I'm sorry. We're going forward seven.
Okay, I'll take a question later from the auditor. I hate to audit the audit's payroll,
but this seems like a large variance to me. But you're saying it's five months?
Mr. Rezentes: July 1 through November 30.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 80 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Okay, okay, okay, but I'm glad I went to check on
the election reimbursement from the State, so thank you.
Councilwoman Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: I have a procedural question. Is
there... administration is planning to go ahead as of January 1. Then is there a
need for any council action on this?
Chair Furfaro: Yes, because we need to approve the money action
that we had earlier identified and the fact there is some risk on the. administration's
part because the assumption is we are going to go ahead and say furloughs have
ended, and it sounds like they're willing to take that risk without our action.
Mr. Rezentes: And we've had some cost savings as I have, you
know, indicated in the first five months that would give us some breather room, you
know, pending the approval of the money bill with the county council.
Chair Furfaro: But it is pending our approval on the money bill.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: You still have the floor, councilwoman. You're fine?
Okay. Any other questions at this point?
Ms. Yukimura: On... excuse me, on the furloughs? We're soon to
move to reserve?
Chair Furfaro: On the furloughs, in the payroll summary, yeah.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I...
Chair Furfaro: Go ahead, councilwoman.
Ms. Yukimura: When you say annualized...there was a cost of
$4.6 million for the annualized effect of ending furloughs?
Mr. Rezentes: Yes
Ms. Yukimura: What...what does that refer to?
Mr. Rezentes: Well, like the money bill that we are requesting
council approval for was $2.3 million. That equates to hal£..approximately half of
the cost to reinstate furloughs. So $2.3 million is for six months, $4.6 million would
be for the entire year.
Ms. Yukimura: And that's going to be in next year's budget?
Mr. Rezen*.~;s:.. Correct. If. we arc ~ ~- the, present ~ level of
compensation or pay, the added burden...cost burden would be $4.6 million by
ending furloughs. So to reinstate furloughs on an annual basis, it cost us
$4.6 million. To reinstate it for half a year is $2.3 million.
Ms. Yukimura: So you're saying the baseline was last year's
budget, which included the...or is this year's budget which includes the furloughs,
so it's double for next year.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 81 - December 15, 2010
Mr. Rezentes: Right. Basically, we didn't budget... it's zero now
technically until the bill is passed. So when, you compare this current fiscal year,
it's a...
Ms. Yukimura: I see.
Mr. Rezentes: ... $4.6 million increase.
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, all right, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Any more questions of Mr. Rezentes on this
furlough summary? Okay, Mr. Rezentes, do you want to touch on taking
a...consideration on a reserve policy? If you're familiar with what we did with the
auditor, they're going to send us, at the request of Councilwoman Yukimura, at
least comparing three other municipalities on their furlough recommendations. I
think you and I know that I have...
(?): Reserve.
Chair Furfaro: The reserve, I'm sorry. I had always hoped to get to
20%. You would perhaps present other approaches to us whether it's 15% or it's two
complete estimated cost months that are earmarked which might have... amount to
about 17%. We're open to hear about the need and the administration's proposal for
establishing a reserve.
Mr. Rezentes: Okay, well, again I thank you:
Councilmember Kaneshiro is not here today, but he was with the mayor and I and
George Costa when we made our...
Chair Furfaro: Bond pitch.
Mr. Rezentes: ...presentations to the credit bond rating agencies
less than a year ago. And we were asked the question then by each of them, you
know, if we had an established reserves policy. And you know, obviously we did not
and it's something that the credit market looks at positively. If you establish one
and can maintain one, you know, we had, you know, a strong reserve, but we were
absent a written policy. So you know I'm happy to be going down the road with of it
working with the county council to establish a reserve policy that makes sense for
the County of Kauai. I had, in my handout...I have included a memo from
PiperJaffray written by Russ Reyes who was our bond underwriter for this last
bond issue. I've also provided the most recent copy of the Government- Finance
Officers Association best practices recommendation that was done in 2009, as well
as an article written by Stephen Gauthier, who's an actuary with the Government
Finance Officers Association and does a lot of training seminars across the nation
for finance officers in county and state government. Basically, my recommendation
is to establish a 20% unassigned fund balance policy and I'm going to...you know I
think what... I _ also .recommend that we adopt a policy via a resolution and I world,
you b~o~w, like the opportuni'ty...~I would want the opportunity`~to wog°k wiih -she
council and your staff in formulating...
Chair Furfaro: Wally, can I stop you right on there because I'm
glad to hear you're willing to work with us on establishing that, but we gotta change
the tape. We want to get that on tape. Okay, we're on a short break here.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 3:16 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 3:20 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
COUNCIL MEETING • - 82 - ~cember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: Okay, thank you, we've completed our tape change.
Mr. Rezentes, we're now working on the memorandum on your recommendations for
establishing a line item that reflects the .county's reserve policy, which in effect I do
agree with you. I would prefer we do it with each new council as a resolution. So
you can continue, sir.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Rezentes: Okay, again, our recommendation is to establish a
reserve policy .of 20%. The GFOA, you know, if you read their best practice
recommendation, their starting point basically is to look at two months of either
revenues or expenditures as your starting point and then look at your... the
individual county's exposures to revenue/expenditure fluctuations, as well as other
factors. Some of the reasons why we had decided to add a little cushion on top of
the 16.7% that the GFOA had recommended is...
Chair Furfaro: Wally, can I ask you just to bend your mike a little
down...
Mr. Rezentes: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: ...maybe closer there.
Mr. Rezentes: ...is the cyclical nature of real property values. We
have, over the last two or three years, seen, you know, pretty significant declines in
assessed value or net.value, and we don't think the future years will follow suit. We
think it hasn't bottomed yet, but we don't think it will decline as much as it has in
the last two or three years. So part of the reason for an additional buffer is our
declining real property assessed values.
Also, because the county does not control the Transient Accommodation Tax,
which is a significant portion of our operating budget-you know, it is a substantial
revenue source-because we do not control 100% of the outcome of TAT, that's
another cause for concern that we should be mindful of.
And I've already talked about the increase in fixed health fund, health cost
with our EUTF (Employee Union Trust Fund) where we're going to receive a 46%
increase. These costs, unless laws change, you know, in the near future at the State
level, we will likely continue to see added outlays of, you know, county cash to fund
our annual required contribution that the EUTF puts forth to us annually.
As you all know, on top of that we have the collective bargaining season
where all of our collective bargaining units will be up for potential negotiation, the
outcomes of which, you know, we don't know yet. But it is something that, you
know, we're...in the next year going to be working with all the respective unions on
these negotiations.
I touched also on some of the cost factors and one of the reasons, in my
recommendation... my recommendation includes looking at all the county operating
funds versus just the general fund, and the rationale for building a reserve based on
our entire operating budget is because we have a number of operating funds that
are deficits funds, where the general fund has to support annually. Right now, you
know, besides the budget ordinance, we've since requested additional funding for
solid waste fund, sewer fund, and golf fund. To date, through the first nearly half of
the fiscal year, the general fund will be supporting these deficit funds to the tune of
$12.5 million. So it's a significant amount and it warrants the county to consider
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 83 - 15ecember 15, 2010
the operating budget as a whole when establishing a reserve policy. If the
county... if our operating funds stood on its own over time and has a history of that,
I would be more, I guess, comfortable in establishing a reserve policy that is just
tied to the general fund. But at this time, until we are at that point, if we're ever at
that point, you know, I think it's more fiscally prudent and conservative to look at
the entire county operating budget in the reserves analysis.
All I can say, you know, in conclusion I'm happy that we're talking about this.
I'm happy that we're moving in, I think, a positive direction that can, you know,
help us in the future fiscally when we go. into the marketplace. And you know, I
think I've said...or in the past we've said that you know because of the county's
performance in the 2010 bond issue alone, we were able to receive upgrades from
Moody's, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch that helped us basically save taxpayers
$3 million in debt service over the life of the bonds. So that's something that is, you
know, positive and not to sneeze at... not something you can sneeze at. That's
all...that's basically all I've got. If you have any questions?
Chair Furfaro: Wally, thank you very much for pointing that out.
Certainly the fact that we're paying our contribution to the Employee Retirement
Fund that helps us with our bond rating as well. The fact that...coming up with a
reserve policy will even strengthen us in that area.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: I want to make sure that I heard...we're talking
about 20% not just on the $111 million general operating piece, but we're talking
about the total operating cost with all accounts, which is wore like $150 million.:.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: ...you're earmarking the 20% at.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: And the other thing I want to say is I mentioned
this to the auditors, I think what we've done with the Employee Retirement System
is extremely beneficial for us that we made a decision to fully fund it.
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: But now I'm starting to have some concerns. How
do we earmark that we have contributed to the one pot, that we're being-
acknowledged for covering our liability. I'd still like to know how we're doing that,
how...
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
.Chair Furfaro: What do we need to ensure Lilat t-hey're recognizing
us because we have other political subdivisions that are paying 30%, 70% of their
liability.
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: - -But we want to make sure that -we get our full
credit and that's something we need to do as well.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 84 - Tlecember 15, 2010
Mr. Rezentes: Yes, in the actuarial report that was prepared by
Aon, they did...they do provide a breakdown by jurisdiction of the contributions
and the, you know, annual accrued liability. All the data is broken down by
jurisdiction, and you're correct, you know, the City & County of Honolulu and the
State of Hawaii have elected not to fully fund the annual
retired... retirement... annual required contribution, and as a result of doing that,
that is looked at negatively on their CAFR reports and when they enter the market,
it is definitely noted. And we were asked that question as well when we did our
presentations to the rating agencies.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. I'll go to Mr. Bynum, then Councilwoman
Yukimura for questions.
Mr. Bynum: Sticking with this because Councilmember Furfaro
raised that twice today is a concern I also... a question I've never posed to .you, but
you know, you just said that's all accounted for in the Aon Report, right?
Mr. Rezentes: Yes.
Mr. Bynum: And so are we at any risk that the other counties
some time in the future or in the state who have underfunded, you know, could use
our revenues to deal with their shortfalls? Is that a risk nor is it something that's
covered?
Mr. Rezentes: You know, that's a good question. I don't believe
so, but I can...that may be a legal matter too that we can have. looked into and
researched.
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I would like that because I think it's a
thought I've certainly had when I think about...
Mr. Rezentes: We've always tried to ensure that, you know, we
did get the credits that we provide and one of the things that I've been unsuccessful
in trying to get the EUTF to do is separate us from water. Because the Water
Board technically can make a decision that is separate from the county council's
decision to fund and thus far, we've stuck together. However, it could... they could,
you know, by policy go in a different direction and I've informed the last two heads
of the EUTF that, you know, this could happen and right now, you know, we've
tried to work with our actuary to provide that cost separation, but we want it done
consistently from the EUTF Board as well.
Mr. Bynum: And you're raising an issue that I hadn't even
thought of, right? And so... and that's... I appreciate your work, Wally, because
when I ask you questions, you have answers, and you've thought about it in advance
and so I think we should get that clarified, though, because the legislature has this
history of raiding funds when things get tight. ,
Mr. Rezen`as: ~ A. ~;uok notes.
Mr. Bynum: And I know employees unions-I don't know about
in this state-in other states, they've had to go to court to protect the resources that
were set aside for retirement. And so I appreciate following up, but the question....
Chair Furfaro: That's why I asked the question twice today.
Mr. Bynum: Yes, you did. Good job. The...regarding the reserve
policy, I appreciate what you said. I'm glad we're having this discussion. I too am
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 85 - December 15, 2010
glad we're having this discussion. Because I think for members of the public this
whole idea is confusing and you know, you hear a lot of things that aren't... don't
really hit the nail on the head, so to speak. But the specific question has to do with,
you know, I heard your 20%, which is very conservative of the operating budget as
opposed to the general fund. Because many of the measurements we've measured
over the years are based on a percentage of the general fund. And I understand
that. How many dollars last year, you said $12 million so far this year, right, that
we've funded... is that what you said earlier?
Mr. Rezentes: About $12.5 million thus far, yeah.
Mr. Bynum: $12.5 million of spending on various things or just
to reimburse the operating budget?
Mr. Rezentes: It's...it's in the...it's $12.5...the operating budget
was approved with the general fund supporting the deficit .funds to -the tune- of
$9;752,000. Since then, there's been a money bill request to supplement those
deficit funds further, either approved or pending, you know, county council.
Mr. Bynum: So that includes all the ones that are there today.
Mr. Rezentes: Right. On top of what we appropriated from the
general fund- at the inception of the...in the inception of the fiscal year, an
additional... what is it?
Chair Furfaro: 3.2
Mr. Rezentes: Yeah, close to $3.2 million, whatever the difference
is, is what is either approved or pending approval with the county council.
Mr. Bynum: Right and we're just at the beginning of this
discussion so, you know, I don't need to go into that much depth today. But you
know the concept of us having a percentage of the operating budget is one that I'm
not...you know I'm fine with that. But how we define that operating budget is
something in detail we need to get into because not all of the funds continually need
reimbursement, right?
Mr. Rezentes: Correct.
Mr. Bynum: I mean typically sewer, solid waste, golf fund are
the biggies, right?
Mr. Rezentes: That is correct.
Mr. Bynum: Okay, so we can... you know, we'll flush that out
and the details later. But I appreciate the documents you've provided us and I
think this is an important dialogue for us to have, so thank you.
._ . • •:~.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I want to register my concern that the Chair
and Councilmember Bynum have mentioned about how we protect our...
Mr. Rezentes: ~~Investment in the health fund.
Ms. Yukimura: ...in the...yeah, ETU...
COUNCIL MEETING • - 86 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Rezentes: EUTF.
Ms. Yukimura: ...EUTF, and I think it's a pretty complex legal
issue. So I'd like to ask that we actually get a report back, like...
Chair Furfaro: Oh, I'm planning...
Ms. Yukimura: Okay.
Chair Furfaro: ... to communicate that in writing...
Ms. Yukimura: Great.
Chair Furfaro: ... to the county attorney and to the finance
department.
Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. And then as regards the deficit funds,
would you recommend that we consider a policy that all funds maintain certain
reserves themselves? I mean, you know, I know that the golf course, for example,
has some unexpected expenditures, you know, such as the burning down of
their...their shed or their maintenance building.
Mr. Rezentes: Mm-hm.
Ms. Yukimura: And insurance covered part of it, but- not all of it,
and when there's no buffer for these funds, it's not good budgeting, it's not good
management. And so, I know you can think well, if they're not even making their
operating cost, how could they put aside reserves? And that brings me to the second
point, what about a policy goal that all funds become self-sufficient within so many
years and we ask the managers of those operations to develop a strategy and a plan
for that over time so that we actually are moving toward healthy enterprise funds
because the draw on the general fund and things like parks and recreation, which
have no enterprise fund, makes...puts the non-enterprise funds at a disadvantage,
you know. So how about policies like that?
Mr. Rezentes: That's...you know, that's a policy call.
I... personally, I, you know I think you could make those policies and make it, you
know, work for some funds... some of the funds, but funds such as the solid waste
fund where they're in a deficit to the tune of nearly $10 million, I don't think...it'll
be very difficult to set tipping fees at levels or rubbish...trash pick-up fees at levels
to recoup all of $10 million worth a year of cost. I'm not saying it can't be done, but
I think it'll...
Ms. Yukimura: Over a 10-year period?
Mr. Rezentes: It could... it's a policy call. I mean, you know, that's
a discussion in and of itself, but you know, we could look at that.
Chair Furfaro: I think just to bring Councilwoman Yukimura more
current, I think over the last couple years I have had discussions that, you know,
whether we start to charge these tipping fees incrementally and so forth to reduce
some operating costs, we have some basic understanding of how we book assets
here. And for example on the golf course, you know, .the cost of the building
reimbursement, less our insurance cost, and so forth should not necessarily be
expensed like our irrigation system as an operating cost, in my opinion. In my
opinion, the accounting procedure would be those now go on the books as an asset to
COUNCIL MEETING. - 87 - December 15, 2010
that amenity and not necessarily showing up as an operating deficit. But you know,
those are the kinds of discussions we still should have and I appreciate your
question, but it is a question we keep rehashing. So, Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: It's along the same lines that we're here to talk
about a reserve policy, but you know I know I would like to bring to the parks and
recreation committee a discussion about the golf fund because of some of the factors
you just said that, you know...and what you just said about tipping fees, you know
we probably can't increase tipping fees to make that self-supporting. It would be
politically untenable and people wouldn't want to...you know business would revolt,
right? Just like I don't think we can raise golf fees for kama`aina golfers to
something to make it self-sustainable. So in a future meeting in the parks
committee I'd like to look at that fund, the history of the irrigation system and the
financing, and you know what adds to that... the cost... the ongoing cost of that fund,
and you know, but I don't think that's really an agenda item for today regarding a
reserve fund. But I keep hearing these questions from councilmembers and the
public: Why isn't this self-supporting? Well, we...recreation is something that we
support and I don't know that the golf section of the recreation has to be
self-supporting. I don't think soccer is self-supporting, right? So, I just think we
should have that discussion at length and in a future meeting.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, Councilwoman Yukimura. Remember
everyone at the table, we're talking about a reserve policy right now, so. Go right
ahead, Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, it sounds to me from what other
councilmembers have ~ said that part of it is how the funds are structured and how
the accounting is done in the funds, but if that all goes to a properly managed and
operated fund, then the reason I see this is related to the reserve is that if we just
say okay, we need a large reserve in the general fund to support all these funds
without looking at what may be the causes of the deficits...
Mr. Rezentes: How you can cost save, how you can manage
appropriately.
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Mr. Rezentes: Right, I understand what you're saying.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, then I think we're ignoring some...both
opportunities and things that we should look at. And I recall Maui's system of solid
waste accounting and budgeting, which was much easier to understand and seemed
to put the accountabilities in the right place than our present system, and I realize
that we have a lot of work to do there. So by putting those things in order, we can
see more clearly, you. know, where the solutions actually lie. So that's why I raised
this question.
Mr. Rezentes: Yo-u know... and not to belabor the point, but I did
about a year or so ago attend a meeting with the Maui County solid waste chief and
.some of his staff members with Troy and Donald, and you know after looking at
what they have, as far as their solid waste program, although they've made some
inroads with curbside pick-up, you know, a little quicker than we, you know, have
implemented, I tell you, our:..we have a service that I don't think is replicated in
any other county and what I mean by that is you know on Maui County, they're
over double our size in population. They have one landfill and one transfer station,
that's it. You know, they are...they don't have five ,transfer stations and a landfill
like we do. On the Big Island, all they have is transfer stations. You know, they
COUNCIL MEETING • - 88 - ~cember 15, 2010
don't have trash pick-up service. So, we have....you know even though we're a little
slow on the...to get off...out of the gates as far as our curbside program pick-up or
curbside recycling, what we have had in place on this small island is pretty
significant and costly to operate, but it's very...it's good for our residents to
have... not have to travel 20 miles to go to a transfer station, you know. I was kind
of surprised.
Chair Furfaro: Well thank you for pointing out those amenities
that we have here. Mr. Kawakami has a question.
Mr. Kawakami: Wally, the other three counties, Maui, Big Island
and Honolulu, they don't have... do they have a policy on their unappropriated
surplus and the percentage?
Mr. Rezentes: No, not that I'm aware of, no.
Mr. Kawakami: Do we have any idea of what levels they were
maintaining prior to the downturn in the economy because all three counties,
they...they got hit harder than we did. So I was just curious to see what level they
had maintained at before they got hit.
Mr. Rezentes: Yeah, I don't have that data, but in...you know in
just discussions that I've had with some of my counterparts and the mayors, you
know, I think the City & County of Honolulu is probably the worst off of all the
other counties and I don't have the specific details. I don't have the data going
back, you know, in time on their... the fiscal... their fiscal status before the
declination. But I could get that information.
Mr. Kawakami: Yeah, no, we can make the inquiry because the
other three HSAC members are all the respective finance chairs of their council, so I
would just pose a question to them. But it just kind of hit me that that'd be an
interesting thing to go and see looking back in retrospect to see kind of like where
they were compared to where we were and why we came out, you know, a lot fiscally
healthier than our three counterparts. I'll go check on that.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Wally, for your presentation.
I know we still have to take public testimony and we should probably take a
10-minute break here. We'll take a 10-minute break and then we'll go in for public
testimony.
There being no objection, the meeting was recessed at 3:45 p.m.
The meeting was called back to order at 4:01 p.m., and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Okay, we are back in session. Excuse me, is there
any testimony based on the presentation recently made by our finance director?
There bei.~:ig no objection, the-rules were suspended..
Chair Furfaro: If not, I'm going to call the meeting back to order.
There being no one wishing to testify on this item, the meeting was called back to
order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: And I really think at this point this is an item that
we want to receive.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 89 - December 15, 2010
Mr. Nakamura: We have no motion, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: We have no motion to receive.
Ms. Yukimura: Move to receive.
Mr. Rapozo: Second.
Ms. Yukimura moved to receive communication C 2011-17 for the record, seconded
by Mr. Rapozo.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. We have a motion and a second now to
receive. Any dialogue?
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, I just want to thank the mayor for sending us
a bill to end furloughs. I think it's appropriate and I want to thank him very much.
Chair Furfaro: And I would also remind everybody that in our
process as the county council, we put this on the agenda as a proviso of the last
budget, so I thank the mayor as well for respecting our provisos on both the
furloughs as well as establishing a reserve policy. Any further dialogue?
Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, just then kudos to the council for your
leadership on this because I think this is a really important subject.
Chair Furfaro: Well I think we were all trying to work through
this and get to a good place, so thank you very much. If not, we have a motion and
a second, all those in favor say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Chair Furfaro: Any nays? Any no... silent votes? Hearing none,
can we move on to the next item?
The motion to receive communication C 2011-17 for the record was then put, and
unanimously carried.
CLAIMS:
Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Chair, we're on page four of the council's
agenda on Claims, three claims, communication C 2011-21 claim filed against the
county by Aloha-n-Paradise Espresso Bar & Internet Cafe, C 2011-22 which is a
claim filed against the county by Krista Dela Cruz, and C 2011-23, which is a claim
filed against the county by Kathleen A. Smith.
C 2011-21 Communication (11/23/2010) from the County ,Clerk,
transmitting a claim .flied against the County "of Kauai -by Aloha-ri=Par`adise
Espresso Bar & Internet Cafe (Candy Baar) for loss of revenue, pursuant to Section
23.06, Charter of the County of Kauai: Ms. Yukimura moved to refer
communication C 2011-21 to the County Attorney's Office for .disposition and/or
report back to the Council, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried.
C 2011-22 Communication (12/07/2010) from the County Clerk,
transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kauai by Krista Dela Cruz for
personal property damages, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of
COUNCIL MEETING • - 90 - Tlecember 15, 2010
Kauai: Ms. Yukimura moved to refer communication C 2011-22 to the County
Attorney's Office for disposition and/or report back to the Council, seconded by
Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried.
C 2011-23 Communication (12/07/2010) from the County Clerk,
transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kauai by Kathleen A. Smith for
damage to her vehicle, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of Kauai:
Ms. Yukimura moved to refer communication C 2011-23 to the County Attorney's
Office for disposition and/or report back to the Council, seconded by Mr. Rapozo,
and unanimously carried.
RESOLUTION:
Chair Furfaro: Let's move to the next item please.
Mr. Nakamura: Next item at the bottom of page four is a
Resolution, Resolution No. 2010-39.
Resolution No. 2010-39, RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH A POLICY FOR
FACILITATING OPEN GOVERNANCE AND INTERNET ACCESS TO PUBLIC
DOCUMENTS
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. I believe Mr. Bynum has a
presentation on this item, but before we do, I also wanted to share with my
colleagues I do have my own internal report. I have spent time with the IT
department, I have spent time with purchasing, I have spent time with some
suppliers as it relates to this and focusing on the technology upgrades, the
workforce needs to integrate the different agencies' collaboration as well as some
guidelines and expectations of the various committees, and I feel this is a
correspondence that I will circulate to you later, but I feel within a 60-day period
this is a doable item for us. Mr. Bynum, you'll get my correspondence later, but you
have a presentation?
Mr. Bynum: I do. It should take about 10 minutes and I'll start
while that's getting ready. I also have an opinion from the county attorney with
some questions that I sent over that came up six months ago and I'd like... and it's
been circulated to councilmembers. And I'd like to make a motion to release this
opinion to the public.
Ms. Yukimura: Second.
Mr. Bynum moved to waive the attorney-client privilege of correspondence
No. 10-0833 (county attorney's filing number) addressed to Mr. Bynum, dated
December 14, 2010, from Jennifer S. Winn, Deputy County Attorney, regarding
Request for Legal Opinion Regarding Resolution 2010-39, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, there's been a uiotio~~ a;iC~ second. to release a
county opinion from the county attorney's office. I will ask the county attorney if he
would have any commentary for us at this point.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Castillo: I had previously gone over the procedure with
Councilmember Bynum regarding this particular opinion from the county attorney's
office and we had no objections to his waiver or concerns about his intent to waive
the privilege.
COUNCIL MEETING ~~ - 91 - December 15, 2010
The meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Mr. Castillo, so...
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair, I just have a...I have a point of order as
far as...is that a legal motion under this agenda item? And I guess I can ask the
county attorney for that. I'm not sure you...
Chair Furfaro: Let's ask him to come up on the specific response to
a question, so Mr. Castillo, may I ask you to come to the mike.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Castillo: Council Chair, councilmembers, Al Castillo, County
Attorney.
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Castillo, would you like to have Mr. Rapozo
restate his question?
Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Castillo, just if that was a valid motion
considering the agenda item is a resolution? Is that appropriate?
Mr. Castillo: It would be appropriate if the subject matter of the
county attorney's opinion is relevant to this resolution, this item.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay.
Mr. Castillo: Provided that the councilmember can tie it in on
how it is relevant and basically relevance is any tendency to prove a fact. So it can
be as broad as that. Thank you.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much.
The meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, the subject line of this document says
"Request for Legal Opinion Regarding Resolution 2010-39," which is the resolution
we're here to discuss. So I think it meets the criteria of the county attorney.
Chair Furfaro: So I think we got a confirmation from the county
attorney. The response from the county attorney's office was addressed to you, you
wish to release it, there seems to be no problem as it relates to this from the county
attorney: ~ Councilwoui~ari Yukimura? '
Ms. Yukimura: We still need to vote on it right?
Mr. Bynum: Right.
Ms: Yukimura: Is it a... unless there's discussion, I'm ready for a
vote.
COUNCIL MEETING •
Chair Furfaro:
not...
Mr. Castillo:
Chair Furfaro:
-92-
~cember 15, 2010
We're asking if there's any further discussion. If
Council Chair...
Yes.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Castillo: I'm sorry, Al Castillo, county attorney, again.
Chair Furfaro: Go right ahead.
Mr. Castillo: The council has not adopted any particular protocol
regarding waiving the county attorney's opinion. However, specifically for today,
it's my understanding that the request came from a particular councilmember, the
response from the county attorney's office went to that particular councilmember. I
think in the way that this has come about today, it would be proper for the
councilmember to specifically waive the attorney-client privilege, so the waiver is
basically his and not necessarily the body. Should the council adopt council rules
regarding how the body is to waive the privilege, maybe that's for another time.
The meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro- Okay, so we do know that we have not adopted a
policy on waiving this, that this is not deciding on any policy as such. We will be
having a rule's committee assignment and two resolutions for HR and for rules
committee on January 5, so this is solely releasing this opinion request from a
specific councilmember. Mr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: And in the absence of that policy, I'd ask for
unanimous consent.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, so is there a motion and a second to do this?
Mr. Bynum: Yeah.
Ms. Nakamura: Motion and second.
Ms. Yukimura: Yeah, point of inquiry.
Mr. Bynum: Let me clarify.
Ms. Yukimura: I just thought I heard the attorney say that you
alone can waive it.
Mr. Rapozo: That's what I heard.
5,
Mr. Bynum: And that's what I heard and if I could clarify...
Chair Furfaro: Well you were asking you were hoping it was
unanimous, so.
• Mr. Bynum: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: I'm trying to comply to you and comply to the
county attorney, so.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 93 - December 15, 2010
Mr. Bynum: Well and I hope we have this discussion in our
rules sub-committee that in my own view and this was a discussion two terms ago,
any of us as councilmembers, the county attorney is our legal adviser. And if we're
working on issues prior to them being introduced on the agenda, then I think the
privilege is between us. It's just my own person view and not necessarily that...but
once something is on the council agenda, I believe that we should establish a rule
that says the body is the client at that time and because this is on the agenda, you
know, I would like everyone's agreement because this was circulated to everyone. It
went via the council chair... the questions, right? So I'd like everyone's concurrence
that we can release this. It's pretty benign and straightforward.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Rapozo: That would call for the question and...
Chair Furfaro: Okay. So I'm back. I do have a motion and a
second to release the county attorney's opinion that was solicited and granted to
Mr. Bynum. Do I have a motion?
(?): YuP.
Chair Furfaro: Okay and I have a second?
(?): Yup.
Ms. Yukimura: Question, Mr. Chair...I mean move the question.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, all those in favor say aye.
councilmembers: Aye.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much.
Chair Furfaro: Any nays? Hearing none.
The motion to waive the attorney-client privilege of correspondence No. 10-0833
(county attorney's filing number) addressed to Mr. Bynum, dated December 14,
2010, from Jennifer S. Winn, Deputy County Attorney, regarding Request for Legal
Opinion Regarding Resolution 2010-39 was then put, and unanimously carried.
Mr. Bynum: Moving on I'd like to quickly read the resolution
into the record.
This resolution is to establish a policy for facilitating open governance and
internet access to public documents. Whereas, in a democracy, the people are
vested .with the ultimate" decision-making power and an informed; aware and
engaged electorate is an important component of good governance; and whereas, the
Hawaii State Legislature, when it passed the Sunshine Law, expressly declared "it
is the policy of this State that the formation and conduct of public policy -the
discussions, deliberations, decisions, and action of government agencies -shall be
conducted as openly as possible"; and whereas, the Hawaii State Legislature also
enacted the Uniform Information Practices Act mandating that all government
records be open to public inspection unless access is specifically restricted or closed
by law; and whereas, the Council of the County of Kauai (hereinafter "the County")
recognizes the value of partnership and collaboration with an informed public; and
whereas, the internet has become the most reasonable, customary, and efficient
COUNCIL MEETING • - 94 - ~cem~ber 15, 2010
method to access information; and whereas, the County has invested in a web portal
that facilitates easy public access to public information; and whereas, the County
has entered into a third party contract to produce live streaming video and an
archive of government meetings, including an interface that facilitates easy access
to public meetings and important records online, creating an unprecedented level of
openness and improved access for persons with disabilities; and whereas,
implementing the tools now available to the County will boost staff efficiency and
control costs; now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the County of Kauai,
State of Hawaii, that it is our policy to provide an exemplary level of openness,
public participation in government, and Internet access to public documents.
Be it further resolved, that the Council will fully implement the capabilities
made available by the investment in the technologies and tools which has been
made by the citizens of Kauai.
Be it further resolved, that key Council documents shall be posted on the
Council website and be searchable by text. Documents shall include, but not be
limited to: Council and Committee Meeting agendas with related attachments,
committee reports, the full text of introduced bills and resolutions, draft bills and
resolutions subsequent to amendment, final version of bills and resolutions adopted
by the Council, and minutes of Council and Committee meetings.
Be it finally resolved, that a copy of this, resolution be forwarded to the
Mayor, the Director of Finance, the County's Information Technology Manager and
the County Clerk.
Thanks for your patience with that. I wanted to show some examples. This
is from the website for Granicus, the third party. vendor that was the successful
bidder. They have an open platform that does leading contents... so here's this
business whose sole mission in life is to facilitate our services and the thing that we
do here. That's probably why they're the low bidder because they have software
tailored to this and it increases efficiency. You see here that they currently have
done...what is that...27 million government web broadcasts. They have a very
extensive client list, which we have joined. This is the cities and counties that they
service with this service. These are the counties, and public agencies and school
districts. This is an example of the San Jose...city of San Jose...similar to our
interface, which is one of their clients. You can see that they have council meetings,
you know, and they have the video, the MP3 audio which is important for people
with sight impairment because they can download that to their iPods or listen on
their home computers, and then for each meeting they have documents like the
agenda, the transcript and the synopsis. So this is just a catalog of their meetings.
If you look at their... this is their... this is a site similar to ours. It has their
council agenda from August 10, 2010 on the right-hand side. On the left-hand side
if I click this, it's going to show you the Pledge of Allegiance for their council
meeting on August 10. Below here is a list of all of the agenda items for that day. If
one clicks on the agenda item, they can see than portion of the meeting. On the
right-hand side is the ;,ouncil agenda. ..
A-few things I wanted to point out that have been discussed recently, each
agenda in their county has the rules, how do you do public comment, that kind of
thing, which are... and they do a call-to-order and roll call at 9:30 in the morning at
this particular...and they have a...what they call a closed session agenda. If you
click right here, you'll see the separate agenda comes up. So they have hotlinks on
their agenda for the public. This is the closed session agenda here and it lists the
executive sessions that they're having that day. It doesn't have details obviously
because they're executive sessions, but it has, you know, the legal information:
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 95 - December 15, 2010
what lawsuit is involved, what, you know, what is...who are the parties involved,
that kind of thing, so. If you click back, you go back to their agenda. This works.
So if you scroll further down the agenda, they have a section that the public
has talked about recently early in their agenda called Ceremonial Items. Those are
like the certificates and the presentations that we do.
Then they have something else that I hope that we really look at called a
Consent Calendar. At today's meeting, there were many votes...like the claims we
just did or grant things that the vast majority of the time are, you know, positive
votes. Many municipalities combine these, the staff makes a decision, says hey,
these are probably routine votes, and they put it on a Consent Calendar. The
Consent Calendar is displayed for everyone to see and any councilmember can
discuss or pull something off of the Consent Calendar and have it be treated like a
regular item. Any member of the public can comment on a Consent Calendar. The
attachments for the items on a Consent Calendar come up just like they do for other
things. So in this case there's a memorandum for the acceptance of this donation.
So it has all of the information about what that donation is, the analysis, you can
see that it has a signature. So, it's the document that would be part of the agenda
packet. That's something that community members have considered we consider,
that we have a Consent Calendar. It could save 35-50 minutes in a council meeting
for the routine items. So, you know, you can see they had a pretty good set of
routine items here and then they get down to the strategic...then their
agenda...their regular agenda items.
If you look at just this first one, it's ordinances to implement retirement
boards governance changes. It doesn't matter what the agenda item is. If it's a
zoning approval, you click and you're going to get the supporting documents. It says
hey, we want to know about this ordinance. It says ordinance here, you click and
you'll see the ordinance, right? So, if it's a zoning amendment, you'd click and you'd
see the planning commission report. You know one of them that I won't click on
here is a 73-page report. It has the maps and the pictures. These are all public
documents that in their system are sent over electronically to council services to
begin with, so it's easy to propagate them onto an agenda like this, so. This is
something that many community members are really looking forward to.
As you can see, on our website, which I think is the next...is right here,
we... this is our new... it has upcoming events. Since this meeting they've... right
now the county council meeting is in progress. You should be able to click here and
see live streaming video of what we're doing right now. But then down here if you
click this, you have adrop-down and it has the archive with the agenda, the video,
the MP4 video which is a downloadable version that can go into an iPhone or an
iPad if you didn't want to watch it on your computer.
What we don't have up here yet, but we have the capability and it's been
announced in our press release is transcripts of the meeting are generated as we
speak. Those. transcripts are available, can be searched by keyword, and then you
can find that portion of the meeting that way if `yuu don't ~ know what particular
agenda item it is. This is routine as I showed in that list for hundreds of
communities and I can't tell you how thrilled it is that this... how thrilled I am that
this could be a routine for the county council. The resolution that I presented
relates to the council business, although you can see our planning commission,
police commission. It's really the administration's kuleana to what level they
implement this, but I would encourage them, say for a planning agenda, to have the
planning department's report. For those citizens that do view these reports now
and have to come down and get hard copies, they know that we have really good
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 96 - ~ ~cember 15, 2010
quality people working in our county that generate this business on their behalf and
I think we're going to look even more together as a community as we make these
things available. Thank you very much.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Bynum. I wanted to share with
you folks I have not completed some 17 talking points on things that .we need to
implement. I intend to support this resolution as long as we get 60 days to, in fact,
touch on these 17 points that I would like to circulate. I have met with vendors; I
have met with IT; I have met with our staff. We're trying to end furloughs here as
well. There's some really good things I want to share with you as we move forward.
So, watch for my communication here on the things that... internally, and from a
management standpoint we can speak for as it results in our council, but also are
things that need to be considered at police and planning and so forth, so okay.
Mr. Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: I'll just say that the resolution is a policy. It
doesn't have a time frame attached and you know, getting things implemented
takes time, so.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. So I believe you're concurring with the
memo I'll circulate later that we should attempt to do this in the next 60 days. As
we hurdle these particular pieces, hopefully we'll complete it at the end of February,
first week of March.
Ms. Yukimura: Is there a motion on the floor?
(Inaudible)
Ms. Yukimura: There is?
(Inaudible)
Chair Furfaro: Is there a motion on the floor?
Mr. Bynum: Move to approve.
Ms. Yukimura: No, there is one I think. Is there not?
Mr. Nakamura: No motion (inaudible).
Ms. Yukimura: Okay, I second.
Mr. Bynum moved to adopt Resolution No. 2010-39, seconded by Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Okay and I've shared my commentary with you. I'll
be circulating this, but I would hope that we'd understand in 60 days is our target
date to implement this.
Ms. Yukimura: Great.
Chair Furfaro: Any further discussion?
Mr. Rapozo: I have a question.
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 97 - ~ December 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: Who is in charge of this project? And I, you know
obviously wasn't here in the last two years, but who is in charge of getting these
documents up online.
Chair Furfaro: We have a clerical position that is frozen right now,
but we plan to end. As you remember earlier I talked about having two legal
analysts by filling another position. And so we need to have that kind of discussion,
but as we end furloughs and we replace those people that we've not plugged, we can
in fact look to manpower.
The second thing I think we need to have a policy discussion on is how much
of a role will the committee chairs have in making sure their information for their
committees get out to the public, certainly with a review and then of course, the
purging of those files as amendments go up and you start to remove them because
amendments have changed. You don't want to confuse the public, but those are all
pretty much covered in my request for the 60 days.
Mr. Rapozo: So this function is the sole function of council
services and not IT.
Chair Furfaro: This... for us.. .
Mr. Rapozo: Yeah.
Chair Furfaro: ...for us.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay, is it possible to get the clerk up to ask the
clerk about this?
Chair Furfaro: Sure, we can have Mr. Nakamura up. He's been
involved in my discussion with the departments that I've talked about, so.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
Mr. Rapozo: And I apologize if, you know, I'm revisiting areas
that you folks have. already covered in the last term.
Chair Furfaro: No, no, no, no problem. I just want to make sure
the public and we understand. We're talking about our kuleana with the council
material. I can't speak for planning or so forth, so. Mr. Nakamura, thank you for
coming up. Mr. Rapozo has questions. Mr. Rapozo, the floor is yours.
Mr. Rapozo:. Mr. Nakamura, I'm assuming you had an
opportunity to-read the resolution.
Mr. Nakamura: Yes.
Mr. Rapozo: And what's on the resolution, is that what we are
pursuing at this time as far as uploading the information and getting the bills and
resolutions up on our website.
Mr. Nakamura: Yes, as far as looking to get bills and resolutions on
the website, that's something that we've always talked about doing. I think until
we moved from the Historic County Building to this building, we didn't have an
ability to hook up the scanners, basically... network scanners because we were on a
older network system. We were on the token ring system at that time, so it didn't
support the network scanning capabilities for...
COUNCIL MEETING • - 98 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: So this resolution talks about scanning or
uploading documents up to the county or the council website and not what... not the
online streaming website, but our county council website. As I read this...
Mr. Nakamura: Yes, yes, this is...
Mr. Rapozo: ...the key council documents shall be posted on the
council website and be searchable by text.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct. I think...
Mr. Rapozo: This is not the Granicus website.
Mr. Nakamura: No. This would...I think...I think overall when we
were looking at this from back as early as the beginning of this year as we were
getting ready to move to this facility, I think there are basically three areas we were
looking at. The first area was technology upgrades in terms of getting into a system
where we can network scanners and network multi-function printers and that was
just the kind of the technological...the technology...the tools aspect.
The second aspect was looking and evaluating workforce needs and
integration of the workforce with this task, and collaboration with the other
agencies, the most critical one being the information technology division at the
finance department.
Third was...the third component we were looking at is trying to develop
overall policies, guidelines and expectations. So those are the three main areas we
were evaluating at that point in time.
The issue with the...the way the Granicus online streaming piece works,
that's an area that would fall into the collaboration with different agencies because
we're not primarily in control of that. The information technology division of the
finance department is the one who administers the contract, and what we've been
trying to do is work with them as well as, I think, along with the planning
department...I think right now it's the planning department, the police commission
and the...I'm not sure if the fire commission is on the public access TV, but it was
those commissions... selective commissions that were on this Granicus system
and...so we worked to...in that sense it kind of fell into that second area where
what happens with that, the Granicus streaming and the documents that are
attached to that, that's more in collaboration with the information technology
division and the other boards and commissions that we're doing. So on that one, no,
we're not completely in control of that. What we're trying to do is work with the
other agencies and the IT division to figure out ways to make sure that there aren't
duplication of efforts on both the county website and on the Granicus website.
Mr. Rapozo: Right and as I read this resolution, this is basically
mandating thsa ?;hls goes up on the ^ouncil website, which is not the Gra~iicc~s
website.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct, correct, that's my understanding, yes.
Mr. Rapozo: And based on what's here, the council and
committee agendas, related attachments...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 99 - • ember 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: ...committee reports, full. text of introduced bills,
and so forth, basically the agenda packet today was this.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct... and additional stuff.
Mr. Rapozo: Yeah and then yeah, but as far as the...
Mr. Nakamura: Yeah (inaudible) on file.
Mr. Rapozo: Not counting the...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Mr. Rapozo: You know that purchase agreement that I reviewed
was another...
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: ...that's not in here.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: I guess the bottom line and I... this question is
really to you and the Chair of the council, are we in a position right now with
manpower to get this done within 60 days or... and is that something that we can
achieve?
Mr. Nakamura: I think...
Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, Mr. Clerk.
Mr. Nakamura: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: Before you...I need to finalize my summary.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
Chair Furfaro: And some of those questions are...
Mr. Rapozo: Oh, okay.
Chair Furfaro: ...are answered in here, talking from technology
upgrades to the furlough process, the vacant position we have, the workforce needs,
making sure that, you know, we have some overall policy guidelines that all of us
agree on too, especially I'm looking towards individuals to make sure they're looking
at, you know, _material that has to do with their committees that is up there. But~I
,didn't mean to interrupt, but this is still iri a draft form... ~~'
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
week.
Chair Furfaro: ... and I do want to circulate it before the end of the
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Chair Furfaro: I think the 60 days has a little reach in it, but you
know if it turns out to be 70 days, you know, the rationale is here, so.
COUNCIL MEETING. - 100 - ~cember 15, 2010
Mr. Rapozo: So was the intent to...were we going to defer this or
is this something we're going to send to the committee or...
Chair Furfaro: I'm going to look to the clerk for some
recommendations. I've spoken on my part about getting this piece, you know this
piece on what we need to do to be prepared for public document out... (equipment
noise)...I'm sorry, they're drilling for the electrical needs for the upstairs offices
which have no air conditioning at the moment, so. But, you know, that's my plan. I
guess the question I would pose to the clerk, it is a target; it has a little push in it,
but I think after the meetings I've been participating in with several departments,
we have a chance to do it in 60 or 70 days.
Mr. Nakamura: And I think that that's part of the reason why I
don't think that...and I don't want to raise false expectations or...but one of the
things that when we talked about it was that I think that we know what the targets
are and I think we're de... and working together with the other agencies including, I
think in the past...in less than the past week we've...like Council Chair Furfaro's
been saying is that we've been in discussions with the purchasing division, with the
IT division, trying to change some specifications on previous types of equipment
that we have or trying to upgrade them. The IT people were here based on a
request from Council Chair Furfaro for a walk through of our area to evaluate
whether we can...where we can actually place things. The other thing that we were
trying to do also is that keep in mind that with the relocation back to the Historic
County Building, I think at that point space becomes an issue. And then so we were
even looking at sizes of equipment and scanners and just to make sure that there
were data ports available at sufficient areas, so there's a review. of that. So just I
think, what we're hoping to do within about 60 days is to like Vice Chair Furfaro...I
mean Council Chair Furfaro said is be able to scope out and present kind of an
implementation and steps of how we can get to where we're going.
Mr. Rapozo: .Okay, so I mean I guess it's safe to assume that
what's on this agenda is...I mean what's on the resolution is the direction we're
heading at this time.
Mr. Nakamura: That's my understanding, yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Okay, thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Rapozo. Mr. Bynum, we'll...
Mr. Bynum: Just one clarification, like this website that I
showed is on the county website, the video might come from a server by Granicus,
but the interface is on the county website, and...'
Mr. Nakamura: Yeah and...
.. > idIr. Bymam: Yeah and this is. , , as I said, if i~ .takes : 60 -days or
120 days, this is a policy statement that says we want to implement these services
for the public.
Chair Furfaro: I just want to point out that the county clerk has
been most helpful in getting me together with IT, suppliers, you know, as we go out
for certain requests, meeting with Aida on staff review, some training; and yet I do
want to make sure there's going to be some burden on us to make sure we're
constantly updating the information and removing the old. But on the web
connection and you want to share something?
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 101 - • ember 15, 2010
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm, ah, no, um, yeah, I'm not...I'm sorry,
Councilmember Bynum, but I'm not quite sure how it...how that specifically works.
But I think you're correct, there's some portions of it that are either housed or
generated or archived on Granicus, some on the county, I'm just not sure what
that... it is.
Mr. Bynum: Yeah, part of our contract with them...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Mr. Bynum: ... is we didn't want to be hosting a server...
Mr. Nakamura: Because of the size.
Mr. Bynum: ...for this volume of data and so that's part of the
contracted agreement.
Mr. Nakamura: Yeah, I'm not sure what the (inaudible) was.
Mr. Bynum: But the interface comes through the County of
Kauai website and it's already happening.
IT...
Chair Furfaro: Well when we met with the new division head for
Mr. Nakamura: On his first day on the job, I believe, Council Chair.
Chair Furfaro: ... he felt very confident. Mr. Rapozo.
Mr. Rapozo: And I just want to make sure that when we're
talking about the. council website...
Mr. Nakamura: Yes
Mr. Rapozo: That's our...that's kauai.gov and you go to council
and that's... that's where we have control of. We have someone here that can
actually alter that website.
Mr. Nakamura: Working together with IT, yes.
Mr. Rapozo:. Right. The Granicus website...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Mr. Rapozo: ...that's a contract.
iJlr. hTaka'iiura: ~ 'That's... and that's through the contractor, through
the third party contract we have with Granicus, yes.
Mr. Rapozo: Right, so if... and then that's why I want to make
sure that that's clear by this resolution because the resolution says shall be posted
and if it's posted on the council website, we do it internally.
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: Granicus is not involved.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 102 - ~ cember 15, 2010
Mr. Nakamura: Correct.
Mr. Rapozo: But if you... if want to get to where that San Jose
website was where you're adding up documents on the Granicus website, then I
believe there's a cost involved, right?
Mr. Nakamura: I think that's a matter for what...what's in the
contract between the County of Kauai and Granicus.
Mr. Rapozo: Right. I mean I read this resolution as our council
website, what we have total control o£
Mr. Nakamura: And as part of the assessment of the collaborative
effort, I think we have been sitting together with the IT division, with the boards
and commissions office, with the planning department because obviously .the
planning commission is also on the live streaming, and I think what we're trying to
do there is trying...working collaboratively with the other agencies, is trying to see
what can be done with the...under the current contract. But that's...you know, it's
not only our call, that's more of an agency... interagency, interdepartmental kind of
effort.
Chair Furfaro: Well, you know, I'm leaving on Friday, but before
Friday I hope to get this circulated to all the councilmembers that touch on those
inquiries and things-to-do list. So I guess you can look at it as like Christmas
reading. But, you know, we're going to set a goal for 60 or 70 days and you know, I
would like to support this resolution.
Mr. Nakamura: I think, Council Chair, one of the things when we
were looking at the overall... kind of the overall framework for this, it's... what I've
come to realize is that it's not just a matter of putting things on the web, but there's
also contextual...the context in which you put it in in terms of if you put up a bill,
are you putting it in a context that the public is going to understand why that bill is
there. Is it in a context for the public to understand where -the bill goes, why the
bill was changed. So it's...when...in talking to other people who are in information
management and calling some other jurisdictions and some other agencies that
work in this, what they kind of stressed was that it's not just a matter of putting
things on the web. You have to kind of respond to different kinds of questions as
can the public use it, can the public find it easily, and what was interesting was one
of the things they said is can the public trust it in terms of what's put on there.
(?): True.
Mr. Nakamura: So I think not just... it's not... and then there's also
this interesting concept of what level of granularity are you going to put up. Are
you going to put up from the smallest item or you going to go and... depends on what
types of documents that you put on, and are you able to explain to the public why
it's there, what it does. We usually get those kinds of L~ ~ls...people will find~~stuff on
the website and they'll call us and ask, well we have this document, but what stage
is it at, how is it moving, what are the concerns. And so I think other than just
putting it up, I think it may be prudent to have a discussion just within our staff or
even among the councilmembers in terms of how we get to that kind of explanation,
and part of it is also educating the public on what's going to be on there, what's not
going to be on there.
Chair Furfaro: I thank you for that. You know, let me say we'll
circulate this after we get it clean of a draft form.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 103 - • ember 15, 2010
Mr. Nakamura: Yeah.
Chair Furfaro: And I certainly concur. You know, there's going to
be a maintenance effort and you know, a lot of additional reviewing the materials...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Chair Furfaro: ... so that we can properly respond to the queries
that come in, and as I said items that have several amendments, you want to make
sure that the amendments that are there are the most current, and all of this ties to
Mr. Bynum's...
Mr. Nakamura: Mm-hm.
Chair Furfaro: ...county attorney opinion about those documents.
Mr. Nakamura: And I think .there's not... it's... in most of the
information or most of the discussion that I've read on accessibility and open
governance, I think one thing they stress is it's not just about the technology, it's
not just about changing technology, it's also about an organizational change and
almost a cultural change in terms of how people look at information. I think it's
also kind of an internal change in terms of how within the county we look at the
information technology division. I think initially what they were set out to do in
their mission was to kind of gather information and store it and index it. But now
because of the change in the way the world is moving and the culture is changing,
that role...the traditional role of information technology divisions, which is basically
to, you know, gather, organize, index, is kind of turning into more of a push as
opposed to a pull of information. Now how do you push out information that you've
done? And that's kind of a...that's kind of a change that hopefully comes about
through a collaborative discussion with some of the other agencies and with the
information technology division.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, well thank you very much, Peter, and thank
you very much for the...you know, the commitment for us to set a goal and a
timeframe and we'll keep the council posted should we successfully vote on this
resolution.
Mr. Nakamura: Council Chair, if I may, the only other thing that
probably what we may be looking at is also establishing deadlines for... if we are
working on committee...
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Mr. Nakamura: ...matters and having things into our office on time
from councilmembers in order to get it posted on time because I think once you start
building in b,at expectation, that...arid that's a discussion I think for the council'to'
have in terms of~policies and guidelines. ~=j'- ~- '
Chair Furfaro: Well as you already know I already sent a
communique to the administration. They need to have things into us on a timely
basis, two Fridays ahead so that that material can be available for the public, so.
Mr. Nakamura: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you again, Peter. Thank you for all your
help here. Okay, Mr. Kawakami, yes.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 104 - Tlecember 15, 2010
Mr. Kawakami: You know, I just want to be clear. If we're going to
be taking a vote today, my non-support of this resolution has nothing to do with the
opposition of any of the initiatives that are on the resolution. What I'm hesitant in
doing is this resolution, with the way I'm reading it-and if I'm not right, I can be
corrected-but what this resolution does is it in essence directs council services that
this is going to be the top priority. Now I agree that it's a priority, but for us to now
pass a resolution that says that for the next...who knows, 60, 70 days that this is
going to be the top priority, I'm not in agreement with. And the only reason why is I
agree this is a great amenity and for me especially, it would benefit me, but I'm just
not getting the feedback that this is a top priority from the majority of our
residents. There are a few people that are really pushing for it and I'm in
agreement with them, it's great. But the fact of the matter is is we just heard it,
that we're moving in that direction as it is anyway and not one of us, the prior
council or I think this council, is opposed to any of any of the initiatives that are in
that resolution. But if you can answer me, does this now start directing council
services that hey, amongst the seven of us we got bills that we're working on that
this is now going to supersede any of those priorities, then I'm opposed to it. And
that's the precedent that I don't want to start today is that we start passing
resolutions...because it's okay to want something, and we're already moving in that
direction, but to try and pass a resolution to say that hey, I want it now and this is
going to be the top priority, it's not something I can be in agreement with. But as
far as the initiatives, 100% and we're already moving in that direction; we heard
that today.
Chair Furfaro: Well, you know, we have moved that way with
this... as early as our first action of getting our meetings streamed.
Mr. Kawakami: Exactly.
Chair Furfaro: And I do want to tell you that my role as Council
Chair is to determine the priorities and at some point you folks honestly elected me
to trust me to guide us in that way, and I absolutely heard your concern, and this
will not be in a situation that overwhelms our staff. I want to be to a place that we
can identify the right people and there are hurdles in here, and I would like to
circulate those comments to you over this Christmas break. I heard you clearly, but
I want you to know this will not be the piece that overwhelms our ability to do our
business. I clearly heard you. Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: Nothing in the resolution reads anything about
60 days or it being the top priority.
Chair Furfaro: No.
Ms. Yukimura: To me it just sets a policy direction that this is the
direction we want to go in and I presume there's flexibility in the 60 days and
in... that would be subject to your discretion and judgment, Chair. So I think it's
good to have a statement that this is ~l~e c;.~ Yi~tion we want to go in.
Chair Furfaro: Well, it's a form of leadership, which is, you know,
you make a very bold and broad statement about setting a goal.
Ms. Yukimura: Mm-hm.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 105 - • ember 15, 2010
Chair Furfaro: And then at time's, you know, as long as you're
within the parameters, the goal is to get there: But what I'm saying is I don't want
on the flip side, anybody to say oh, we passed a resolution and so this thing should
be happening next week...
Ms. Yukimura: Right.
Chair Furfaro: ...you know and so that's why the clarification. I'm
sorry, you know, I need to get this out to you folks because we've had discussion and
Mr. Nakamura has been very helpful getting me to talk directly with potential
suppliers, with IT, you know, and with our staff, so. Okay. Mr. Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: I just want to reiterate this is a policy statement. I
would invite the public to go on the Granicus website. I showed you hundreds 'of
communities, some of them not much smaller than Kauai who have implemented
this long ago, and you know, I have a pretty clear understanding of what it involves
and I agree with Mr. Nakamura about a cultural change and a change in the way
we move information. You know, that's a good thing and it's in process in the
county. But, you know, to accomplish this even with old technology, I have a pretty
clear idea of how much effort is involved, so I appreciate your statements. I
certainly had no intention that this be designated the top priority for our staff. You
know if you read on the Granicus website, you're also going to see lots of
testimonials from council service staff who say we love this, this saves us time and
money with documentation of how it saves money. So, I think it's a good policy and
I hope we can approve it today.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, Councilwoman Yukimura.
Ms. Yukimura: No, I thought the clerk had something.
Chair Furfaro: No, I'm going to give him an opportunity. I just
want... several of us have appointments with the governor on island...
Ms. Yukimura: Yes, I know.
Chair Furfaro: ...and we still have a lot to cover in...
Ms. Yukimura: I'd like to hear from the clerk too.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, very good. Mr. Nakamura.
Mr. Nakamura: Thank you, Council Chair, very briefly, we
appreciate...I appreciate what Councilmember Kawakami put forth because I think
it just reminds us that as we move through the year...of any calendar year of the
council, at different times there are things that we concentrate on I think. When
the budget comes up that's pretty much what we're concentrating on, and the
budget process starts in March. ~ I think we're looking at and not within any great
excitement, some' time in the second or~`~tliird quarter' of next year, of actually
relocating back to the renovated building. So I think there's going to be things that
are going to kind of overtake the...it's going to push itself up the priority list. And I
think if we remember moving here, it was...it took awhile to kind of just...the
priority was, at that point, was just to make sure we could have meetings here and I
think it just took a while to get everything working. So we...I appreciate
Councilmember Kawakami's comments in terms of the council understanding that
as we move through different periods of times that there are different things that
we do concentrate on. Thank you.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 106 -
Chair Furfaro: I do appreciate
and I do want to let all of you know that this
overwhelm us to be the top priority. But let's
achieve.
Tlecember 15, 2010
Councilman Kawakami's comments
project, as we set a goal, will not
be reasonable about what we can
Mr. Nakamura: I think...I think pretty much that's what we're
hearing from the council as a whole, Council Chair, and I think what we ask is also
to make sure that as we do it, as we move through this that there are areas that are
truly kind of dependent on how well we collaborate with, whether it's the
information technology division or the purchasing division, with some of the... and
with some of the other boards and commissions and making sure that everybody's
kind of moving along. But that's kind of hopefully where we can get to and I think
Councilmember Bynum's reso mentions that we should be trying to set an example
and that's...and to me part of setting the example is working with the other
agencies to help them move along also. And so that's hopefully what we will be able
to do.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, Mr. Nakamura. While we're
on this item and I'm going to suspend the rules. Is there anybody in the audience
that wants to speak before I call the council back? Seeing nobody, I call us back to
order here.
There being no one wishing to testify on this item, the meeting was called back to
order, and proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro: Councilwoman Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: I just have one comment on the first whereas. I
would like to recommend that we either take out the first portion of that sentence or
revise it. It reads "in a democracy the people are vested with.the ultimate decision-
making power" and I believe we're in a representative democracy and the people
have elected representatives who are vested with the power to make decisions on
their behalf. So, if we could clarify that.
Chair Furfaro: Yes, very good point. Do we have a motion to
massage that or...
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, I'd like to ask the maker of the
resolution or the introducer of the resolution whether he would object to taking that
first paragraph out, which would be easy to (inaudible) or i£..
Ms. Nakamura: Just leave...or just put...excuse me.
Ms. Yukimura: Go ahead.
Ms. Nakamura: Excuse me.
Ms. Yukimura: Go ahead.
Ms. Nakamura: If we could just put "Whereas an informed, aware
and engaged electorate is an important component of good governance" and just
leave it at that.
Mr. Bynum: I'm fine with that.
Chair Furfaro: You're fine with that? Well, then we're going to
need to take a recess because that's going to have to be in writing.
•
COUNCIL MEETING - 107 - December 15, 2010
Ms. Yukimura: Well we can be doing...we have the other bills that
we have to be...
Chair Furfaro: That's true.
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, maybe we can be doing those bills while
we prepare an amendment?
Chair Furfaro: Okay, Nadine, do you want to be excused for a
moment so you could be very specific about that amendment in writing? And
Mr. Clerk, can we then go to...
Mr. Nakamura: We'll be on page five, Council Chair...
Chair Furfaro: Yes.
Mr. Nakamura: ... on bills for first reading.
Chair Furfaro: Excuse me. Lonnie, you had your hand up. I gave
the public time to speak. I called the meeting back to order. When we have an
amendment to speak on, I'll let you speak then, okay. Okay, Mr. Clerk.
BILLS FOR FIRST READING:
Mr. Nakamura: Council Chair, we're on page five of the council's
agenda on Bills for First Reading, first bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill
(No. 2387).
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2387) - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-706, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CAPITAL
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (1,571,001.00 -
County 800 Mhz radio system P25 compliance upgrade): Mr. Rapozo moved- for
passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2387) on first reading, that it be ordered to
print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for January 12, 2011, and that it
be referred to the Public Safety & Environmental Services Committee, seconded by
Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, it's been moved and seconded.. Is there
anyone that wants to speak on this item? Seeing none, is there any dialogue about
this calendar date?
1VIs. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, I had earlier said that I had some
questions for the police department, but I'll get those answers before the public
hearing; so thank you.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. This would be a voice vote?
Mr. Nakamura: Roll call.
Chair Furfaro: Roll call, yes.
COUNCIL MEETING • - 108 - ~cember 15, 2010
The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2387) on first reading,
that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for
January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Public Safety. & Environmental
Services Committee was then put, and carried by the following vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Mr. Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Okay, next item, next draft bill.
Mr. Nakamura: Next bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill
(No. 2388).
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2388) - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($62,719.00 -
golf fund and $2, 704,873.00 -sewer fund): Mr. Rapozo moved for passage of
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2388) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a
public hearing thereon be scheduled for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to
the Committee of the Whole, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and carried by the
following vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Mr. Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Excuse me for that mistake. Next item please.
Mr. Nakamura: Next draft bill for first reading is Proposed Draft
Bill (No. 2390), an ordinance amending ordinance no....oh, I'm sorry, for 2389.
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2389) - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE VARIOUS FUNDS AND MAKING
THE APPROPRIATE TEXT CHANGES AS IT RELATES TO FURLOUGHS
($2,328,554.00): Mr. I;ynum moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2389) on
first reQUing, tha+; e:~ ne ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be achedulerl.
for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Committee of the Whole,
seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and carried by the following vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
COUNCIL MEETING - 109 - December 15, 2010
Mr. Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair. Next draft bill...proposed
draft bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2390).
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2390) - AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (575,000.00 -
Kaua`i Bus services expansion): Ms. Yukimura moved for passage of Proposed Draft
Bill (No. 2390) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing
thereon be scheduled for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the
Housing/Transportation/Energy Conservation & Efficiency Committee, seconded by
Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: We have a... can we have a roll call vote?
Ms. Yukimura: Mr. Chair, may I just...
Chair Furfaro: Oh yes, go right ahead.
Ms. Yukimura: I can't let this moment pass to express my
gratitude to the administration for initiating this much needed service. I know our
bus riders will be delighted and I hope that those who can come to the public
hearing will come and testify or submit testimony because they've been talking my
ear off about how important this is and we want support for it. Thank you.
Chair Furfaro: NIr. Bynum.
Mr. Bynum: I just want to concur and say that this bill is about
extending bus until 10 p.m. and on Sundays, and making all of our citizens full
participants in our community, so.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Any further discussion? If
not, we have this going to a public hearing and housing on the 12 of January. May
we have a roll call vote, please?
The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2390) on first reading,
that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for
January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Housing/Transportation/Energy
Conservation & Efficiency Committee was then put, and carried by the following
vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
`- ~ ~ ' `Mr: Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair:' ~ ~ °- - ~ ~' ' ~~
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Next item.
Mr. Nakamura: Next proposed draft bill for first reading is
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2391).
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2391) - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII, FOR THE FISCAL
COUNCIL MEETING. - 110 - ~ecember 15, 2010
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011, BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND (.$200,000.00 -
Kaua i Visitors Bureau): Ms. Yukimura moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill
(No. 2391) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon
be scheduled for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Economic
Development & Renewable Energy Strategies Committee, seconded by Mr. Chang.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience that
wishes to speak? If not, councilmembers, Iunderstand Mr. Chang, you might have
some detail for later if people want that information, your committee has it. Let's
do a roll call vote, then.
The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2391) on first reading,
that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for
January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Economic Development &
Renewable Energy Strategies Committee was then put, and carried by the following
vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Mr. Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair. Next bill for first reading is
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2392).
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2392) - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND
ORDINANCE NO. B-2010-705, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE OPERATING
BUDGET OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, STATE OF HAWAII FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2010 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2011 BY REVISING THE SURPLUS
AND APPROPRIATIONS ESTIMATED IN THE GENERAL FUND ($325,000.00 -
county auditor): Mr. Chang moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2392) on
first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled
for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Committee of the Whole,
seconded by Mr. Bynum, and carried by the following vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Mr. Nakamura: Seven ayes, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Can we go back to the proposed
amendment on the resolution?
Mr. Nakamura: We have one last bill for first reading, Mr. Chair.
Chair Furfaro: Oh, I'm sorry.
Mr. Nakamura: Oh, I'm sorry,' did we finish the 2393? One last bill.
Chair Furfaro: Okay.
Mr. Nakamura: We have...last bill for first reading is Proposed
Draft Bill (No. 2393).
COUNCIL MEETING - 111 - December 15, 2010
Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2393) - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE
AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY AUDITOR TO PROCURE THE SERVICES OF A
CONTRACT AUDITOR AND APPROVING A CONTRACT FOR A CONRACT
AUDITOR FROM APPROPRIATIONS OF A LATER FISCAL YEAR AND FOR
MORE THAN ONE FISCAL YEAR: Mr. Chang moved for passage of Proposed
Draft Bill (No. 2393) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public
hearing thereon be scheduled for January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the
Committee of the Whole, seconded by Mr. Bynum.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. For the general public to know, the
reality of this proposal is the fact that we cannot extend, without a resolution
identifying those funds, moneys for multiple years, and this will trigger a public
hearing on the 12. Is that what you said, Mr. Chang?
Mr. Chang:
Yes, sir.
Chair Furfaro: Okay. Is there anyone from the public that wishes
to speak on this? Seeing no one, members, any further discussion? If not, a roll call
vote, please.
The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2393) on first reading,
that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for
January 12, 2011, and that it be referred to the Committee of the Whole was then
put, and carried by the following vote:
FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, Rapozo, TOTAL - 7,
Yukimura, Furfaro
AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Mr. Nakamura
RESOLUTION:
Chair Furfaro:
Mr. Nakamura:
Seven ayes, Mr. Chair.
Okay, now we can go back to the...
We're back...
Chair Furfaro: ... (inaudible) amendment on resolution 2010-39
and I will recognize Councilwoman Nakamura.
Ms. Nakamura: ~ Okay, I'd like to make an amendment that it says
"whereas" and deletion is "in a democracy the people are vested with the ultimate
decision making power" and add...that would be .the end of the deletion and then
continue on "an informed, aware and engaged electorate is an important component
of good governance and."
Ms. Yukimura: Second.
Ms. Nakamura moved to amend Resolution No. 2010-39 as shown in the Floor
Amendment attached hereto (Attachment No. 1), seconded by Ms. Yukimura.
Chair Furfaro: It has been motioned and seconded.'' Anyone from
the public? Lonnie, come right up.
There being no objection, the rules were suspended.
COUNCIL MEETING ~ - 112 - ~ecember 15, 2010
LONNIE SYKOS: Oh, wrong switch, okay. Lonnie Sykos for the
record. I believe that Mr. Bynum quoted the text for the introduction to the
Sunshine Law in the uniform information deal, which is why I raised my hand. The
power is vested in the people. That's what's stated in the law and whether the
council wants to change that or not is up to the council, but that is what the uniform
practice says. Thank you. Questions?
Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Lonnie. Let ask, any questions of
Lonnie? None?
Mr. Sykos:
Chair Furfaro:
meeting back to order.
There being no one els
proceeded as follows:
Chair Furfaro:
Thank you.
Thank you for waiting. Okay, I'm going to call the
e wishing to testify; the meeting was called back to order, and
We have a...
Mr. Nakamura: Motion and a second on the floor.
Chair Furfaro: A motion and a second on the floor, do we not?
Mr. Nakamura: Yes.
Chair Furfaro: For the amendment. We're first voting on the
amendment. All those in favor of the amendment as presented?
Councilmembers: Aye.
Mr. Kawakami: No.
Chair Furfaro: Any nays? We have one no. Any silent? Okay. So
we're back to the main motion on the resolution as amended. So this will be a roll
call vote.
The motion to approve the Floor Amendment was then put, and carried by a vote of
6-1 (Councilmember Kawakami voting no).
Mr. Rapozo: (Inaudible).
Chair Furfaro: We can have discussion on that right now.
Mr. Rapozo:. Mr. Chair, you know what I heard today and again
this is the first time I've actually gotten the information and the resolution, but
what I heard today is that what is being asked for in this resolution is currently
being done: I heard, that loud and clear from the clerk. I r~aard that loud and clear
from you. I haven't seen your commentary yet and I look forward to seeing it for
some Christmas reading. But I guess for me, you know resolutions are reserved for
certain items that we are encouraging the State or other departments, the
administration. I don't think I've ever seen a resolution where we're encouraging
ourselves to do something that is, in my opinion, currently being done. You know I
look to you, Mr. Chair, and I've said this many times and I'll probably say it many
more times that as the Chair of the Council you will be working with the staff, you
will be working with the clerk, you will be working with the resources that we have
to accomplish what we need to accomplish. I...like Mr. Kawakami said, I agree
•
COUNCIL MEETING - 113 - December 15, 2010
with what is being requested, but I also believe that it's already being done. I think
the Granicus site is up. I think it's a heck of an opportunity for people to be able to
watch this live or watch it archived. You can already click on the agenda and get to
the item that you want to watch. As far as the text base searches, I think it'll be a
wonderful thing once we get the resources available to get it done. I think my
concern is much like Mr. Kawakami. This doesn't show a dateline, it doesn't show a
commitment as far as a priority, but it's a pretty strong policy statement to
the...basically to the clerk and to...actually to the Chair and to the clerk saying this
is what we want you to do. As a recently returning councilmember, I'm not familiar
with the staff right now, their workflow, their workload. I know that in the short
time that I've been here, this staf£..people work extremely hard, no different than
when I was here the last time. So you know, I'll agree with Mr. Kawakami that
we...this is where we're headed. This is exactly where we're headed and it's just
awkward, I guess, for a resolution to be directed to our own department and I
appreciate what Mr. Bynum is accomplish..'. trying to accomplish. I think, you
know, to his credit the Granicus site is up' today. It was a lot of effort and
persistence, and I'm glad it's up. But I think this is something that needs to be
developed by you and the clerk and. the staff at the pace that you feel will best
benefit this office and the public, so. I just wanted to make those comments for the
record.
Chair Furfaro: I appreciate those comments and I would point out
that it is a team effort here that, you know, we go forward on these things and I
welcome your comments. Mr. Kawakami.
Mr. Kawakami: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and you know, like I said
before, it's good initiatives, but you know, the council is empowered with certain
tools and a resolution, in my opinion, is a strong tool and it should be respected as
such. And when we... and if I'm going to put my name behind a resolution, then by
any means I would expect the introducer to say that I'm... this is a top priority and
that's why I was reading it as a top priority, but if this is now not going to be a top
priority, why have a resolution? And you know, like I said, everything in there is
good. We're already moving in that direction. We heard that this is going to be a
matter of short time. You feel we can get it done in 60 days anyway and so it seems
to be that we're almost already there anyway: So, I stand by my non-support of
this, but look forward to having everything up and running within 60 days.
Chair Furfaro: Very good, okay.
Ms. Yukimura: My understanding of resolutions as a policy setting
vehicle is a very common thing and it's really important to have a policy in writing
about our... about how we want to do our information technology and have access
from the public. So I feel this resolution is very appropriate and it doesn't in itself
have those time requirements, which is wise because then it gives us flexibility and
through your management of the issue we can keep moving in that direction.
Chair Fuicfaro: ~ . Okay. I do want to say that I felt it's 'important to
put soiie target date in there because a resolution is a statement on iil~;enC and
where we're going and how we want to proceed. I think I didn't tie myself to the
60 days. I said 60 days is a target and it has reasonable reach. But I also want to
say that the county clerk and myself are up for the challenge. So if you feel my
attempt here is being challenged, hey, I'm up for it. That's what leadership is all
about, and if I fail, I'm always able to pick myself up. But this is an intent of where
we're going and we're going to put furloughs behind us, we're going to fill a vacancy
or two, and we're going to constantly try and make some improvements here. And I
am delighted that I have the clerk's support to do this, so. I am going to call
for... oh, Mr. Chang.
COUNCIL MEETING - 114 - ~ecember 15, 2010
Mr. Chang: Yeah, thank you, Chair. I respect your comments
and you know we definitely support you and I'm looking forward, like
Councilmember Rapozo, to have that good Christmas reading material. So I'll be
looking forward for those 17 bullet points because I think when we see what you
present on paper that a lot of our questions will be answered. Thank you very
much.
Chair Furfaro: Those are the hurdles. Those aren't the answers,
but that's what we've got to hurdle as a team, so and I appreciate all the comments
today made. Let's go ahead and call for a roll call vote on this.
The motion to adopt Resolution No. 2010-39, as amended herein to
Resolution No. 2010-39, Draft 1 was then put, and carried by the following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Nakamura, Rapozo, Yukimura, TOTAL - 5,
Furfaro
AGAINST ADOPTION: Kawakami, Rapozo TOTAL - 2,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL- 0.
Mr. Nakamura: Five ayes, two noes, Mr. Chair.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
ES-475 Pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat. sections 92-4, 92-5(a)(2), (4) and (8), and
Kauai County Charter §3.07(E), the purposes of this executive session
are to consider the evaluation of officers and/or employees where
consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved, salary
consideration, and associated 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.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I believe this is going to end our
meeting today, but I also want to postpone the executive session. I have material
and this was specifically as... answering one of eight questions that were posed to
me. But in light of some new information, I would ask that I could move that
executive session to the January 5, 2010. So, I'm looking for a motion to defer.
Mr. Rapozo: Move to defer.
Ms. Yukimura: Second.
Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Any discussion? If not, all those in
favor of the deferral, say aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Mr. Rapozo moved to defer ES-475, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously
carried.
Chair Furfaro: And thank you and before we close here, it is our
last meeting of this year and I will give a moment of personal privilege to any
councilmember that wants to do as I do, wish everyone in the County of Kauai, the
island of Niihau, a very, very, happy new year and a very, very good Christmas, so.
Ms. Yukimura: All together now...
•
COUNCIL MEETING - 115 - December 15, 2010
Councilmembers: Merry Christmas!
Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much, we're all (inaudible).
ADJOURNMENT.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Respec lly submitted,
.~~
PETER A. NAKAMURA
County Clerk
/wa
•
ATTACHMENT NO. 1
December 15, 2010
FLOOR AMENDMENT
Resolution No. 2010-39, Relating to Open Governance and Internet Access to Public
Documents
Introduced by: Nadine Nakamura
Amend Resolution No. 2010-39 by amending the first paragraph to read as follows:
"WHEREAS, [in a democracy, the people are vested with the ultimate ,
decision-making power and] an informed, aware and engaged electorate is an
important component of good governance; and"
(Material to be deleted is bracketed.)