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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/05/2010 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILLS#2356 & 2357, RES#2010-33PUBLIC HEARING MAY 5, 2010 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Daryl W. Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 5, 2010, at 5:04 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 Dickie Chang Honorable Jay Furfaro Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T. Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1) Bill No. 2356 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2010 TO JUNE 30, 2011 (Couni;y of Kauai Operating Budget), 2) Bill No. 2357 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2010 TO JUNE 30, 2011 (County of Kauai Capital Improvement Projects Budget), 3) Resolution No. 2010-33, RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING 'THE REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2010 TO JUNE 30, 2011 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI, which were passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on March 22, 2010, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on Apri19, 2010. Peter A. Nakamura, County Clerk: Also, pursuant to Section 5A-6.3, the Kauai County Council hereby announces its intention to fix the real property tax rate for the fiscal year 2010 to 2011 on May 26, 2010, at 9 a.m. or soon thereafter, in the Council Chambers located at 3371-A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e. 1 The following communications were received for the record: ,~1. JoAnn Yukimura, dated May 5, 2010 J2. Marion M. Higa, State Auditor, testimony dated May 5, 2010 /3. Diane Zachary, testimony dated May 5, 2010 .t4. John Harder, Chair, Zero Waste Kauai testimony, undated ~5. Andrea Brower, Malama Kauai, email dated May 4, 2010, with attachment ~p 6. Linda Dobra email dated May 5, 2010 / 4,.7. David Sutton email dated May 5, 2010 /8. Nancy Merrill email dated May 5, 2010 /9. KAUAI DROWNINGS (1970-2008) map The hearing proceeded as follows: MARION HIGA, Auditor, State of Hawaii: Thank you and good afternoon. Mr. Chair and members of the council, it's my pleasure to appear before you this afternoon. I was asked to give my perspective a bit on and congratulate you on the adoption of your charter amendment that creates for the first time a council... a charter-authorized independent auditor for the County of Kauai. You've now joined Hawaii island and the City & County of Honolulu in having your county auditor in the charter, and I'm pleased to see that you've replicated many of the provisions that. apply to my office, and I believe that a good deal of the theory that underlies the independence for my office is something that will serve you well as you proceed. I was asked to give you a little bit of biographical background just to give you some perspective, and I'm happy to say that my grandfather and my father were Hanalei residents. My grandfather had a rice farm up in the valley. My dad learned to swim in the Hanalei River because his brother threw him in and he had to learn to swim the hard way. As a result, he was at one time on the University of Hawaii swim team. So I have my Kauai roots. I have also been with the office of the auditor, you should know, since January 1971, which is 39 years. I have been the State Auditor for 18 years now. I am now in my third of the 8-year terms as provided by the Constitution. Now the fact that you have put your auditor in your charter is akin to my position being in the State Constitution. Amongst State auditors, it is a big deal to be in the State Constitution. Among county auditors, the same could be said for authorization by county charter. I am further delighted that you have added provisions in your charter for the independence and the powers of your county auditor, such as, full access to information, authority to issue subpoenas, removal from office requiring a two-thirds vote and cause, and a 6-year term of office, among others. You should know that at the time my office was created by the 1950 State Constitutional Convention, the theory for the auditor's term being longer than that of any elected official was to insulate the auditor from individual attack from any elected official, and you have done the same. Congratulations. 2 This is, I think, philosophically because in government auditing, the power and independence of the audit entity, the independence of the individuals who work in those offices, and the audit processes themselves are key to the credibility oiF the auditor's conclusions and recommendations. And to do that work according to standards that the office subscribes to or that a charter mandates that the office follow, which is your case, makes for a strong foundation for worthwhile audit work. Section 32.02 of your charter wisely requires that your county auditor shall conduct or cause to be conducted all audits in according with government auditing standards. And without going into too much detail, I would point you to the fact that there is this document, which is in fact the government- auditing standards. This is promulgated by the U.S. Comptroller General. I have sat on his advisory council for the last four years, and we are responsible for the July '07 revision. Once you subscribe to this, you are bound to its requirements. There is a very strong ethical chapter in this now. There is a strong requirement for independence of your entity, as well as the work, and that means that you have to have enough people on your staff that one can check on the other's work, or part of your offices can check on the other part of the office's work. Someone who did .not have anything to do with an audit then must check the validity of all of the supporting documentation-that is what is meant by independence, an independent review of the work that supports the report. So you have general standards of independence, competence by staff, there are requirements for 40 hours of continuing professional education, for instant:e. I have the. details laid out in my testimony; I won't go through all of them. Most of our -work results from legislative requests. A few we initiate ourselves. I also contract out all of the financial statement audits, except for the university and the hospital corporation audits. So our budget is somewhere around eight plus million- dollars. Six million o£that is in the financial statement-audits. I see that your auditor's responsible for Kaua`i's audit of all county funds and accounts, as well as performance audit. That's a good- thing to have both performance and financial audits- under the same jurisdiction. Most of our management audits are. done- in-house. I have a staff of 25. Most of my staff have advanced degrees or certifications, so they come from accounting, law, journalism, business ad, public ad, etc. My staff are at-will employees, as I think your charter provides as well. They have the benefits of public employment, State employment, but it takes special people to work in an audit shop. It's not easy work. But I think there's something that appeals that's more than just adequate compensation. We feel working in audit shop we can make a difference. We can make a difference in lives. We can make a difference in government.. But, adequate compensation doesn't hurt. It helps us to attract people and keep them on our staff. My legislature has been very supporting of our budget,- and although we've had to take some budget cuts in the last two years, it's given me the flexibili~~ty to 3 spend as I see fit and as we need. I know you'll be considering the budget for your county auditor's office, and to the extent that you might need some help, your auditor may need some help that we can help them with, I'm more than willing to help. I understand, you know, there's a huge difference in size. So to the extent that we can do some... say IT work with you, we can... if you can send your people over, or we can send our people over for training, we can help you do that as well. Sometimes 40 hours of CPE a year is a tough requirement to fill if you're a small office. I have done some training in the Pacific jurisdictions, and I understand that it's sometimes tough in small jurisdictions to hold to the principles of independence and accountability, but I think you've made a good start here. So to the extent that we can help, let us help you. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for that. I gave you the full six minutes. Usually we go 3 minutes, 3 minutes, but I've taken the opportunity as chair to grant you the full six minutes. Ms. Higa: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Let me see if any of my committee members have questions for you. Any committee members? Mr. Furfaro, go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Yes, I do. I want to say thank you very much for coming over. Ms. Higa: My pleasure. Mr. Furfaro: It's very, very nice of you to be able to put it in your very tight schedule, and we're kind of at an early learning curve in our audit process. But it sounds like you are very pleased with the charter amendment that we had got a audit department kicked off in our county. Ms. Higa: Oh absolutely. It's to be congratulated. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you, and I look forward to our people being able to work closely with you from my support position. But I'd just like to ask you, from a standpoint of what you think. Our county is a 149 million operating budget and about 60 million in capital improvements a year and other related non-operating expenses, what's your feeling about what our staffing level should be? Ms. Higa: Well, you know, I started with the auditor's office five years after it was established, so I don't know the very early history, but I know it started real small too; I think it was Clinton Tanimura and maybe two staff. But given the current independent standards here and the kind of review you have to have of each other's work, you have to have at least two people at the review level- one who did the work and one who didn't who can review then independently all the support, which means all the working papers. So you need a minimum of two, plus 4 your leader, because your leader should really not be in the trenches actually doing the audit work; the leader should have the vision and be able to step back and see if the message is the appropriate message on every one of the reports, as we:~l as dealing with the ordinary .things that you would have to have when you're setsting the tone at the top. So I think you would need at minimum, three. And assurning also that they, like it or not, may have to do even the report production themselves, which I wouldn't recommend, but it you couldn't spare any more dollars than that... You are otherwise spending expensive dollars for support work. So ultimately, you might be better off having three professionals and one support staff. That's a better way to spend your money; than three support staff, all three of whom who might be doing. secretarial work, if that's what it takes to produce a written report. Because ultimately... and that's another requirement of the standards-you must have a written report. Mr. Furfaro: And there must be narrative along with the financial document. Ms. Higa: There should be, yes. There should be something that supports the work. Mr. Furfaro: Let me ask you. Along those same lines and now given an idea of the size of our operating budget and our CIP projects, would you. feel... See, our charter mandates that we have an audit, an outside audit, at ].east every two years. My thinking is let's say a department of four people could possibly internally audit four or five of our departments a year, and they're going- to be required to present us their plan I think in June, I'm not sure, but I think that':; the way we've got it lined up. We have one .more year on a full outside audit schedule for next year; it's already on a contract, but given the fact that we have this 18 months to get staffed up and geared up, what would be your reserve comments on maybe going to a two-year outside audit versus -spending- contr--acted money=in addition to our audit department have an outside auditor every year. Would you think a $200 million operating corporation could in fact do an audit outside every other year if we had an internal audit department? Ms. Higa: It might depend on the nature of the source of your funds. There may be some federal requirements where you cannot avoid an annual audit. So I would hate to give you a general statement that you can absolutely go to a two-year cycle. So I think you'd have to see .what those requirements are first. Also with the ARRA money coming down and the ARRA requirements which are more stringent than ordinary federal requirements, I don't know if you dare ai'ford missing a year, if that's the case. Mr: Furfaro: Very good points. Very good points. I appreciate that; and obviously with a number of good projects we have, with stimulus money coming from the federal government, they have stipulations on very complete narrative and detail to how that money is being spent. 5 Ms. Higa: Yes. Unfortunately, from the State auditor community's perspective, there is no money appropriated in the ARRA appropriations for State audit costs. So as much as we fought a battle last summer with congress, we did not succeed. There was enough of a...I don't know if it was an oversight or deliberate, but JO got $25 million to audit ARRA, but the State audit community got nothing. I guess it says something about our lobbying efforts. Mr. Furfaro: I just have two more short questions, if I can. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, go ahead Jay. Mr. Furfaro: In our financial policies going forward, and for transparency with the public, I guess I'm wondering, you know, at the end of the year it is wise and prudent to, you know, send up a general fund reserve, as well as having, and we don't have it now, but as well as having kind of a contingency reserve in the year for the year. Would you concur that it might be prudent for us to say have of only our operating funds a 15 percent general reserve each year, and maybe a two percent reserve for emergencies in the year for the year. Do you have any comments on something established as such? Ms. Higa: I'm afraid I don't, because that borders on finance theory and finance principle, and we don't really opine on those things. Not that I opine myself anyway, because I'm not a CPA. But I'll give an example of even if you set aside money, it's how you manage that money that may count more than anything else, and you're probably well aware of the dust-up that my office had with the governor's office and the department of budget and finance recently in the last several months over their management of a billion dollars of the State's money that was set aside for investment purposes, because it was like extra cash. And it's a million dollars that's now stuck. Mr. Furfaro: Well I think we recently, under the leadership of our finance chair, we were able to get our bond ratings adjusted upwards... Ms. Higa: Oh, good for you. Mr. Furfaro: Because of our prudence in having a reserve, but another item I'm concerned with is in these very difficult times, we don't set aside another small amount for emergency responses in tight fiscal years. Ms. Higa: Well, it's a legitimate concern. Because of the problems that the State has had as a result of the student loan auction rate securities amount and the fact that relative to other jurisdictions we invested very heavily, unlike virtually anybody else, two of the three rating agencies went down in the opinion of the State's management of its money. So it did have a consequence. The other one of the three did not go down, but we don't know yet. 6 We know it will soon be... it's already been written down, but the next write down could be '08...no, for the '09, fiscal year 09 is another $140 million write down., So the original one billion dollars that we put in to these student loan securities are now valued at about $750 million, so they've lost about a quarter of their value. So you know, it says something about holding things in reserve. Mr. Furfaro: Well, I did want to ask you that financial philosophy, and you know, I'm very happy to report that our finance chair and. our financial administration, we actually got our ratings to go up, and so... Ms. Higa: Oh, good for you, unlike the State.. Mr. Furfaro: But I'm very concerned about a second reserve in the year for the year. But thank you .very much for being here with us. Ms. Higa: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Mr. Furfaro: 1VIr. Chair, thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum:. Ms. Higa, thank you very much for being here. I admit to being a fan. Ms. Higa: My pleasure. Mr. Bynum: I like those dust-ups. I think a little dust-up now and then is a good thing, so... Ms. Higa: Well, it seems like it's -been -pretty much the whole 8 years, but then that has happened with every governor, so it's just..,,just because we serve different masters. Mr. Bynum: Just the...first of all, I appreciate your willingness to give us support and help, and be able to rely on... Ms. Higa: Sure. It's your money too. Mr. Bynum: It's all ours, right. But I did have a specific question. One of the sentences in your testimony says, most of our audit reports result from legislative requests or mandates. 1VIs. Higa: Yes. Mr. Bynum: And in what circumstance is there a mandate? 7 Ms. Higa: Oh, there are laws that say that every so many years we have to audit OHA, for instance, or Hawaii Tourism Authority, or if there are new regulatory programs put up. Sometimes that legislation will say that in three years we're to go back and look at whether they did what they were supposed to do. Mr. Bynum: That answers my question. You know, because one of the things I like about the way we're structured, I think if I have it correctly, is that this body can make requests of the auditor's office, citizens can make requests, the administration can make requests, but the final decision about that is with the auditor, and that's part of the independence. Because, you know, that same sentence says legislative requests, and so the mandates are something different, and thank you for that explanation. Ms. Higa: Yes. There are also other provisions, such as a proviso in the budget bill, so that under say an act that's in the session law, that's the executive budget, there are provisos at the end of the monetary sections that say provided that, and there's a reference to an appropriation, and it'll say, for instance, provided that of program ID such and such, to do such and such, there shall be a management audit of whatever. Because that is law once it's signed by the governor, that's also considered a mandate to us, so that is not a legislative request, that is a legislative mandate. Mr. Bynum: That's helpful. And then when you discuss peer reviews, is that a way that you can assist the county in the future as well is being part of a peer review? Ms. Higa: Yes. Actually, the interpretation in the yellow book is you would go to an organization that has a peer review program. So in most county jurisdictions, they go to the ALGA, the association of local government associations, which is Honolulu's case, and I believe Big Island will be doing that as well. We go to either these national State auditors association or the national conference of State legislatures. But I can help you prepare for a peer review, because there are certain things you can do to forestall a negative peer review. Certainly we can help this county to do that. Mr. Bynum: Thank you again for being here today. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any other questions by committee members? You have a question? Councilmember Kawahara go ahead. Not a question? Ms. Kawahara: Just a statement. Mr. Kaneshiro: Sorry, but this is a public hearing. I'm sorry. If we have any other members have questions to pose for Marion Higa? If not, thank you very much for the testimony. 8 Ms. Higa: Thank you for inviting me. Good luck. Mr. Kaneshiro: At this time can I have the next speaker. STU BURLEY: Good evening Mr. Chairman and members of the board...or the county council. I'm so used to saying board, sorry. A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting over at AARP and I heard a statement made... Mr. Chang: yourself? Mr. Burley: Mr. `Chang: Mr. Burley: Mr. Furfaro: translate... captioner... Mr. Burley: Mr. Furfaro: Mr. Kaneshiro: Stu,. Stu, hey Stu. Excuse me, can you introduce Pardon? Can yourintroduce yourself? Oh, I thought I was introduced. I'm sorry. No, you have to introduce yourself so... the Okay. ,I'm Stu Burley from Lawa`i valley. Thank you Stu. Continue. 1VIr. Burley: ~ I was at a AARP meeting over in Lihu`e here and I heard a statement and it somewhat bothered me a little bit, because of our Situation here- on this- island. In the operating budget there .was a °position for.-recycling coordinator, and that position -has been downgraded to a recycling specialist, and the new position would end up being at a level one entry, or slightly above level entry, which being a manager. all my .life, it sounds like that isn't the type of position that you would want in there in dealing with the recycling and the solid waste programthat...the solid waste problem that you have here on this island. So I'd like to ask you to possibly reconsider that position and upgrade it to a recycling coordinator, or what I'd really like to recommend is you do what I call a risk management risk assessment of the difference between a recycling coordinator and what the responsibilities would be, and the recycling specialist. In thinking about a specialist and a coordinator, a specialist probably, in my mind, would sit in an office and answer telephone. A coordinator would probably get involved a little bit in the community solid waste program. What I'd really like to recommend is to consider a recycling manager. A manager with a degree in environmental science or environmental...in the process in `there someplace, because a manager would. get more involved in the design and implementing situations that could better Kauai and help out all the citizens here on Kauai, and also be a step in the right direction 9 in the solid waste program. So my request is if you could reconsider that recycling specialist to a higher grade to coordinator, but actually to recycling manager. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you for that testimony. Any questions by committee members? If not, thank you very much. Next speaker please. JOHN HARDER: Good evening Committee Chair Kaneshiro and members of the council. My name is John Harder, and I'm here to testify on the proposed fiscal year 2010-2011 solid waste budget. As most of you are pretty much aware by now, I'm the chairman of zero waste Kauai. We're a local nonprofit group advocating sustainable solid waste management practices. And earlier this year we testified in support of the basic elements of the county's integrated solid waste management plan, emphasizing that while all of the components necessary to achieve significant levels of diversion were contained in the plan, it was imperative that the administration follow through and provide the resources necessary to implement those projects and programs. While the administration's inclusion of a new recycling specialist position in the proposed public works budget seems to be a positive step in providing the necessary resources, zero waste Kauai feels that bringing another recycling specialist onboard rather than hiring experienced staff to provide the leadership and direction necessary would actually be counterproductive. The recycling specialist is essentially one step above an entry level position and will require considerable training and oversight by the solid waste development coordinator that's Allison Fraley before that new hire becomes productive. At a time when the recycling coordinator position remains unfilled and the program is overwhelmed with existing and proposed projects, bringing an inexperienced staff person onboard would be an additional burden on the solid waste program. With the integrated solid waste management plan update recently completed and requiring implementation and the proposed curbside recycling program on the horizon, what is really necessary at this point in the program is hiring of a trained and experienced staff person. Zero waste Kauai requests the council consider upgrading the administration's request and fund the refilling of the vacation recycling coordinator's position. Also, in addition to bringing onboard additional staff necessary to expedite the elements of the plan, the integrated solid waste management plan calls for the construction of a materials recovery facility, or MRF. The plan makes it clear that development of adequate processing capacity is essential to making curbside recycling work. We feel that rather than spending unnecessary time and money on additional study that the county should use its limited funds and resources to move ahead and develop the conceptual design for the facility and select the site. Once a conceptual design has developed and a site selected, the county could use local engineering and construction firms to enter into adesign/build contract, saving time and keeping the money in the local economy. 10 Mr. Kaneshiro: I'll go ahead and extend the rest of the testimony another 3 minutes, Mr. Harder. Mr. Harder: Another issue with the proposed budget is there's no mention of planning or resources dedicated to moving beyond the proposed pilot curbside program.. When does the county move into the next phase. How long will it take to expand curbside to cover the entire island? Shouldn't this be addressed in five-year budget projections? This lack of a projected timeline, plus the time required to develop the processing capacity necessary to manage the increased levels of recycling leave the vast majority of the island's residents dependent upon the existing recycle drop-off system. I'm sure you've all heard from numerous constituents, as have we at zero waste Kauai, that the existing system is inadequate. As the community will be most likely dependent upon-drop-off bins for an extended period of time, we recommend that additional funds for the expansion of the drop-off program be included in the budget. Last, we feel that the county needs to move forward much more rapidly in developing a central composting facility, a facility which can manage an expar.~ded range of organic material. Again, this is a major element in the updated integrated solid waste management plan, and it's also an important element in the conservation of our limited landfill capacity: -This project is just one more important reason that requires the skills and expertise of a recycling coordinator. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Members, any questions for Mr. John Harder? Go ahead Councilmember Kawahara. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you finance chair. Hi John... Mr. Harder. You know, I have. had these questions about the recycling specialist versus the recycling coordinator, and also about the very thing you're talking about here about -new hires and. when they become productive:. Can-you help me figure out in.~ my mind if there's a difference between any type of new hire that comes in? Aren't they both going to be needing to get up to speed, and what the difference that you're considering in getting up to speed as a recycling specialist meaning, because you seem to think that it's going to be easier for a recycling coordinator to get up to speed. Mr. Harder: Generally, the experience level that's required for a recycling coordinator, besides the education and training required, that the experience level is 4 to 5 years of management level experience in recycling field. So even though you bring in a person from outside, as the county did couple years ago when they brought in Bill Tasman-Ramcheck, these people are experienced in the general concepts that are going on and can pick up the ball and run with it much faster. I think Bill was an excellent example of someone who could come. in and do the job. Problem ending up being that Hawaii was too far away front his home. But I think that that level of experience will allow the person to move a bit faster, know -the ropes, know the government ins and outs, the things that you ]nave 11 to do. The other thing is the recycling specialist, even at best, even once trained and, you know, ready to go is not going to be able to manage large contracts like development of a MRF, development of the composting facility, will not be able to expedite the curbside recycling program as it moves into second and third phases. A lot of that burden will still be pushed back onto Allison, and she's, you know, not her but her position is already overwhelmed as it is. So I think it was spelled out pretty clearly in the plan, in the implementation section of the plan, that in the first year of the plan they were supposed to hire three new peoplea recycling coordinator and...well no, they assumed that the recycling coordinator would be onboard, because when they started the plan there was a recycling coordinator. So without a recycling coordinator, I cannot see how the county could expeditiously implement the critical elements of the plan. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Another question was I'm interested in the central composting facility and your statements that we'd prefer to move more rapidly in that. Could you help me. Is there somewhere out there that gives like a cost analysis that I could look at and how much that would cost and all the actual moving parts of what it would do to make one start. Mr. Harder: I'm not sure if there was any real cost in the plan that were that close or that accurate. I think that would be probably the first job of a recycling coordinator, somebody that was given that job, to start finding out what land was available, what kinds of arrangements could be made with landowners, get some idea in talking with existing composters as to what cost would be for those types of programs. There are programs in the State that are doing those kinds of things, so you can get some ideas. But I couldn't give you any right now. Ms. Kawahara: Okay, thank you. Thank you budget chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum, go ahead. Mr. Bynum: Mr. Harder, thanks for your testimony today. I wasn't going to ask a question, but prompted. You know, because... so in your view, the integrated solid waste plan that we just recently adopted, to be consistent with that we need a recycling coordinator? Mr. Harder: Yes. Mr. Bynum: And so to not have. that position is inconsistent with what the plan is recommending and assumes. Is that correct? Mr. Harder: Yes. And in addition as I mentioned, the plan actually calls for the initial major project, you know, it be started up in the first year of the implementation of the plan, being the MRF. And to design or oversee the design and construction, the site selection, all of those things, you need somebody that's got some experience with material recovery, government 12 acquisitions of property, government contracts, and all those kinds of things. So you know, I don't see the MRF happening in a, you know, a reasonable period of time without someone, as Stu said, to manage the contract. I .mean we need... a~ad a recycling coordinator can be a manager, is a manager, it's just called a coordinator, but we need somebody who can manage programs, not just give out information and educate people.: Mr. Bynum: I know we sometimes get hung up in titles, but the bottom line is the budget reduces- that position by $19,000 and so to -save $19,000, we're not going to perhaps get the level of expertise that we need. So I'm very uncomfortable with us diverting from the plan, you know, right out of the gate.. So thank you for your testimony. Mr. Harder: Can I respond on that just briefly? The $19,000 that person will have the capacity to...or should have the capacity to oversee some critical and fairly large contracts, design contracts, implementation plans, you know, curbside recycling, those kinds of things, the 1VIRF. So having adequately trained and experienced staff onboard to manage those contracts could save the county much more than $19,000 in the first year. Mr. Bynum: I would tend to agree, but you just get a different level of expertise and experience for that much less money. So thank you for your testimony. Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, any other 'questions from. committee members? If not, thank you John. Next speaker please. DIANNE ZACHARY: Good evening. I'm Dianne Zachary. I'm the president and CEO of the Kauai planning and action alliance, and our nonprofit organization_is_really grateful to- the mayor for his continued support by including us in the 2011 budget. The county has been a great partner of ours. Since our organization started in 2.003 we have worked very closely together on a number of issues. The proposed funding level for the coming year is $28,000, a 20 percent decrease from this current year and from previous years. In the year ahead, one of the things that we're going to be working on is something that we really rely on county funding for, and that's the third edition of our community indicators report. So we'll be starting that in the fourth quarter of this year and continuing on for publication in...at the end of June of next year. So this...the county funding is really important for us to be able to do that publication. We also use county funding for some other projects as well, so to give you a sense of how county funds have...were used by KPAA, I gave each of you a copy, I hope you got it, of our. 2009 annual report. For every dollar that we get from. the county, we have been able to secure ten dollars `in other government funding or in private funding. So the county funds have really been leveraged to get the additional support that we need to ,operate our organization. So one of the things 13 that we have found is that nobody wants to be the first one to fund a project, but if we can say we have secured some county funding as our initial funding, then we're able to get other people onboard for funding. So it's been really instrumental and we're very appreciative of that. I'd like to move to a different topic but the still the budget, of course, and take this opportunity to comment on one of the other items in the proposed budget, and that's the $800,000 that has been requested to update the general plan. As you know very well, the last plan was adopted in 2000 and an update is called for every 10 years, so here it is 10 years later. There's a number of aspects of that previous plan that may still be really relevant today, and it may be tempting to reduce the amount of funding in this economic time and do a more minor update of the plan. But I'm asking you to maintain that funding level of $800,000 that was requested, and I want to give a rationale of why I'm suggesting that. There's really been some advances in our thinking over the past few years about how we do community design, how we do community planning, and also there have been changes in the world situation since the plan was adopted 10 years ago. Our vulnerability as a remote island became way more obvious a couple of years ago when the cost of fossil fuel increased so dramatically, and more recently we've seen a loss of jobs and an increase at the same time in food prices. We're realizing how...that how we utilize land and design communities can have a really significant impact on our resource use. So with our next general plan we have an opportunity to create a new planning model that explicitly builds on the principles of sustainability and smart growth, and that incorporates a set of metrics to determine how we're doing. The plan needs to provide a way to get feedback so we can change direction quickly when it's needed. It can utilize GIS and modeling and other tools to help decision makers such as yourselves and the community understand the impacts of proposed policies and projects. Such a plan would honor the island's character and the uniqueness of our individual communities, while at the same time providing the policies needed to increase livability and conserve resources. So a new plan needs to set a clearer path for implementation by setting priorities and timelines. So it builds on a number of things, it needs to get clearer, it needs to make sure that it's really accountable to our community. We might call this new document our general plan for sustainability, or a green general plan, or who knows what the title will be. Ultimately it might just be the general plan. But one of its goals really needs to be to help us decrease our vulnerability. If we don't take the opportunity to take this direction now, it will be at least another 10 years before we can take this important step. So as an organization KPAA believes in good planning, just as importantly we believe in making sure plans are implemented, so we need... so that needed action occurs. In this uncertain economy, you have a big job in setting the budget for the year ahead. I don't envy you. But it has the opportunity to impact Kauai not just in the coming year, but for decades to come. Thank you very much. 14 Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Committee members? Mr. Furfaro, go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Dianne, thank you for being here. Thank you for all you do in our community as well, it's very much appreciated. I remember we visiting on this last budget time. Previously we allocated $32,000... Ms. Zachary: Thirty-five thousand. Mr. Furfaro: Thirty-five thousand. Ms. Zachary: Has been the steady amount since 2003. Mr. Furfaro: Okay, and it's reflected currently in the mayor's budget at 28, I think. Ms. Zachary: That's correct, yes. Mr. Furfaro: Without kind of deviating from the bulk of the money that's earmarked there, your community indicators is roughly what cost of your budget every year? Is it... Ms. Zachary: I tend to look at the project over atwo-year period because it's atwo-year project. It starts this year, it goes in to our next fiscal year, and the total cost is about $70,000. Mr. Furfaro: Seven zero? Ms. Zachary: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: We're getting a pretty good deal there. Ms. Zachary: Yes you are. Mr. Furfaro: I also want to ask. You know, we have several things going on simultaneously here. For example, we have our energy sustainability plan which touches on transportation, we have the update of our CZO, we have the important ag lands, kind of all going on, but all of them are not going to come to a conclusion kind of at the same time, and I just want to say, that was one of the reasons some discussion had occurred on perhaps not doing afull- blown review of the general plan, but wait for those components to be completed, and then get them embossed into a general plan update. I just want to share that was part of the thinking, because we've got all these moving parts on there that maybe we didn't want to, you know, duplicate in these tough economic times. ]But I appreciate your comments about trying to preserve that 800,000, but some of the thinking earlier was that with IAL and the CZOs and the energy and transportation 15 plans all being updated, it might give us an opportunity that have kind of a better feeling of how we merge all the plans into an overview. But your comments are well taken about preserving the $800,000. Ms. Zachary: Thank you. If I may respond briefly. One of the things that I did recently was make a list of all of the plans that either have just been completed, are in process right now, or are planned on the horizon. There are 23 that I am aware of, and I'm sure I don't know all of them. It's a lot of plans. And one of the things...the concerns that I had is I considered this was that we're developing plans kind of independent of one another, and they don't necessarily have a common framework. And if we began work on a general plan that included sustainability principles, it would build a framework that the various plans that are either underway or are coming can draw from and build on. Mr. Furfaro: Well, I believe your number, because in the beginning of this year I summarized just in my committee, and we got...we have 9 plans going on in planning at the same time. Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts, I agree. But thank you for that comment as well. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Go ahead Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Are you aware of the... about the county's investment in GIS? Ms. Zachary: Yes, absolutely. Mr. Bynum: That really is kind of coming to fruition just in the next few months. Ms. Zachary: I'm very excited to see it. Mr. Bynum: Because I think that's a tool, along with that will help us do that integration so these plans don't sit in silos and not talk to each other. So I appreciate your comments. Also, just...you've done the measuring of matters how many times? Ms. Zachary: We've done two editions, so it's the third edition that we're going to be working on. Mr. Bynum: I couldn't remember if there was a third...you're working on a third. Ms. Zachary: Yes. Mr. Bynum: But part of the value of that is having the snapshot and looking at the changes. 16 Ms. Zachary: Looking at changes over time. Mr. Bynum: And that's been helpful for the last two, so I concur with Councilmember Furfaro that it's a bargain. So thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you very much. With that, may I have the next speaker please. PAT GEGAN: For the record my name is Pat Gegan. Thank you Council Chair, Committee Chair, and Councilmembers for allowing me to testify this evening. You've got a difficult task ahead of you, there's no doubt about it. You've got a big budget, a lot of needs out there in the county, and dwindling funds. I just want to welcome you to my world too, so we know where you're at. I've given testimony over approximately the past year regarding specifically two issues. That has been waste, regarding like the bag bill, working on the three-Rs, the recycling, reduce, re-use, as well as a lot of testimony around energy, energy sustainability, looking for those types of things. Those are the two issues I'd like to just briefly go over. First, regarding the integrated solid waste management plan, again, I commend you for having the good plan, having a good plan in place, but can we try to follow it as best as we can. I concur with the people who spoke earlier, Stu, John Harder, regarding can we upgrade that recycling specialist to a coordinator, somebody who has a little bit more jurisdiction, a little bit more oomph in their job status, who can try to move us towards getting a MRF sooner. I do believe that that is one of the most important critical elements of the plan out there, so that we can do a good three-R type of plan. The next thing I'd like-to talk to and it was something that was in the energy sustainability plan, I haven't seen the final, I have seen some of the slides with their final draft, but my focus is really on the bus, okay. This evening I would have liked to take the bus, but I don't know how late I'm going to be here. I ended up driving the Prius instead. My wife uses the bus. She works at KMC and they pay for half of her bus pass every month. It's fabulous. I get her down to the bus station in the morning, then I've got the Prius to drive instead of driving a truck around all days. Days when she's got the Prius, if I can I take the bus. Like I said, if we can expand service, fund it a little bit better, especially in these hard times for Kauai residents, the bus is becoming much more important. I mean the ridership numbers show that. So anything we can do to try to implement that, get it better, get fewer cars on the road, I think is a good thing. So those are the two issues that I'd like you just to consider looking at and trying to fund fully. And again, it's hard to increase funds when everything is dwindling, so I know you really have to take a look at some of those core services that the county provides, and waste is a ]huge one, as well as transportation out there. So thank you very much. 17 Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. Any questions? Go ahead Councilmember Furfaro. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you. Pat, thank you for being here, and you know our challenge is, and we just got a update and revisiting on our revenues. We had a $153 million operating budget the previous year, and now that number is at 147. So you know, we're looking at all of these components. I did want to share with you, on the energy and transportation sustainability plan where we're at, just so that you know, we're looking at a resolution that will identify certain committee chair people to pursue these recommendations. For example, we'll be talking to Councilmember Kawahara who handles transportation to specifically look at some of the key components that are in the plan that reference the expansion of the bus. And fortunately for us, every year for the last three years we've been able to expand the bus, and now we've got a much more viable piece that's in a test mode piece of equipment that's more energy conscious. We also are working with the administration on some incentive pieces that are in the plan as it relates to the tax base for encouraging other types of energy investments to come in, but by enticing them with some kind of understanding about a seven year return on investment with their tax base where they invest. So that's what's happening with the energy sustainability plan. And you know, most important is, you know, we're at a point that we have to really evaluate our reserves right now, and that's why I brought the subject up earlier, because although our legislative team did a wonderful job in keeping $11.8 million towards us from the transient accommodations tax, you know, we have to find ourselves first of all thanking them, and I mean the whole legislature, but secondly, being prepared. If the economy doesn't turn in a year, we may have to have a firmer and more transparent understanding of what do we put aside as a reserve. So you're right, our job's pretty tough based on the presentation made to us by the mayor. Mr. Gegan: Definitely. Mr. Furfaro: But those parts are still on the horizon, and there will be time to participate. So...especially on the sustainability plans. Mr. Gegan: Wonderful. Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you. With that, can I have the next speaker please. Mr. Nakamura: Mr. Chair, prior to calling the next speaker who will be speaking on the Spouting Horn concessions issue... Mr. Kaneshiro: Do we have Mr. Downs also signed up to speak? Mr. Nakamura: Yes, we do have Dr. Downs... 18 Mr. Kaneshiro: On the funding issue? Mr. Nakamura: On -the funding issue, yes. Mr. Kaneshiro: We'll go ahead and recognize Mr. I3own.s at this time, then I'll have you read the other notice of public hearing. MONTY DOWNS: Good afternoon Council Chair and Committee Chair and Couricilmembers, and Happy Cinco de Mayo. This isn't where I thought I'd be on my day off on Cinco de Mayo, but really appreciate the opportunity to testify today. My name is Monty Downs. I'm a ER doctor at Wilcox Hospital and co-chair of the Kauai water safety task force. I gave you all the map, kind of our infamous...I guess we could call it our Kauai drowning map, and there's a lot more information on it than we can cover in three minutes. But t~iere's a couple things I want to point out. Mr. Kaneshiro: You have six... six minutes. Dr. Downs: Couple things I want to point out. One is each dot is a person, is a mother, a father, a son or daughter, husband or wife, so tine second thing though I'd like you to look at is the box in the upper left corner here which compares traffic deaths to drowning deaths, and since 1990 we've had 166 drowning deaths as compared to 144 traffic deaths. These are numbers that I'd get from the police department, official numbers, and that's the basis for the statement when you hear me make the statement-drowning is the number one cause of trauma deaths on Kauai. That's where I'm coming from. The ocean is relentless, and I :feel that we have to be relentless in our attention to it to try to make it safer for our people and for our visitors. I applaud the county tremendously for all the work that... and financial commitment the county has made towards increasing lifeguard services over- the years. When-I came here in the 70s; I believe-there were 3 lifeguards on Kauai, in the 80s there were 11, and now we have 45. So... and I'd love to be able to tell you that along with that our drowning have gone from 9 a year to 3 a year; I can't tell you that, we're still like, say the ocean is relentless, and today it's out there with its rip currents and waiting for its next unsuspecting victim. So basically my testimony is to not furlough lifeguards, and to consider them as essential public safety workers on the level with police and fire who aren't getting furloughed, and I'm glad they're not getting furloughed. Their union set up does not allow them to be furloughed at this time, ,and while the lifeguard unions set up makes them extremely vulnerable. But my feeling is very strong, the lifeguards, with these numbers I've shown you, are as essential as police and fire and in public safety, and should not be furloughed. If the day comes that police and fire are furloughed, I will certainly actually withdraw my testimony and accept lifeguards along with the other public safety officers. But at this point I feel that lifeguards deserve to be on the same page. Thank you. 19 ~~ Mr. Kaneshiro: Okay, with that, I'll go ahead and open it up for questions from my committee members. Mr. Furfaro go ahead. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you Chair. Monty, first of all, thank you for all you do for us in our community when it comes to water safety; I've sat that in past years and I sincerely wanted to say that again. Dr. Downs: You're welcome. Mr. Furfaro: I do want to point out to you, though, you're correct that there are no furloughs anticipated in the fire department and/or the police department in this current submittal of the budget. But that is based oin the fact that they have one more year on their negotiated contract, but it doesn't rnean that in this current budget, they have 8 positions that are unfilled and they're only dollar funded. There's 8 police officer positions at one dollar, and the same with this new recruit class of firefighters,, there are 8 positions. I totally agree with you about public safety as it goes along with police, fire, the lifeguard staffing, as well as civil defense. I mean those are the principal duties in .government providing that, but we are attempting... If you take from our audit a...our surplus of $32 million, you know, everybody thinks it's a very big number, but the reality is the 3~2 million, 14 of it starts this current budget. In other words, we've taken from there to start the current budget. Then we also are suggesting an emergency $2 milliorn to be set aside for other upcoming unexpected totals, and then we find ourselves going to a very low reserve of may eleven. and a half percent for next year. But it sill leaves us a small amount at the end, and I think we would like to, and I'm going to say. it again, thank the legislature for preserving our TAT. But I think we're trying to get to a point that we can look at maybe getting furloughs down to one day, but it's very premature at this time, because as they certified the tax income for this. year, we lost another $460,000, which is not public yet, but you know tax roll dropped us another half a million dollars. But I did want to say that there are these police and fire vacancies that are only dollar funded, and I will do what I can to support those areas-lifeguard, police, fire, civil defense, because they are critical duties of government, and I hope you can be assured that I'll try to do whatever I can in those areas with life safety. Dr. Downs: Well thank you. I want to reiterate what other speakers who are testifiers have said today, ,and that is I don't .envy your position making the budget decisions that you have to make in this economy. So jjust want to make sure that I say what I feel I have to say. The ocean's relentless, a'nd I have to be relentless, and we're working on a lot of different levels trying to do what we do, including volunteer projects that have very thankfully been extremely successful this year,. and as well as the government. funded.:.tremendous government funded support. So my...in away my...what I'm asking for, yes it's dollars and cents, but a lot of it's also philosophical-commitment to this essential public worker. R 20 Mr. Furfaro: But you heard my statement-I will do; in those areas what I can. But let me ask you, what is the outcome with the State on the Ke`e funding for those shared lifeguards? Dr. Downs: It's day to day. I have not heard that they're taking the money away, and o£..asked our State legislators, representatives anal Senator Hooser, to please watch this with an eagle eye, but I have... at least I can say that it hasn't been taken away. So every day it goes by I'm cautiously optimistic that we're not going to lose the funding for Ke`e. Mr. Furfaro: And thank you for recognizing this council that over, at least the 8 ,years that I've on the council, we've gotten the life safety department up to 44, I think...44 or 45. Dr. Downs: Forty-five, yeah... and equipment is just incredible, really. Mr. Furfaro: Jet skis and storage... But thank 'you for recognizing that. Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Kaneshiro: Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Thank you Dr. Downs for your testimony today. Are you aware that during the budget hearings the administration said they intend to furlough every HGEA and UPW member for two days, regardless of their job duties? Dr. Downs: Yes, I am. Mr. Bynum: And_so I_find that very interesting•that we wouldn't look at what their responsibilities were, what their operations entailed, bi~fore we would make that decision, and it was kind of based on, well you know ,we want to keep everybody in fairness. But I think you pointed out really well that water safety officer peers, they're fire fighters...they're in the fire department, and their peers are not subject to furlough, and so I want to... I also want to thank you. I like the word you're using-relentless, because I think it applies to yourself as well in that you've been relentless in your advocacy for this issue in so many ways, and you kind of made reference to the water safety apparatus volunteer project ghat has paid real dividends this year, and that is something that perhaps we couldn't do that needed to be in the volunteer spirit. So I'm very appreciative of those;. But I want to let you know that the public safety workers, and that's...tlie public safety workers at the police department that work in the jail cells, the watei,~ safety officers, and the dispatchers are my top priority to try to address in this next, budget session. I don't think it is wise- at all to furlough them at all. So thank yoyz for all your efforts. 21 Dr. Downs: Thank you. Could I respond a little bit? Yeah, I was very sorry...I think that testimony was April 20 and I had a real job that day, so I wasn't able to testify at that...where it came about the HGEA two furloughs and UPW. I do think there's a basis by which to exempt lifeguards from other HGEA workers. Number one, when the strike took place, and I think it was in 1994 or something like that, the lifeguards were not allowed to strike, so... And the second thing I point to that makes them different than other HGEA workers is they're subject to mandatory drug testing, so there are ways in which lifeguards are already separated from other HGEA members, and I'd love to see, even though I have a lot of friends that are HGEA while collar workers, I would also like to see lifeguards separate in this furlough matter as well. Mr. Bynum: And Dr. Downs, you make a really good point I hadn't thought of that in '94 when there was a strike we said, hey wait a minute, some of you are essential to public safety and you're not going to be allowed to strike. But now we're making a provision based on fiscal matters, and we're not making that same distinction about... That's a really good point. I worked for the State of Hawaii at that time, and I was deemed an essential worker, and I wasn't. I was not an essential worker, so some of those decisions were political, and so that's a really good point I hadn't thought o£ And if you think about, it's like, you know, the logic applied in'94, it should apply as well now. Dr. Downs: Well, I hope so. Yeah. Mr. Bynum: Thank you. Mr. Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Mr. Downs? Questions? Mr. Furfaro: No, I want to make a statement. I want everybody to be reminded that the provision of striking has been taken away and (inaudible). Mr. Kaneshiro: Yeah, but I don't want to get into that discussion at this point. Mr. Furfaro: I understand, but I want to be sure we're pointing out the current status, not the 1994 status. Mr. Kaneshiro: So...I mean you know, the issue on the table is what Mr. Downs has talked about about, you know, concerns about the lifeguards. Mr. Furfaro: I understand, Chair, but I want you to know that Mr. Downs pointed out as if the lifeguards were isolated, and that is not the case in 2010. Mr. Kaneshiro: With that, can I have the next speaker please. Okay. So on the budget side I would like to note for the record that I do have some 22 written testimonies. A written testimony from Andrea Brower, Linda Dobra, also written testimony from David Sutton, and Malama Kauai, and JoAnn Yukimura. So we will make that part of our record today for public testimony. At this time Mr. Clerk, can you read the other three bills of notice of public hearing that we have before us this evening? There being no further testimony on these matters, the public hearing adjourned at 6:17 p.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk 23