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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/18/2012 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & RENEWABLE ENERGY STRATEGIES Committee Meeting a a MINUTES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & RENEWABLE ENERGY STRATEGIES COMMITTEE April 18, 2012 A meeting of the Economic Development & Renewable Energy Strategies Committee of the Council of the County of Kaua`i, State of Hawai`i, was called to order by Councilmember Dickie Chang, Chair, at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kauai, on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at 11:02 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Mel Rapozo, Ex-Officio Member Honorable Jay Furfaro, Ex-Officio Member The Committee proceeded on its agenda item as follows: Chair Chang: It is my intention, Committee members, to defer the item and I am going to turn it over to Committee Vice Chair Nakamura to take over. I do understand we have public testimony. I am going to recuse myself in the interest of a possible conflict because I do emcee work since I am videotaping for them. Mr. Chang was noted recused from the meeting. EDR 2012-06 Communication (04/12/2012) from Committee Chair Chang, requesting the presence of George Costa, Director of Economic Development, and Bob Craver, Race Director for The Kauai Marathon, to provide an update on the 2012 Kaua`i Marathon. [This item was deferred.] Mr. Bynum moved to receive EDR 2012-06 for the record, seconded by Ms. Yukimura. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. GLENN MICKENS: I am sorry this has been deferred but I have my testimony before I knew... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me. It is going to be deferred. 2 EDR Committee Meeting April 18, 2012 Mr. Mickens: Oh, okay. Mr. Furfaro: They moved to receive to get it on the floor to talk. The Chairman who has recused himself is asking after the discussion for a deferral. Mr. Mickens: Oh, okay, I am sorry I am premature. First, I want to thank George Costa and Bob Craver for their hard work in trying to make the Kaua`i Marathon a success. But Kauai Marathon founder Jeff Sacchini is on record as saying that if this event is not profitable in 3 years, he would call it quits. The rave balance sheet shows a 5 year loss and projected loss of $326,072 but if the County's tax money, the grant, is removed, that's $317,000 from that equation. The loss would have been almost double that figure. In fact the records show that he stopped using his own money for the race after 2 years, so again why is our County still pouring money into this losing venture? Other island marathons either provide small grants like $25,000 for Maui, $20,000 for the Big Island, or like the City and County of Honolulu, they provide nothing. If as the promoters of this race say, it provides tourists for the hotels, the restaurants, the car rentals, the boat and helicopter tours and the gift shops, then let those businesses pay to sponsor the race, not the taxpayers who only see their roads get more overcrowded. 1 Some of you say that jobs have been created because of the race. Maybe a few more people will be hired while the event is here but since it is so short term, the employment gain, if any, will be short lived. I cannot really see people hiring people for a week or 2 weeks or something and then turn around and fire them but maybe they are, maybe there is unemployed people who will do that. The amount of money that we put out for the race is well overshadowed by any small gain like this. Councilmen Kuali`i and Rapozo have to be applauded for all their efforts at exposing so many facts that show why our County should not be a sponsor of this event. The 14 page booklet that KipuKai put together in May 18, 2011, involved a lot of time and research and again, vividly points out what this race actually does for our island as opposed to what the propaganda says it will do. For me, the most disappointing part of reading and listening to what KipuKai and Mel said was that these facts and figures did not change any of you other members' minds about the race or have you even tried and rebut what they said? I still have hopes that this body and the Administration will reconsider their affirmation of this event and tell the people that their tax money will not be used to further this losing venture. KVB, HTA and Mr. Sacchini have already stopped putting money into this race, so should not that be proof enough to cut our losses. There are many fine non-profit organizations on Kaua`i, such as the Rotary, Lions, YWCA as Tim knows, and so many others that give scholarship and raise money for our needy. None of these are funded by our tax dollars, but by setting a precedent 3 EDR Committee Meeting April 18, 2012 and giving three hundred seventeen thousand dollars to this marathon, aren't all of these organizations eligible and deserving to be treated the same way. If they come to this Council and said will you please fund this or that, you set the precedent by what you have done. So I would say that you would have a hard time denying this. I have no problem with marathons, but as with the Worldwide Honolulu Marathon, it should be paid for by the entrants and the sponsors, and not by the taxpayers. Tourism is the motor that makes our economy run, and people like Dickie Chang have more than done their share to make this successful. But this Kaua`i Marathon has proved to be a failure in the way it has been structured and it needs to be redone if we want it to be beneficial to all, particularly to the taxpayers. It would also be beneficial to our island if we had the leadership to diversify our economy and stop putting our eggs in one basket, the tourism basket. I have heard this suggested plan brought up over the years and we need people in power who will make the walk the walk and not just talk about it. I think that is extremely important but I am sure you have heard the same thing that we should have a diversified economy and then when things dropped out, we are not depending solely on the tourism money for doing things and I think there are things out there that can be looked at. I know that this will come up again and I will be back to present my case. Again, I complement these two people particularly because I know the work — I am not degrading anything you guys have done or your opinion is your opinion on this thing. But I do hope that you will reconsider what these facts that KipuKai have put in this s thin It seems clear to me that this race does not deserve p thing. ve to go on any further. Thank you very much. Ms. Nakamura: Any questions for Mr. Mickens? , KEN TAYLOR: Chair, members of the Council, my name is Ken Taylor. I certainly agree with Glenn's comments and have also gone back and looked at the report that was given last May. I hope each of you will go back and reread from this and make the right decision. The Marathon is a wonderful thing but when somebody wants to do a wonderful thing, they should put the effort into figuring out how to justify doing it. When people go into business, whether it is for- profit or non-profit is immaterial, the point is you put up a game plan together and you do not go out and take public funds to make it work. You go out and ask the people who are really benefiting - the hotels, restaurants, tour boats, etc., to fund it and if they are not willing to do so, then maybe it is not the right game plan to move forward with. I strongly disagree with public funds being put into this activity and I think there is a lot of areas on this island that could better serve the community in general from this kind of money being expended. I hope as you move forward with making a decision this year that you deny giving this money and that you ask these folks to go out and solicit from the businesses that really benefit. The tourist industry in general should be supporting this and if they are not willing to support it, why should the community be putting money into it. Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you, Ken. Would anyone else like to testify at this time? Glenn, you already had your opportunity to testify. We can talk afterwards. a � 4 EDR Committee Meeting April 18, 2012 There being no objections, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Mr. Bynum: I want to put the comments in context. We have an Office of Economic Development that supports a lot of activities on this island, things like the Mokihana Festival, the Koloa Plantation Day, the State support the Pro-Bowl. Public funds being used to support events that bring visitors to Kaua`i is a long tradition of government and we have efforts to diversify our economy and the County has put funding into that through DBED and other programs. A lot of that, recent leadership from Councilmember Nakamura on this Council and so this is part of the overall picture. Nobody would question the Grand Slam of Golf being here ten years and it was really beneficial for Kaua`i. This is a start up effort to get a signature marathon on Kaua`i. All of the other islands have marathons. I believe it has been fairly successful and I am hopeful that it continues G for many years and there are other types of sponsorship other than the government. Ms. Nakamura: Members, Jeff Sacchini who is the race owner will be here on May 16 and he will be here to present and to answer any questions directly. We can have further discussion but I really think that is the appropriate time to have a detailed discussion. Upon motion duly made by Mr. Kuali`i, seconded by Ms. Yukimura, and unanimously carried, EDR 2012-06 was deferred until May 16, 2012. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m. Respectfully submitted, 01,41-1ALVLSai J�In Darrellyne M. Simao Council Services Assistant II APPROVED at the Committee Meeting held on May 2, 2012: 7/7- DICKIE CHANG CHAIR, EDR COMMITTEE