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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/07/2014 Public hearing transcript re RES#2014-11, BILL#2537, BILL#2538 PUBLIC HEARING MAY 7, 2014 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Jay Furfaro, Chair, Committee of the Whole, on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, at 5:07 p.m., at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Room 201, Historic County Building, Lihu`e, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Mason K. Chock, Sr. Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Jay Furfaro Excused: Honorable Mel Rapozo The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: 1. Resolution No. 2014-11 — RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2014 TO JUNE 30, 2015 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI 2. Bill No. 2537 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2014 TO JUNE 30, 2015 (Mayor's Operating Budget) 3. Bill No. 2538 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2014 TO JUNE 30, 2015 (Mayor's CIP Budget)," which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on March 27, 2014, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on April 3, 2014. The following communications were received for the record: 1. Joan Levy, dated May 6, 2014 2. Julian Miller, dated May 6, 2014 3. Bruna Stude, dated May 7, 2014 4. Marj Dente, dated May 7, 2014 5. Reve E. Solomon, dated May 7, 2014 6. Tad Miura, dated May 7, 2014 PUBLIC HEARING 3 MAY 7, 2014 unemployment has decreased, the job count is up, and until very recently the tourism count was up, home prices are coming back up, and many young people, even more young people than before are choosing to go to two (2) and four (4) year colleges and their readiness for college is improving. But there are some real major causes for concern that I think that I really wanted to call to you attention before you begin your deliberations. There is a growing gap between the higher and the lower ends of our economic scale. While median incomes are going up, they are not keeping pace with inflation and people are really struggling to try to make ends meet. We are trying to stretch that dollar as far as we can. Poverty rate is up. About one in five (1:5) of our children are living in poverty, eighteen percent (18%). The need for emergency food is increasing along with a number of people who are homeless, cases of child abuse and neglect are up, violent and property related crimes are up. Those are real causes for concern and I hope you will that you will think about that as you think about some of the decisions you are making moving forward. So the report offers a lot more information, more detail and graphs and charts and all of that, but still as an island we are pretty resilient. The aloha spirit is still strong, more that fifty-one percent (51%) say it is as strong or stronger than ever. We are really very pleased to be able to provide this document which is the fourth edition, we do them every two (2) year. This last document cost us fifty-four thousand five hundred dollars ($54,500) to produce. We used three (3) different consultants as well as our own staff to produce it. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Ms. Zachary: The County provided... Chair Furfaro: Diane, may I interrupt you for a minute? Ms. Zachary: Yes you may. Chair Furfaro: Just because this is such an important document, and at the discretion of the Chairman, I will go ahead and give you an additional three (3) minutes, and I also want to ask that you please consider providing this presentation at the beginning of the budget cycle in the future. Go right ahead. Ms. Zachary: But you are not making decisions yet so that is good thing. Chair Furfaro: That is only until Tuesday. Ms. Zachary: We really appreciate the County's support for this document. It has really been very critical. We received twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in County support this year, but as I mentioned, the document costs fifty-four thousand five hundred dollars ($54,500) so I know the PUBLIC HEARING 5 MAY 7, 2014 supporting artist and creative people. Some of the things we are thinking that will help grow this and help the economic development of our island being that things like the arts that have been happening in Kapa'a for art night. We would like to support that on a bigger scale. Part of it is considering a...one of the things we were thinking of is to consider hiring an arts and culture commissioner for the Office of Economic Development. This could be in partnership with the current film commissioner. We think that as artist and creative people we can bring as much money in. We would like an arts center. We believe that having a central place to do creative work, to teach, to host events, open up the community and visitors to the artist in the community. We think this could be a big economic boom. One of the things that the Americans for the Arts decided when they were creating the prosperity floor plan that I talk about in this proposal. One of the things they sighted, they saw that one hundred thirty-two billion dollars ($132,000,000,000) were created in arts, non-profit arts organizations alone. If you divide this up into fifty (50) States it equals two billion six million dollars ($2,600,000,000) and we know that is not really...every State is different but I also got their report for Hawai`i and the arts were pretty strong. They have a total attendance for arts and culture events were over two million (2,000,000). The revenue created was one hundred and twenty-six million five hundred four thousand dollars ($126,504,000) which is a huge substantial amount of money and this is just for the State of Hawaii. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Ms. Cowan: So we believe this is a really important part of economic development growth for Kauai. Another thing is that the one percent (1%) for the arts program, similar to the State Foundation of Culture in the Arts... . Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, Kat. Ms. Cowan: Yes. Chair Furfaro: I will let you summarize if you can do it in one (1) minute. If not I will give you another three (3) but after everybody else speaks. Would you like the minute to summarize or would you come back? Ms. Cowan: Yes, I would. Chair Furfaro: You will have the minute. Then go ahead. Ms. Cowan: What I would like to propose, I know you have a lot on your plate this next year. We would like to propose some kind of feasibility study in the form of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) to go towards developing arts and culture. We would like to continue this discussion and we have PUBLIC HEARING 7 MAY 7, 2014 cultivating a sense of place so a place for our island residents from kids to seniors to share in the experience of art. A place for visitors to engage and relish in our art culture, see art being made, participate in the process of making art, have stories to take home about our island art scene. A place to nurture ideas and a place to provide a foundation for a variety of art activity. Speaking to what Kat said about the Kapa'a art scene, so we envision an art center in Lihue could be a launching pad for a Lihue art night and a bustling art district. A place in the heart of our island to learn, do, and share because art really does matter. It is vital and it enriches the human experience. My personal experience with art here, I have been an artist in Hawaii for over two (2) decades. My specialty is clothing, fashion, wearable arts, and interior design. I am fascinated by functional art and the way we chose to dress ourselves everyday when we go to work, the way we adorn our home, and our lifestyle. I was an artist in residence at the St. Regis for three (3) years and I had this wonderful experience of everyday I would interact with the visitors to the island. They would watch me create my line of handbags that I make out of recycled and vintage fabrics. They would sit and talk to me, ask me questions about what it is like to live on Kaua`i, how long have I lived here, where do I get my fabrics. They have this chance to take home this product that they saw being made and in some cases it would be specifically for them. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Ms. Tjarks: I envision an art center to be something like that. Chair Furfaro: That is your three (3) minutes but I will give you another minute if you want to summarize. Ms. Tjarks: The only other thing, I am here in support of the various other proposals being put in front of you and to see how we can all tie this all together and so The Kaua`i Art Factory has put out a community questionaire to everyone on the island, adults and kids. Asking them what they would like to see in our community if an art center would develop in Lihue. So we would like to give you access to the results. We have seventy-one (71) filled out questioners so far and we would like to present each of you with a questionaire. Chair Furfaro: Thank you. We do not have to fill it out now though right? Ms. Tjarks: It could be homework. You could get it back to us later. Chair Furfaro: We will get it back to you. PUBLIC HEARING 9 MAY 7, 2014 And I am just going to give you a little background on the arts on Kauai up to a certain period. I have been active in the arts...my name is Carol Ann Davis by the way. I have been active in the Kauai Arts and Cultural community for fifty (50) years since 1963. I am going to present a little of the past history of the arts so you can see how important it is for the County of Kauai to promote the arts on our island. In 1964, I was elected president of the Kauai Art Group formerly Na Penakii 0 Kauai which none of you have ever heard of. I suspect Jean Gregg, Pat Matsumoto and myself are the only people remaining from that group. I chaired the group until 1969. Our first building, we have had five (5), was across the street from the Haleko Shops and was donated by American Factors (AMFAC). We eventually had to move when they developed the present building. We moved to the Rice Street building where the banyan tree is now which was owned by American Factors. AMFAC sponsored several exhibitions for us which was held in the space housing in front of the present Planning Department and the tax offices. We also held numerous community workshops and meetings in that building. In 1966 Mayor Antone Vidinah formed the Kauai Community Arts Council, a County Commission on the Arts. It was like the Charter Commission, it was actual County Commission. I was elected the first Chairperson and Aleta Kaohi was the secretary. We set up the first Arts Council. The Council included twenty-five (25) members and I could not find it. I only found out about this meeting yesterday and I could not find all of the members names but it included the Kauai Art Group, David Stem, of the performing arts, Mr. Yamane of the Japanese Dance Group, Jose Bulatao of the newly formed Filipino dance group, Mr. Bob Oda, The Japanese Bonsai Society, and many others. The Kauai Community Arts Council was an official County Commission. It was advised by the newly formed, statewide, State Foundation of Culture and the Arts, brilliantly chaired by Alfred Preis. At the same time Kauai Council led by Shigeomi Kubota, helped fund several Kauai cultural events like the first Hanmatsuri day which is the flower festival in Japan, which was held at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. The Bonsai Society, The Ikibana Society and Mr. Yamane's Japanese Dance troop participated in that festival. I worked closely with the Kauai Council to help fund this event. Mayor Anton Vidinha, assisted by Tad Miura worked closely with the Kauai Art Group in setting up an exhibition space in the lobby of the newly opened Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall. The Kauai County Council helped us to purchase hanging devices and stands for sculptures so we were able to have our first juried arts shop in 1968. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Chair Furfaro: Carol, on that note. You only finished the front page of your testimony but I am going to go ahead and give your three (3) minutes now. So continue reading. PUBLIC HEARING 11 MAY 7, 2014 Ms. Davis: ...to the arts groups in the sixties (60's). There is no money available or not much. Please reestablish the Community Arts Commission like we had in the sixties (60's) under the Vidinha Administration. We also have needed an arts center on Kaua`i for half a century. Please help us. Chair Furfaro: Carol, thank you very much for this documented history. Ms. Davis: Well this is just a little bit of it. Chair Furfaro: A little bit of it but I do want you to know some of us are aware of that because my wife was a member of Winona Beamer's halau when they were here along with Berry Yap. Ms. Davis: You were? Chair Furfaro: Yes. That was 1973, yes? Ms. Davis: Yes. That is incredible. Chair Furfaro: I just remembered that. She was a young lady then. Ms. Davis: Well the guys never danced until she came here. Incredible. Anyhow, we need an Arts Council like we had in the sixties (60's). Chair Furfaro: Thank you. This was a very interesting piece. Thank you. Ms. Davis: Thank you. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Chair, the next speaker is Romey Curtis followed by R. Eve Solomon. Chair Furfaro: Aloha. Welcome. ROMEY CURTIS: Good evening. Thank you for your time. My name is Romey Curtis and I am the President of Women In Theater which we are customarily known as WIT. I am here in support of the idea of an arts center. I think it would serve all of our arts so profoundly and in particularly I am thinking with your support and partial funding we could keep prices for tickets down because that is a big thing for me, that everybody should be able to afford to come to the theater, not just be exclusive. Just in passing I have mentioned that Kauai PUBLIC HEARING 13 MAY 7, 2014 MARJ DENTE: Aloha and thank you for having us to give testimony. My name is Marj Dente, I live in the Waipouli ahupua a. I am in complete agreement with my artistic (inaudible) here to include in this year's budget some arts and crafts cultural requirements that we have needed for a long, long time. I have been an artist since I was a year old. My mother told me that I made designer mud pies by putting food coloring in my mud pies and I wish that all artist here on this community whether they are fine artist, filmmakers, photographers, musicians can finally have a home place for their beautiful work that is exhibited here and performed here all of the time. We need a gallery space large enough for large gatherings, mounted shows, small performing arts and music events for a rental fee therefore income. A meeting space for community meetings for a rental fee. At least two (2) classrooms for a rental fee. A library of donated books on artistic craft, performing arts film, photography, music subjects and I suggest a broadcast studio for our Kaua`i community radio, KKCR to allow the opportunity for live artistic programming. The perfect place for such a facility in my opinion would be in the old Big Save building, close to other visitor locations such as the Kaua`i Museum. Even though County offices have been recommended for this space they could be elsewhere. The alternative viable place would be the old Kauai Police Department building. This project and facility, once completed should be budgeted for one (1) full-time manager in my opinion and one (1) part-time administrative assistant/volunteer coordinator. Please consider the long overdue need for such a facility on Kaua`i. The professional and nonprofessional artist, crafters and musicians have carried the burden to display their talents entirely too long on Kaua`i without substantial financial assistance from the County government and again thank you very much for your consideration. Aloha. Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Marj. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Next speaker is William Arakaki followed by Carol Yotsuda. WILLIAM "BILL" ARAKAKI: Good evening. My name is Bill Arakaki, I am the Complex Area Superintendent for the Department of Education, Kauai. I am here in support of the Keiki to Career Initiative. As Diane Zachary presented this is a unique effort for Kaua`i where Keiki to Career is from birth to careers meaning how do we support our families and children to be ready to learn and ready for life. Prior to this in January 2012 we met with the Principals, Vice Principals, Athletic Directors to ask what are the key areas they need support in from community, business, families, and so on? So the key areas that came up was parent training and education, mentorships, internships, apprenticeships, and externships, accessible, affordable, and coordinated childcare, after school programs, community wide emphasis and/or campaign on the importance of education, technology for every student and resources aligned directly towards PUBLIC HEARING 15 MAY 7, 2014 different models for decision making. These are just examples of how this initiative realigns with what I need to do in my system and my schools and with my teachers, principals, and with families. I ask that you continue to support and thank you so much for supporting the early efforts with Keiki to Career and many others that you support that is related to the education of our children and families here. So thank you so much. Chair Furfaro: Bill, I do have a question for you. Did you reference Po`okela as... Mr. Arakaki: It is called Ho`okele. The world wide tour with the Hokule`a. Ho`okele means navigation. As a leader I need to navigate and be able to see that vision to that. Chair Furfaro: I got it now. I thought you said Po`okela. Very good. Ke ano wa`a, keep the canoe straight. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The last speaker is Carol Yotsuda. Chair Furfaro: Welcome Carol. CAROL YOTSUDA: Hi. I am Carol Yotsuda, I am the Volunteer Executive Director for the Garden Island Arts Council and we have been busy since 1977. I have been involved with the arts for forty-four years in many volunteer capacities but mostly as coordinators for programs. Presently I am doing a twice a month calendar that goes out to four thousand five hundred (4,500) people and that gets forwarded many times over. I am sure many of you get my relentless e-mails so anyway because of this I have a pretty good finger on the pulse of the art community and not only the art community but business and so on because a lot of them send me things that they want to have go out to the community. My own involvement with the idea of the arts center has some highlights and I would like to point out those highlights to you. In the year 1980 we had for eleven (11) months a center right behind the Shell Service Station because the developer, Blackwell allowed us to fix up the place and so we had over fifteen (15) exhibition in that eleven (11) month period and some of the exhibitions were world class, I think for Kauai. The artists said that was the best year that we enjoyed because of the energy that was built. In 1997 till about 2002 Kukui Grove allowed us to use the old JC Penny building and when we first went in we were discouraged because the vender/shop owners would say "Welcome to Kukui Grave" and we were kind of shocked at that but we were very busy during that time doing about maybe ten to fifteen (10-15) exhibitions a year and it started to bring the community there and it was very busy all the time that we were that but we had to give the space up because it became Macy's or Liberty House oratever. We had no space after that but artist are like termites, you just cannot keep them down they are here to stay so PUBLIC HEARING 17 MAY 7, 2014 Chair Furfaro: Carol, may I ask you, in the future when you reference the capacity at the Kauai Beach, you need to cap it at five hundred forty-five (545). That is the building code, okay, and as the General Manager (GM) there for thirteen (13) years... Ms. Yotsuda: Only once we went over. Chair Furfaro: Okay, thank you, Carol. Is there anyone else that has not spoken that wishes to sign up and speak now? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Chair, we have one (1) more speaker that is registered, Tora Kaufman Smart. Chair Furfaro: Okay. Tora, why do you not come up and if there is anyone else that wishes to speak please sign up now. TORA KAUFMAN SMART: Thank you. I was not intending to speak. I had written a letter and I believe that was submitted by Kat Cowan, this is also my first time being here and speaking for you, so I am a bit nervous and thank you for the moment. Chair Furfaro: Did you introduce yourself? Ms. Smart: My name is Tora Kaufman Smart. I was raised here. I attended Island School in its early days. My mother was a founding mother. That was in the Kealia days. I remember campaigning for you, JoAnn Yukimura when I was seven (7) years old, knocking on doors. Chair Furfaro: Seven (7) years old? Ms. Smart: Yes, in Kapa`a. I eventually left to go to school, boarding school because at the time Island School was not fully developed. I finished high school and went to a University and always returned home here on all my trips, on all of my vacations. I consider Kauai my home. I went on to a University, I got my Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, I have worked as a school psychologist for (inaudible) Unified School District and then I returned back here ten (10) years ago with my husband and my four (4) year old son. I always felt that at some point my son would out grow Kaua`i. He is now fourteen (14). I am now a small business owner in Hanalei. I have a hair salon and a gift boutique. I use my psychology skills in my boutique and my salon with sixteen (16) women and we create a livelihood for sixteen (16) families out in the north shore. My main focus is being a mother of a fourteen (14) year old son here. My son attends Island School now, he is a freshman and he loves living here and his age group I see if you are not an athlete, if you do not have a passion that is driving you motivation every PUBLIC HEARING 19 MAY 7, 2014 what those dollars allow us do to is take the State and local funding that we received and really expand the work into the four (4) major focus areas. So just to name a few, The Learning Coalition, I want to recognize them as an anchor funder. They have been with us from the very beginning. I had the first conversation when we started to dream about what it could look like just as the woman mentioned earlier when we create an island that really nurtures and supports our youth from the time that they are born all the way until they are careered and really our mission is to unite the community around that process and the vision that we have is that youth, when they reach adulthood are healthy, confident, confident, and caring. And that is no short order, that takes all of us really working together so I want to take The Learning Coalition for their support and I believe that Matt Lauren will be submitting his written of support to the Council for your consideration. I also want to recognize the Hawai`i Community Fund. They have been instrumental in connecting us with donors who have similar desires to support youth in different ways. We are here to change the way we do business and to really think about expanding those supports beyond just what happens in the schools which is very, very important but also what happens at home and what happens throughout the entire community. And so both the Marisla Fund and the Atherton Family Foundation have come in to support a particular area that I want to highlight which is around shared measures. Having a dream is important, having a vision is important, but measuring our progress and holding ourselves accountable as a community for how we help young people grow is important. And I want to report that we have made great strides in this area. We have been meeting with a collection of different thought partners and leaders to think about what are the measures that we want to hang our hat on and hold ourselves accountable for and the first is making sure that all of our keiki are kindergarten ready. When they walk in the door they are ready to learn and so we have been working in partnership with the Department of Education to measure that and report that on an annual basis and more importantly to learn from it. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Three (3) minutes. Ms. Gillette: And the other important measures...I realized that is a really fast three (3) minutes. Just to mention academic success, third grade reading, eighth and eleventh grade reading, math and science and then most...well equally important college and career readiness. So thank you for your consideration, for your previous support and I hope you will continue to be a funding partner with us. Chair Furfaro: Is there anyone else yet to speak at the public hearing portion? Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Yes, there is another registered speaker, Pat Griffin. PUBLIC HEARING 21 MAY 7, 2014 the County of Kauai. We also have a possibility or opportunities with the Filipino community who is planning a facility, a cultural facility whose theme is a place for all. So there are some things out there on the radar screen. I would encourage you to continue to work with George. I heard what you said about maybe a grant to get this started but in my twelve (12) years on the Council, I want to be very honest with you and do not want to over promise this year and then under deliver. This is the toughest financial period, I think the County has gone through during my time on the Council and we potentially will be short by seven million seven hundred thousand dollars ($7,700,000) for our operating budget. But I want to thank you for your testimony. Those red flags that I put up...please continue you focus and support and I believe this Council understands the value of what you talked about today. Thank you very much. On that note...we have one statement that has to be read. To the Clerk's Office. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Pursuant to Section 5A-6.3 of the Kaua`i County Code 1987, as amended, the Kaua`i County Council hereby announces its intention to fix the Real Property Tax Rates for Fiscal Year 2014-2015 on May 28, 2014 at 9:00 a.m., or soon thereafter in the Council Chambers located at 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii. • Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Jade. I got a little bit ahead of myself but that statement needed to be read. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at 6:09 p.m. • -spectfully submitted, JAD Jr : . • TAIN-TANIGAWA Dep County Clerk :lm