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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/09/2011 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILL#2399PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 9, 2011 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Nadine Nakamura, Vice Chair, Economic Development & Renewable Strategies Committee, on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, at 1:34 p.m. at the Council Chambers, 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair RECUSED: Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Ms. Nakamura: I'd like to reflect that Councilmembers Chang and Kawakami are representing Kauai at the National Association of Counties, so are excused. The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: BILL NO. 2399 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 23, OF KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF BUSINESS AND TRADES, which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on February 9, 2011, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on February 24, 2011. The following communication was received for the record: • Ralph and Laurie Ross (undated) The hearing proceeded as follows: LAURIE ROSS: My name is Laurie Ross, and I'd like to pass this around to you guys. It shouldn't take more than about two and a half minutes. All of us can be proud of our efforts so far in reducing plastic bags in our environment. In furtherance of that and in addition to the paper bags and (quotes) bags with handles, we would like to introduce a new product that will help reduce one use bags on Kauai. These bags are intended for produce. They are 100 percent nylon Ms. Yukimura: Okay, I just wanted to get clear what your vision was. Ms. Ross: My vision is that I have a little table there to sell bags to people that need them. Ms. Yukimura: And that other people would be able to do that too if they had other kinds of bags to sell. Ms. Ross: Yes ma'am. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Then the other question I have, as a user of these bags, are they intended to actually store in the refrigerator? Ms. Ross: Yes, and I was surprised too. Now I haven't stored everything, but for like rambutan, longan, any small fruits like that, they're fabulous because you just rinse them, put them in your dish drainer till it's dripped out, and put it in the refrigerator. I've used it successfully for lettuce... celery not so much. Celery you probably need to put in a container of some sort. But the produce that I've used doesn't wilt in it, and it just goes right along. Fabulous. Ms. Yukimura: I agree that it's fabulous for fruit like rambutan, because partly it airs it and it doesn't just keep the moisture in, which tends to cause rot. I have experienced some wilting, though, with lettuce and stuff. Ms. Ross: Really? You used them? Ms. Yukimura: Yes. Ms. Ross: I haven't. Maybe we're buying different kind of lettuce. Ms. Yukimura: Or different kinds of bags. I'm not sure i£.. I mean I use bags like this, but I don't know if it's this brand, but I'll check. But I'm really pleased that there are alternatives like this coming up, because... Ms. Ross: Well, we thought that it was a niche that could be filled here, and in reading the paperwork that we were supplied, I wanted to ask, today especially, for an exemption to these rules. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you. And in terms of the plastic bag law, these are considered reusable bags. Ms. Ross: Yes Ma'am. 3 Ms. Yukimura: Okay great. Thank you very much. Ms. Nakamura: Any other questions? Okay, thank you Laurie. Would anyone else like to testify? ERICA HAHN: Hello, my name is Erica Hahn. I'm an organic farmer up in Kilauea, and I have a couple of questions and concerns related to this bill. I'm really excited to see it being discussed finally. As a farmer, I see the value in added-value products-you can get more income that way. There's sort of another issue that stems off of it, but number one is, how will you make room for the new added-value vendors? I applied for a permit to the sunshine market back in December and was told the markets are full; we're not giving out permits because there's no more room, and because this bill was coming up. So how will you make room for new vendors? Would you remove current farmers to make room for them? And if so, how or who will you choose to remove? One thought is removing vendors who sell fruits and vegetables clearly not grown on Kauai. I know this is a longstanding issue, but now seems like a good time to enforce it if we're trying to make room for added-value vendors. If that's not willing to be enforced, how about expanding current locations or changing venues of the market to allow legitimate local growers space to sell? And then on requiring the Kauai Made logo for added value products, items with this logo are not necessarily utilizing local resource ingredients, so would preference be given to people who make pesto with ingredients from Kauai, basil from Kauai, mac nuts, etc. Would preference be given to people using local ingredients? There's been a lot of positive talk on Kauai about bringing sustainable jobs, green jobs, and moving forward responsibly on this bill would really show action to support this notion. So I'm excited that it's up for review. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you. Are there any questions for her? Councilman Rapozo. Mr. Rapozo: Thank you. Thank you for being here today. So you're saying that you've applied for a permit since December and you don't have a permit right now? Ms. Hahn: Correct. Mr. Rapozo: Because they're full. Which one were you... did you tried to... Ms. Hahn: I was trying to go for the Wednesday three o'clock in Kapa`a and the Thursday four thirty in Kilauea; those two primarily. Mr. Rapozo: So the Kapa`a and Kilauea, as far as you know, are full... at capacity? 4 Ms. Hahn: In December I was told that in general permits aren't being given out because they're full. Mr. Rapozo: And then you also mentioned, and I've heard this before, the non-local products, is there a problem with non-local products are our sunshine markets? Ms. Hahn: Yes. Mr. Rapozo: Is it a huge problem? Ms. Hahn: I don't know, it depends how you define huge. It's a problem for me personally, because I couldn't get a permit. Mr. Rapozo: That raises a... Ms. Hahn: I know there's other farmers too... Mr. Rapozo: If somebody's taking up a spot that you could have growing local produce or local fruits, and they're not growing local products or local fruits, it's a big problem. Ms. Hahn: Yes, it's a big problem, and it clearly violates the permit rules. Mr. Rapozo: I read the rules, I read the most recent rules just a week ago, and it's quite clear that you need to be local. Your products has to be grown here. So it is a problem. Then I guess we'll have... If we can just send a communication to have the administration here when this reaches the committee, because I think it's a big problem. And just for the people watching, i£..and I'm just going to do this, because I'm angry right now. If you know of someone that's vending, and you don't have to leave a name, but you call our office and let us know where and which sunshine market and which...what products, and I'll personally go down and take a look. Because I think that is just a big problem, and especially if local farmers are being denied, like yourself, the opportunity to participate. I've heard, you know, I've heard some horror stories. In fact, where oranges still had the Florida or California sticker on. Ms. Hahn: Pineapple has the Dole label on it still. Mr. Rapozo: Pineapple from... grown from the Philippines...wherever. Okay, so thank you very much, and thank you for coming forward. 5 Ms. Nakamura: Councilman Bynum. Mr. Bynum: I just wanted to thank you for your testimony and some of the questions you're asking are questions I had, and others I hadn't thought o£ I wanted to know if you have those in writing that you could supply us? Ms. Hahn: I have my notes I can give you. Mr. Bynum: And we can make a photocopy. And then hopefully we'll be able to have a discussion that covers...that's broad enough to discuss all of those questions. I think it's timely for us to have input from the administration about the operation of the sunshine markets, so I would ask the committee chair to consider a concurrent posting to make sure we don't be too constrained in our discussion about sunshine markets. Thank you for your testimony. Ms. Hahn: Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: Any other questions? I just wanted to say thank you also. Your suggestions are good to about possible expansion or moving to new locations, because I also heard about the slots are full, there's no space to expand, and that there are vendors not using... not selling locally-grown food. So thank you for bringing that to our attention. Just on your final point there, I wanted to clarify that the way the bill is written or the amendment is written here that the vendors are supposed to utilize the Kauai Mage logo and maintain membership in good standing with Kauai Made Program. So is that a concern, that language? Ms. Hahn: No. I guess just sort of following the line of vendors selling produce that's supposed to be grown here. I guess it's sort of an aside, would preference be given to added-value vendors who utilize locally-sourced ingredients, because the Kauai Made logo doesn't stipulate that. Ms. Nakamura: It doesn't? Ms. Hahn: Yes, there's a couple I can think of that have the logo... that are made here, but not... Ms. Nakamura: We'll follow up on that, because I was on the impression that a certain percentage had to be made on Kauai. But we'll follow up on that. Okay, thank you. Ms. Yukimura: Thank you Erica for coming and for raising very important questions, because the workability of this bill hinges on us having solutions to those questions. In the rules, I think they say that the fill of products has to be raised...I don't know if it says...I haven't looked at the rules for a long 6 time. That the produce has to be raised by the vendor or that they just have to be Kauai grown. Ms. Hahn: It just says grown on Kauai. Ms. Yukimura: Okay. Because one way of limiting it is to say that the person producing the value-added product would have to be the salesperson. I mean you can't have an in-between person selling it, and I don't know if these rules here say that. And then you could get even stricter in terms of percentage of product that is locally grown. Ms. Hahn: Yes, in the ingredients, yes. Ms. Yukimura: Right, and I know that the vendors at the Davis, California, market where they have produced... They have...what do you call them? They have cooked foods. They have like these chefs stands where chefs are preparing food for purchase. They have a requirement that a certain percentage of the food product itself be made from local, and I gave those regulations to the office of economic development several years ago. So those would be some ways to address the issues you're raising. Do you have a preference, or do you think there's one that works better than the other? Ms. Hahn: It's hard to say, because I know some produce vendors who, one in particular, she gleans fruit from someone's orchard that she knows; otherwise the fruit would just be wasted. So they're not growing it themselves or tending the orchards themselves, but they're harvesting and selling. They have some arrangement with the orchard owners. So one hand I'm glad that it's not going to waste. They're doing the work-the harvest and sell it. With the added value, it's a little different, depending...yeah, if your company who makes it and it's going to the market to sell it, or someone buying it from you and selling it. Yes. Ms. Yukimura: I guess those are some of the things we would have to address either in the bill or in the rules that are promulgated by the office of economic development. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Ms. Hahn: Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: If there is no one else here to testify, then I'd like to adjourn this meeting. The bill will go before the economic development committee on March 16. And so I'd like to ask members who are here to send me your questions, and we'll compile a list so that we can forward that to George Costa, Office of Economic Development. So this public hearing is adjourned. Thank you. 7 There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 1:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ~" - PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 8