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Home My WebLink About02/06/2015 Special Council minutes - Workshop SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 6, 2015 The Special Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by Council Chair Mel Rapozo at the Kaua`i Civil Defense Agency, 3990 Ka'ana Street, Suite 100, Lihu`e, Kauai, on Friday, February 6, 2015 at 9:24 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Ross Kagawa (present at 10:23 a.m.) Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Mel Rapozo Others present: Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr., Mayor Nadine K. Nakamura, Managing Director Ricky Watanabe, County Clerk Jade K. Fountain-Tanigawa, Deputy County Clerk Mauna Kea Trask, County Attorney Linda Colburn, Facilitator APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Councilmember Kuali`i moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by Councilmember Chock, and unanimously carried (Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present). PUBLIC TESTIMONY. Public testimony for this facilitated workshop will be taken at the beginning of the workshop at approximately 9:00 a.m. or soon thereafter. There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 9:29 a.m. The meeting was called back to order at 9:37 a.m., and proceeded as follows: GARY PIERCE: Mr. Pierce testified on the importance of the County being fiscally responsible, not taxing residents out of their homes, and ensuring that the reserve not be depleted due to financial mismanagement. KEN TAYLOR: Mr. Taylor expressed his displeasure on the location of the Shared Priorities Workshop being held at the Civil Defense Agency and had wished that the Workshop was held at a location more open to the public. Mr. Taylor felt that the topics being discussed are important to the community and that everyone should be allowed to participate in the discussion. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 9:44 a.m. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 2 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP The meeting was called back to order at 9:45 a.m., and proceeded as follows: GLENN MICKENS: Mr. Mickens expressed his concerns with the condition of the County roads, the need for tax reform, and inquired as to what happened to the Tax Force recommendations that were presented to the Council in previous years. PUANANI RODGERS: Ms. Rogers expressed her support of the Hawaiian culture and any initiative to preserve cultural places and practices. Ms. Rogers thanked the County for the work that they have done to preserve the Hawaiian culture with the moku signage and urged the County to continue making preservation of the Hawaiian culture a top priority. JOE ROSA: Mr. Rosa stated his displeasure for the urgency that the County is placing in fixing the roadways and in maintaining the various roads, buildings, and assets of the County. Mr. Rosa encouraged the Administration and the Council to implement the recommendations that were set forth in the audits conducted by the Office of the County Auditor and to put in place a preventative maintenance plan to assure that our assets are taken care of. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP: The group separated into three (3) smaller groups for discussion. The groups were asked to evaluate the mission statement and core values for the County of Kaua`i and the Kaua`i County Council and agree upon which values they feel they could support as being desired or is actually displayed by the County of Kauai. Councilmember Chock: The last part that Councilmember Kaneshiro brought up is that because of the adversity at the table, there is often a lot of ideas that are represented or shared that would otherwise not be there. We are all the same. It is more of a natural thing, you know? Those are the points from our group. The one thing that we thought we could work on most, again is kuleana. I think the thing that stood out to us in the description is accountability in sharing and communicating information to make better decisions. Whether they be written or spoken we feel that there could be more follow through. Councilmember Kuali`i: Consistent, clear, and timely. Councilmember Chock: Yes. So seeing the initiatives all the way through to the specific actions. What we also saw was that trust was embedded in this value and we believe it is a key component, to be responsible for each other and to each other and all of the offices. That could be something we could work on more. Ms. Colburn: Any observations about that? These different choices. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 3 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: I wanted to share that the Mayor gave a very specific example of kaulike as a more needed behavior. I appreciated both his candor and his specificity. He said that often when the Administration brings forth different ideas or programs sometimes the way that it is received is not very open. Correct me if I am wrong Mayor. I have seen it. We have seen both behaviors. Sometimes when it is very open and very welcoming and affirmative. There are other times where there is kind of an assumption that the program is bad and there is not respectful listening. Please speak up Mayor if I am not being accurate. I appreciate this exercise because it is so easy for people to say that "I value this and this is my value and..." We have no idea what are the real behaviors that demonstrate or embrace that value. That was one and the other one that I raised was as an example of not respecting diversity and opinions was the rule where a Councilmember can only speak twice on an issue on the final round of discussion. I feel that it often squelches the minority viewpoint. The majority feels that they know it all already and they have decided. It is not based on whether the issue is relevant or repetitive or whatever, it is just like you only have two times to talk and that is it. In Robert's Rules of Order, it says that the purpose of the rules is one, to make sure that the majority prevails, but also to make sure that the minority is heard or has a chance to give opinion. That is why in Robert's Rules, it takes a super majority to stop debate. This two time rule is stopping debate, very arbitrarily. I believe it stops diversity of discussion and opinion...and full discussion. That was an example. The Chair did not report on that piece and that is another thing about when we have ideas that we do not want to listen to it and still you know...give it its due too. These are hard things for me to say right now, but I am taking that this is what our discussion is all about right now. It is about honest communication and speaking about the things that are both troubling as well as both affirming and wonderful. Ms. Colburn: One (1) more comment from each group, and that constituted one for the soprano section. Altos, if somebody from Nadine's group happens to value what the Mayor really wants to say. Councilmember Kagawa: There was one (1) instance when Councilmember Yukimura wanted to speak a third time and Councilmember Hooser had already used his two (2) opportunities. I gave minutes from my time because I was done speaking, and she did speak a third time. So, there are times, I think, when Councilmembers have agreement that we can extend that second time where there is opportunity for that third opportunity, but I think when we did the Rules, it was meant that each Councilmember can strategize their speaking, I guess, opportunities so that we can get done. If the first time they want to say something and they get rebutted by another Councilmember, then they would strategically use their second opportunity to make their point. I think we feel like if there is disagreement the debate could go on endlessly. At some point, there needs to be some kind of conclusion. It is not to squelch people from saying their viewpoints. It is just play under some rules, the same rules, and it is up to you as Councilmembers to strategize your moments. Ms. Colburn: That is certainly an option given how it is at the moment, but you said something earlier and you said, "Oh, this kind of comes with the business. This comes with the trade." But you do not have to be as good as anybody else. You can choose to be different. You can craft policies and practices that are both efficient and get the decisions done relatively quickly so you do not spend all of your time in meetings. The other is so that people kind of collectively get to a point where they are ready to make the decision and if they are not on the prevailing side, that is okay. It is like sometimes that happens and you cannot bend the rest of the SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 4 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP group to the will. The downside to that practice is it can limit debate, it assumes that everybody is at the same place in terms of understanding, and as a practical matter that is not usually the case. Somebody who has more if an engineering background might know a lot more about highway design issues and Federal grant requirements relating to Federal funds. That does not mean that the person who does not know it is not valuable as a member of the group. It just means that the more of you who get to the same place at the same time and by same place meaning we have pretty much covered it all and I am going to be pragmatic. This is what it is. Call for the question. So, you do not have to necessarily hamstring yourselves. All I am pointing out as I said earlier, there is no short cut to getting smart about the issues and arriving at shared understandings. Some of that can be handled by information flow, but a lot of it, we are talking it through. There is a book called The Mutiny Message Down Under. It is about a western physician who goes to speak at a conference in Australia. She gets there and there is no conference. A person who is kind of ragged looking picks her up and says he was there to get her. So, she goes with this person. He tells her to leave behind all of her material possessions when they get to the destination and they are going to take her on a walkabout which is where people walk, think, process, and work on things in their heads. As a matter of fact, they use chants as a way of marking the miles. So, the genealogy chant. Whatever verse you are on usually corresponds to a point of space and the distance. One of the highest principles of these Aboriginal groups was that you go as fast as the slowest person in the group. So, you do not leave the kupuna behind because they are frail and they cannot walk as fast. The higher principle; if ohana is the thing that you are referencing is a strength, the higher principle is you get there as close together as you can even if you do not have a unanimous outcome. It means that people who want to keep beating a dead horse stop doing that and acknowledge that they are going to move onto the next thing, and it means people who are just counting votes may have to work a little harder to make their case so that people genuinely go willingly on that particular walk. Two (2) points, one, you can craft your processes any way you want and that may be something to revisit at another time. Two, you can be better than other groups that are also politicians, in elected office. You can be better than Congress. My gosh, they have been at it for a long time some of them. So, it is not about being as good as. It is about being how you want to be. If these principles are important to you, then it seems it would make sense to figure out ways to manifest them as a group. It is not easy things, but if you do not get explicit about it, it is just not going to happen. I have a very quick thing I want to distribute if I can. This is a... Council Chair Rapozo: Can we take a couple minute break? Ms. Colburn: Sure. Council Chair Rapozo: Are you on a scheduled time? Do we have a scheduled break? Ms. Colburn: Just two (2) more minutes. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay, that is fine. Ms. Colburn: I want to distribute this. It is not a test per se, but you all have the same image and you are all going to get the same assignment. Councilmember Yukimura: Are we working in the same groups? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 5 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: No. This can be in a group or as an individual if you prefer. The assignment for this is to find the star. There is a star imbedded in that image. When you come back from the break in eight (8) minutes, I want you to do your best to see if you can find the star. It might be helpful if you all look at the image the same way with the dot at the top. Councilmember Yukimura: With the dot at the bottom? Ms. Colburn: At the top. Ms. Nakamura: I need a copy. Ms. Colburn: Sorry. I am sorry. You can go take your break now. Come back when that clock says 11:23 a.m. We are going to resume at 11:23 a.m. whether you have gone or not. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 11:15 a.m. The meeting was called back to order at 11:25 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Ms. Colburn: This is not going to be Earth shattering if they come in the middle of it, but who among you, has not yet found it? Okay, so one (1), two (2), three (3). I am going to hold up an example. If the dot is at the top of the page, can you see the red star? Councilmember Kagawa: Yes. Ms. Colburn: Yes, here is another more artistic version. Councilmember Yukimura: Wow. Ms. Colburn: What do you think the point of this exercise might be? Councilmember Yukimura: You cannot see everything at first glance. Ms. Colburn: Alright. You talked about diversity. You have diversity in terms of visual acuity. You have diversity in terms of personal history and experience. You have diversity based on where you grew up, but you are all going to find it probable in a different amount of time. It has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence quotient (IQ) or whether you were prematurely weaned from your mother's breast and had to use baby milk. It has nothing to do with any of that. It just is. We are all different. So, some people are going to discover it right away and some people are not, and they will not be able to see it until it is shown to them. This tells me a lot about how you might be predisposed to work with one another. It would seem that you are not collective because there was no prohibition for getting in a group and figuring it out together. There was no prohibition about helping somebody else with the search. Also telling, nobody asked any questions until we were three-quarters (%)of the way through the exercise. This is still a free country last I heard. Somebody said, "How many points does the star have?" Okay, that helps. You asked about the size, its dimension. Somebody asked if the lines were even and I said, "The lines might not be, but it is symmetrical." Then, you were getting more to the point, "Well, where should I be looking on the page?" I said, SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 6 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP "Lower half." Then, somebody said, "Well, which quadrant?" You folks are doing public policy decision making. You cannot take that much time to find out how to solve the problem. It means you have to ask questions. It means you have to be okay with not knowing the answer or finding it with taking more time than somebody else. It does not mean you are better or worse. It just is. I did this with inmates at O`ahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) on O`ahu. You should have seen it. We almost had fights because one person finished and got all gloaty and was lording it over the rest of them, and they were getting cranky. That is an assaultive crowd. So, I did not want that to escalate, but they asked lots of questions. The first question was, where is it? Oh my God. Then, "how big is it" or "where on the page might I look?" Those questions, but to cut to the chase. Their instinct was to go for the snootiest, most rapid answer. I think Gary, you said, "Is it okay to give up?" Yes. Why waste your time on something that you cannot...you are being frustrated by, you are not going to excel at, you are feeling like your time could be better spent on other things. That is why it is important to make the Council time matter. Everybody has other places they could be. So, yes, it is okay to give up, but it may mean that you miss some information. Ir may mean that you end up in the minority because you missed something important, but if you do, that is an individual choice. Whether you work individually or in a group, everybody tried to solve this by themselves when you could have just gone back to your groups to work on it and maybe solve it faster. Councilmember Yukimura: Actually, Mason and Ross... Ms. Colburn: Yes, there was some caucusing going on. There was not reluctance at all, to say, "Oh, here is where it is." The information was given freely even though it was not asked for that explicitly. The strategies that you used to get information...so the more you know about the thing you are looking for, the faster you are going to find it and you are going to need people with different kinds of acuity to be part of that process. This is not unlike the kind of matters that comes before the Council. Everybody brings something different to the table and it is to your detriment if you are not inclusive or if you purposefully omit somebody's contribution. It may be the very thing you need in order to understand and have an epiphany about it. The other thing I would suggest that was noteworthy is that it is a simple example, but it is emblematic of a bigger issue. So, I hope the next time you feel like you are floundering in a Council Meeting because you still do not understand it, you are not getting anywhere, and you are frustrated, exercise your prerogative to raise questions. Take the initiative to ask for specific data if that is what you need. If that information needs to be shared with everybody, it is probably helpful. If one (1) person thinks it is important to know what the ridership is on a bus and how it changed over the last year, then, I imagine a lot of people would be interested in it. It is not about hoarding, it is actually being excessively transparent to excess because the more you do that, the more informed everybody is going to be. Everybody has different learning styles. It may be that you get things verbally and auditorially. It may be that you have to read it a couple times. You are all different. So, the more you can share proactively, the better you will do in this kind of exercise. The key point is you have to know what you are looking for if you are going to find it. If you are going to have these values, you have to know what the behaviors are in order to recognize them. I heard someone say, "Well, this is hard to find the behaviors to go with that." I would challenge you to give a lot of thought to the behaviors that fit with these values. If they are important enough to codify, they must be important. If they are important enough to be something that might govern future practice or behavior, or is worth paying attention to...the inclination to ask questions, or to work collectively, if somebody says, "I am done," gave up, that is fine. But the rate of finding this really had more to do with individual differences and uniqueness than SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 7 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP anything else, and what a shame to miss that because you are not in the room or at the table. The last thing I am going to pound into submission, can anybody tell me what the mission statement is? The customer service mission statement. It looks really nice too. Can anybody tell me anything about what is in it? Any of the words or terms or phraseology? Councilmember Yukimura: Well, there is something about excellence. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: Oh, here. I have it. "The County of Kaua`i's `ohana is committed to excellence by providing efficient and respectful service, offering effective and innovative solutions, exceeding our customer's expectations, and remembering always that aloha begins with me." Ms. Colburn: Did somebody just whip this out in five (5) seconds? Councilmember Yukimura: No. Ms. Colburn: Did people argue about punctuation and actual words? Councilmember Yukimura: Probably. Ms. Colburn: Make recommendations for changes? That is emblematic of the differences you bring to the exercise. What is the point of having a mission statement if it is not something that is imbedded in your consciousness? It is one of the things you can use to brand the Council to constituents. In a non-profit, all of the board members need to know this by memory so if a prospective donor asks them, "Oh, do you do any non-profit work?" Oh, yes, I do. "Well, what is your organization's mission statement?" If you can say that, it is the one statement that is probably shared that best exemplifies an explanation. This was clearly crafted with some eloquence. Councilmember Yukimura: Can I say something? I do not know if the Council was involved at all. That is kind of an example of the divide. Even with Holo Holo 2020, we were never involved in it. I mean, the Mayor picked the projects that some of us were advocating. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: So, I do not know if the Council was involved at all and maybe a member of our Council staff was, but the transmittal to the Council so that everybody in the County....so, I do not know. Those who were involved in crafting this statement and I took notice because they passed it around, and I was really impressed by how well it was done. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: But as a Council, I do not know if we were involved. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 8 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Okay. Ms. Nakamura: It was an employee initiative that involved employees from various departments who participated, gave ideas, and then crafted the final wording. Then, it was shared with the Mayor, the Department Heads, and the Employee Council. Councilmember Yukimura: It was in the employee newsletter, Acclaim, which is where I first saw it. Ms. Nakamura: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: But then we got copies of it. So, I put one in my wallet. Ms. Colburn: No harm, no foul. It is on your website. It is posted in lots of places in your organization. It may be one of the few things that you can all point to and say, "I can live with this. This is an expression of what is important to us and what we do and how we do it, too important not to know." I guess what I am suggesting is that you give some thought to becoming more intimately acquainted with this and by that I do not mean putting the paper where the sun does not shine. By that, I mean that if people worked hard to create this, if it was vetted by a whole bunch of people, if it is part of your public profile, then it is part of your job to know it and to be able to make decisions in a way that is consistent with this. If you do not know it, probably not at the top of your list of things to think about, but it should be now and I am encouraging you once again. If I was going to be a step-mother or step-father, I would say, "Before every meeting, you do not have to pledge allegiance, but if you just took a look at it, it would take like four (4) seconds. If you did that at the beginning of each meeting, you would be starting from a shared framework about values, purpose, and approach. That is a start. That is a start, and it is also a very good way to give consistent messages to your constituents, the same sentence goes to everybody." So, they cannot say, "Oh, they are really inconsistent." They could say, "Wow, these people actually know it, they told me what it was, nicely crafted, and I have to assume that it was important to them or they would not have written it or affirmed it." You are right, if it was not something you created, you have a little less traction with it, but the bottom line is you are on the hook for this in the public eye and technically, it is the pronouncement on your website. It is yours whether you knew it or not. It is yours whether you had anything to do with it or not. It is yours, use it, and if you do not like it, propose fixing it. I know how everybody loves to work on mission statements. I will not belabor that any further. Now what I would like to shift to is the discussion about information sharing practices. If you look at your agenda, I believe it basically says what information or mine says, I want to ask you what information dissemination practices are currently working well? You said the mission statement was in the newsletter. It may be working for some people, but maybe not well enough that it is on everybody's mind. Tell me about things that are working well in terms of how information flows between the Council and the Administration. It could be either direction. It can originate in Council going to the Administration. It can originate in the Administration going to the Council. When it works well, what things are happening? Any other discussion virgins in the room before I call on JoAnn? How about we go with JoAnn, then Nadine, and then if anybody else wants to weigh in, I am going to need your help in building the list of things that you want to keep doing or do a little bit better because SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 9 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP it works. Can you give me some examples of something that would fit in that "it is working" category? Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. I have an advantage of having been on the Council for a long time. I feel like the budget information that comes to the Council now is working, well, certainly far better than what it used to be five (5)years ago or ten (10) years ago. Ms. Colburn: What happened that it made it better? Councilmember Yukimura: Well, the Administration has a Budget Team now and they come and brief us prior to the budget and their data is getting a lot better. I want to acknowledge Councilmember Bynum who worked with the Administration on that and Steve Hunt, the former Finance Director and his team Ernie and Ken. They have just been...I mean, the pre-budget briefings are good and then even the process of the back and forth during budget is much better now. I think that is due to both sides of the divide, our Council staff, in how we get the questions to them and then the Mayor's team in how they respond to the questions. Having that information is very helpful. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Nadine, you were going to say something about the things that you think are working well and serves the collective interest of the group. Ms. Nakamura: Well, I think just the open communications with Council staff has worked well. We can pick up the phone or text or E-mail Ricky, Jade, or Scott and we can relay information so that can be relayed to the Council,just on the staff level. Ms. Colburn: Has anything changed? Why is it better now than it used to be? Ms. Nakamura: Well, I am just on the job for a year and I guess for me, it is working well. Ms. Colburn: Okay, fair enough. Anybody else have comments about the current process for sharing information that helps you do your work that is working well? You said the budget information flow is better than it was, there is a Budget Team that does briefings before formal addressing of the budget, there is a lot of exchange in both directions to get clarification and get more data if needed, Council questions are transmitted to the Administration if the Councilmember takes the initiative, and open communication with staff to relay information both directions is better. Ms. Nakamura: Also, Linda, Department Heads can talk and meet one-on-one with Councilmembers ahead of time on certain subjects and Councilmembers seem open to getting one-on-one briefings as well. So, that helps. Ms. Colburn: Would you say that there are more one-on-one briefings than briefings for the collective group? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 10 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Mr. Trask: I just want to add something real fast. Two (2) things, one...do I have to say my name for the record? For the record, Mauna Kea Trask, County Attorney. I just wanted to ask you what your position is to qualify these things with legal restrictions regarding that One of the things is that there are not a lot of open briefings because we have to agenda every meeting every time the seven (7) meet together. So, there are restrictions. Another thing too is under the document of separation of powers, the Council is the Legislative Branch, and the Administration is the Executive Branch. For example, the Mayor cannot pass laws and conduct legislative activities, that is within the Council's purview. The Council cannot generally, with certain exceptions, conduct administrative processes and do these things. That is kind of a function of the system. Ms. Colburn: Right. Mr. Trask: So, some of these things I think the communication, it is not to impede it, but it is to clarify the roles and make it more orderly, I guess. That is all. Ms. Colburn: Sunshine was intended, as I understood it at the time, to prevent people from cooking up schemes and getting votes for things offline, and springing it in a meeting that has public attendance. The concern was maybe those are not the best kind of decisions given that they are going to affect the public, given that the group as a whole has not been a part of that conversation. So, you are absolutely right. There are some restrictions, but nothing is going to change that. The question is, how do you design a system that works with Sunshine. One of the things I heard you say is you have to notice briefings. So, notice briefings maybe. Mr. Trask: I think too, that one of the things that the cases consistently say is that all of these channels and organizational governmental policies and mandates are not to be seen as an impediment to that, but in fact, opportunities for each branch to work with each other versus against each other. It is always the overarching theory of collaboration and appropriate communication which I think the County is really good at right now like Nadine said. Ms. Colburn: Other comments from those who have not spoken yet? Yes. Councilmember Hooser: I think the public component is one that we have not really talked about today. So, it is almost another forest. We talk to each other, but the public is there to listen. A lot of times our contestations are on behalf of the public and while we want to increase efficiencies working with the Administration on the budget and that kind of thing, we do not, in my opinion, just want to just go in and vote on the budget without having that public discussion for the public's benefit and to give the public an opportunity to understand what we are talking about and to provide their input as well. All of our actions are impacted by the public. That is why they call it politics, I think. Ms. Colburn: Right. Councilmember Hooser: The political implications of us having to explain our positions and ask the questions. Ms. Colburn: So, that is a really good point and there are emerging theories about effective ways to engage the public so that you can reach SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 11 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP more people that you do not normally reach. You could get more information out to them in ways that you have not tried before. So, that is an important component here. It was mentioned by another community member before they left. It is like you are talking about connecting the Administration and the Council, but what about the public sector and the community? They are both important, but the one we can fix or refine or make more responsive to your needs and interest today is between the Administration and the Council, in either direction. The good news is Trask right? Arthur was your... Ms. Nakamura: Mauna Kea. Mr. Trask: Yes. Ms. Colburn: I am sorry. Great example of an active community member. The good news is if you folks have suggestions because you think you are hobbled by the current Sunshine Law, the good news is that you can propose all kinds of things. The bad news is it is going to end up on your desk to get vetted to see if in your opinion, it comports to Sunshine. It might inundate you with a lot of unwelcomed work, but the sooner you can figure out a better system that comports to Sunshine, the less you have to worry about, the faster you can do your business, and the more informed the community is going to be. My challenge to you today is what can you do differently that would get that information flowing more equitably and in a more timely manner? Suggestions? Council Chair Rapozo: There is no real suggestion. I mean, it is what it is. We are bound by the law. So, we have to work within those parameters. Ms. Colburn: Do other counties interpret it precisely the same way? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, everybody does. Ms. Colburn: Are you sure? Council Chair Rapozo: That is not going to change any time soon. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo: I mean, that is what we have. There are some exceptions to the law, but for the most part, that is what we have and we have to make the best of it. I know your comments as far as the public is concerned because Kaua`i is the most lenient county as it relates to public participation at Council Meetings. Ms. Colburn: So, you are exercising, by choice, your prerogative as Chair to be more flexible. That might be the case. Council Chair Rapozo: Way before my time. The Rules were made way before I came the Chair, but my point is that the County of Kaua`i allows much more. In fact, the public has more time to talk than the Councilmembers. They get six (6), we get five (5), and that is how it is. I mean, I think as far as that part of the equation with the community, the public, and the Council, I think the structure is in place. As far as between the Administration and the Council, I think we really have to take advantage of the one-on-ones and the individual briefings. We need to SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 12 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP individually, be informed and educated based on our own initiatives to meet with the Administration because it is not going to happen any other way unless we post a public meeting. Many of these issues are not ready for a public meeting because for whatever reason, it is in its infancy stage, it may be an idea, or it may be a proposal that has to be vetted out through the attorneys and all of that. I think that dialogue has to go both ways. Ms. Colburn: Absolutely. Council Chair Rapozo: But it has to be done within the parameters of the Sunshine Law. Ms. Colburn: I would be very interested in how practices differ with respect to operating the Council from county to county if everybody is comporting to Sunshine. They have probably worked on it so they can do all of the things that comport to Sunshine that they are able to do. They have probably figured out some creative ways to get information out to more people more often and more consistently without breaching Sunshine. Mr. Trask: Just to piggyback on what Mel said, he makes a good point because Sunshine does not apply to anybody but the Council in this case. It is the seven (7) members and what they have to do in their interactions. Their individual interactions like Mel said, it does not govern what Mel and the Mayor talk about. All of the Councilmembers can speak to as many members of the public as they want to individually. Like Mel said, if a lot of leg work can be done independently. It also does not apply for meetings of two (2) as long as you do not commit to make a vote. There is also sub-committees that can be formed under Sunshine. It is a State run program so the counties have to follow what Office of Information Practices (OIP) says, which is a State agency. Mel is right. If the work can be done outside of meetings and then everyone comes together for a meeting and does the job. That is all. Ms. Colburn: If it is permitted, then I am assuming that OIP thinks it is fair and it is not contrary to an informed public. I guess two (2) questions come to mind. Community gets to talk more than Council, but you folks are the ones that have to share the information or weigh the options and to make decisions. That is a choice, is it not? It is not mandated anywhere. Councilmember Yukimura: It is a rule. Ms. Colburn: It is a rule. Does it pertain to all Councils or just yours? Councilmember Yukimura: Ours. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Mayor Carvalho: I just wanted to add what I feel is working as far as communicating from Department Head to Committee Chair which has opened up that ability to speak directly to the Chair. We have opened that between Chair Rapozo and myself to continue having that happen, which is a positive thing. Then of course, if there is any crossing over from committees, then we would have to go through the Chair. So, we have developed a process, but I think the one-on-one and SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 13 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP more ability to do that offers more opportunity to share some of the thoughts and ideas per committee. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Maybe there are no ideas that can be put forth that comport to Sunshine but improve the flow of information in either direction. Ms. Nakamura: Well, I think what we can do is once we get to the priorities and figure out where we have a lot of traction and agreement on, then we can decide on how we can improve the information flow on those priority projects whether it is Council briefings or one-on-ones when we reach milestones. I think we can definitely come up with some strategies to make sure that the Council understands what kind of progress is being made. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Anyone else that has not spoken? JoAnn. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, first I want to acknowledge our Chair. He and the Mayor may speak, but how much the Chair shares with the Council is the other communication link. Chair Rapozo has been, I think, very open in terms of letting the information flow back and forth to Councilmembers. So, that has been very helpful and I feel good leadership. The place where I think information gets stuck is when there are projects, we do not have the right information and the Administration does not have it either, and the Administration does not always ask for it or get it. An example of those is the fact that we go to Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) before we go do feasibility studies which is really not efficient use of time or money. For example, like the Lihu`e bypass road, we are doing...I do not know if we are going into an EIS or whatever, but we have not even gotten the data about the traffic in Lihu`e, how much is due to local trips, how much is due to through trips. There is a lack of information and we are asked to make decisions. On the Adolescent Drug Treatment Center, it was a fight to get a feasibility study and then once we get the feasibility study, the information is sort of negated or not looked at or discounted and we have a really professional person doing the feasibility study. So, that is where I feel there is information blocks or lack of information. Ms. Colburn: There is room for improvement there. I guess, do any things come to mind? You are quite brave to pass things along to the rest of the Councilmembers. It puts a lot of responsibility on you and you have been doing it. Council Chair Rapozo: I cannot. I mean, I think we just talked about the Sunshine Law. Ms. Colburn: I know. Council Chair Rapozo: I am prohibited from... Ms. Colburn: I know you cannot meet with them. Council Chair Rapozo: Right, or I cannot send E-mails. It is called serial communication. It is not that I do not want to. It is that I cannot. I guess my point was this, if there is a Councilmember out there that is not getting information, that is by choice. That is what I am saying because, this Administration by far has been very accessible. They have offered the...we do two (2) man, two (2) women, two SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 14 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP (2) Councilmember briefings with the Administration and that comes over as invitations all the time and you make your choice. If you want to meet with the Administration, you do. Regardless of what committee you are on, the Administration does a great job with meeting with all Councilmembers. If a Councilmember is out there and not familiar with a particular project that is pending on the agenda or a policy or procedure that is being thought about, that is by choice. I just want to make a comment. With all due respect to Councilmember Yukimura, we have heard two (2) specific issues that are internal issues that we are talking about partnerships with the Administration today. I do not want to get into debating issues because Councilmember Yukimura disagrees with what the Mayor did. I mean, I think I want to get to a better place. I do not want to... Ms. Colburn: Let me try to summarize what I heard. Council Chair Rapozo: Well, I... Ms. Colburn: I heard a vote for fact-based decision making. Council Chair Rapozo: Well, what you heard was her disagreement that a feasibility study was done or not done. That is what you heard, on a specific project much like you heard about the rule, the specific rule. We talk about kaulike. It is the ability to accept differences. My point is this, when you lose the battle of the vote or whatever the case is, we must let that go and move on. I bring this up because I do not want to waste any more time talking about the Adolescent Treatment Centers or this road or that bridge. I want to get to the subject matter which is why we are here, which are the priorities. I do not mean to be disruptive, but what I am hearing is the Council debate or a County issue being discussed at this Workshop. I want to get into how we can identify these priorities as we move into the budget session. Ms. Colburn: Let me just restate to be clear. I am shopping for ways to make communication flow even better than it currently is. Just because it has improved, does not mean it is best. It sounds like you have done some careful thought about ways to be faithful to the Sunshine Law requirements. Mr. Trask: That is the thing I think earlier I talked about. I just want to illustrate again and piggyback off of the Chair's statements, was the separation of powers issue. Everyone here has a degree of authority under the law. Depending on their positions, it is what it is. I understand and everyone appreciates that. No one here would do any job the same way, but ultimately, if it is legal and you have different choices that are all legal, the choices you make in how to achieve that goal, that is within your purview even if other people disagree. So, when you have issues of how to best do a process in your opinion or what should come first, the chicken or the egg, if it is not a legal issue, that person with the appropriate authority can make that call. Like the Chair said, it is up to the body to then decide whether or not to move on, to reconnaissance, to use the Rules of Parliamentary Procedure for orderly production and process because ultimately, something needs to be done. A decision needs to be made. Those are kind of the issues here. Not everyone can be the Mayor, not everyone can be the Committee Chair, Finance or whatever it is, and that is why we have those things. Ms. Colburn: Well, it sounds like an elegant work around. Perhaps if all of the counties got together and suggested that the Legislature be subject to it as well, it would be amended in short order. Yes, sir. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 15 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Chock: Just to add to where you are trying to get to that could be enhanced and worked on. We talked about it briefly previously. The organizing of information, I think, would be accessible by all which maybe is a work around. I am not sure. If there are projects, then there is a consistency of information that goes into one place that we can access. I think while it exists and you can ask for it or share it. Sometimes you do not know what you do not know. Ms. Colburn: Right. Councilmember Chock: You cannot get to what you do not know. Ms. Colburn: That is fair. Councilmember Chock: Especially for new Councilmembers. Like I said, I think that there may be some organization that we can work towards that would make it a little bit more efficient for us to access. Ms. Colburn: So, technology. (Inaudible) and it is accessible to the public as well. Councilmember Chock: Yes. I mean, does that get us around. Like someone said, some things are not ready to be vetted in the public eye. Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Chock: I just do not know what the parameters are for that in terms of Sunshine, but I think that maybe that is an area we can look into. Ms. Colburn: Thank you for your patience with that. I know it is vexing. I used to work someplace that shall remain nameless that had me on the phone to OIP all the time. I think food is here correct? You are probably hungry, right? But we are not going down the street and have cocktails with lunch. It is in the kitchen. How about twenty (20) minutes just eat if you do not want to talk to anybody and then I will check with you and see if you are willing to resume the conversation at that point or a little bit after so that nobody gets indigestion unnecessarily. At 12:25 p.m. I will check with you to see how your lunch is settling. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 12:04 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 12:29 p.m., and proceeded as follows: Ms. Nakamura: The first list on your sheet. The second are the government efficiency programs that are pretty much the internal programs to improve County government. The third column are the financial sustainability initiatives. The fourth column are employee initiatives that we did not include in your survey because it is pretty much the Administration's priorities. Then, the last column are the new public/private partnership programs that we also solicited your feedback on and that is on your list already. Pretty much all of these are on your list. It is just formatted this way and I am going to highlight the ones that rose to the top just in terms of the way the feedback worked out and where we had the highest averages. The first one is in this Financial Sustainability. In fact, a couple of them are in this Financial Sustainability column because we all know this is the biggest issue right now, is trying to figure out where are we now and where are we going to be five (5) years from now. We proposed in our last budget, to initiate this five (5) SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 16 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP year financial plan for the County. Just a little background. We have entered into a contract with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). It is a two (2) part contract, but it is basically to assist the County in a review of our financial and budgetary policies and practices to make sure they conform with best practices. Once we have that down, then GFOA will help us with developing our five (5) year financial plan. It is a twelve (12) to fifteen (15) month process from the time we begin. We have given them the Notice to Proceed and it will take —but because right now we are going through budget and it is consuming everyone's time including our Finance Department, we would like to initiate this twelve (12) to fifteen (15) month process once we get out of our budget. So, we are working with GFOA. They also have a pretty busy consulting practice so they are all over the country doing this kind of work with counties, but that is where we are at. The first phase is already committed and we have funds in our budget this year to do the next phase which will get us to having a five (5) year financial plan. It will take some time because there is just a lot of work that goes into it. Any questions about that? I think that is where we had the most consensus on. Councilmember Hooser: These funds and this project is to establish the five (5)year financial plan process and then the County, every year, would update —so it maintains the five (5) year plan moving forward without using the consultant necessarily? Ms. Nakamura: Yes. It is a five (5) year plan because a lot of it is groundwork, making sure our financial systems and practices are following the best practices, looking at our accounting system, the chart of accounts, making sure we are looking at how we determine the amount of a suitable reserve, and a lot of looking at expenditure projections, looking at revenue projections, and all of those things. Then, coming up and working with...they are going to be working with our Budget Team and Finance Department. They are going to be checking in every once in a while with the Council especially at the start up. It will include Council collaboration as part of that process and there is going to be community collaboration as part of that process. Councilmember Hooser: The end result would be a five (5) year financial plan submitted with the budget every year? Ms. Nakamura: That is where we want to be. Using best practices. Councilmember Yukimura: According to best practices. Ms. Nakamura: Any other questions? So, that is where we had very high agreement on. The next one, did we check on numbers on the number 2 priority? Ms. Colburn: Yes, that had a different denominator. Not as many people expressed their vote. Ms. Nakamura: Okay. The next one I should go over is? Ms. Colburn: The next one would be Building Permit Review Task Force. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 17 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Nakamura: The Building Permit Review Task Force is also —we put it here under Financial Sustainability because building permits result in new improvements on our land which results in higher values which results in more revenues for the County. When it takes time, when we hear the complaints about the process, it is something we feel we need to finds ways to improve the system to make sure that ePlan Review is working as best as it can, the down time that those building plans sit in the County's offices is minimized, and that we turn it around, that we are not taking long to review and approve these plans. Sometimes it is because it is sitting with the person submitting the plan, they have to make changes, and so forth, but we want to try to minimize the amount of time it is sitting in the County's offices. This is an initiative the Mayor wants to pursue to make sure that our systems are in place. Council Chair Rapozo: Every Mayor has tried to tackle this issue. I mean, as long back as I can remember. As I go to different conferences throughout the country, the solutions are there. I mean, it is typically combining all of the permitting in one (1) process, in one (1) software. So, plans get submitted and it gets shot gunned to all of the departments. Why can we not find that solution and make it happen here? Like I said, every Mayor has tried and we have never done it. The reports have come back much better. Now when we get them, that is another problem. We never get it at the Council like we should, but I just saw it on the agenda for Wednesday. So, we do have it from, I think, last October or when it was. It does specify the applicant delay or if it is a County delay. So, that helps, but there just has to be a better way to get this done quicker. Ms. Nakamura: Part of the problem too, is the person who — we moved to ePLan Review and then there are issues of startup and making the transition to that, and then the person who heads that Division left. So, now we are finding a replacement and he was the champion for this. It is also the startup of a new system and community acceptance in using the system. Mayor Carvalho: Even if the reviewing agency, I mean, it is collectively getting everybody out of the water and department of hell. Everybody all together. I think with the effort being made there and trying to hold everybody accountable, there are glitches along the way, we are trying to get better with our internet system and our system in general, but I feel good where we are at so far. It has taken time, people have left like Nadine just said, but do you know what? I am also in total communication with the team. We are forming together to help evaluate to-date, and then you have architects coming in and different people from the business community also. Just know that we are trying every way to manage this and this is a very big part because it is going to allow us to move forward in so many different ways. Ms. Nakamura: Any other questions about this? Council Chair Rapozo: The budget needs to reflect the anticipated revenue based off of these building permit reports. That is what I do not think we have. I do not think we see that. So, that is something that we have to really, I believe, the Building Division has to really focus on so that we have an accurate estimate of anticipated revenue in the upcoming fiscal year. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 18 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Kagawa: Just to stress the importance. Yesterday, myself and Arryl met with the Laborers Union representatives and we were talking about the future of Kaua`i. They said, "Right now, a lot of them are off. A lot of the Kauai laborers are unemployed." They talked about the big Kuhio project that is going on and asked us, "What is coming up?" That is why we have to work on improving these kinds of things, improving this, because I will tell you, we are going to be in a lot of trouble when we have no construction going on. I mean, after the highway is done, I do not know what else is going to happen. We could think of very few large projects that are basically in the bank. It is just ideas, but if we are ready on the building permit side, we improve that side, at least when they are ready, we are going to get it quicker and we are going to get the project moving. Ms. Nakamura: That ties into this one, which is facilitate private developments and agreements. That is to identify all of those projects that have all of the entitlements in place, all they need is a building permit, and we have to be intentional to move those along and be like a concierge to get it through the County process. Ms. Colburn: I understood it to be looking into potential employment needs into the future which may or may not have to do with development per se, but it is being able to forecast more accurately revenue and jobs needed so that projects can be considered with employment in mind. Is that pretty accurate? Council Chair Rapozo: Unfortunately, public testimony was taken up front. Being that you were not here, I will suspend the rules if you would like to speak for three (3) minutes. Thank you. Councilmember Chock: I am just trying to get ahold of the priority too. What is the timeframe? I heard we are moving in the direction. How long is it going to take for us to accomplish this? The second question, it shows up number 2 which I am assuming is really important. Why, from your perspective, is it higher than number 3, Solid Waste? Ms. Nakamura: I think that was based on the feedback from all of the Councilmembers. It is not our —I do not think I even voted on this. Councilmember Chock: Okay. Ms. Nakamura: It is basically the average of the feedback received from this body. Councilmember Chock: So, that is why the question. Maybe it is not just directed at the problem. That is why I am trying to get a sense why this is showing up higher. Ms. Colburn: We did not agree on criteria that people use for making their choices. Some people probably did it based on doability. Some probably did it based on affordability. Some probably did it because of urgency. There is not a lot of ability to say it is more or less important. It is just how the chips fell with this particular survey at this particular point in time. Councilmember Kaneshiro: I have a quick question. This survey with the 1-6 is just off of what the Council rated them? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 19 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: The Mayor had responses also, but his are probably more specifically reflected in the left column here. Councilmember Kaneshiro: Okay, because I was going to say that I would be interested to see what the Council's six (6) priorities were and then what the Mayor's six (6) priorities were, and then if there is anything in common, then we would know that is something that might be easier to work on. I was not sure if this was a combination of everything or... Ms. Nakamura: Seven (7) plus one (1). It is eight (8) divided by eight (8), depending on the number of people who responded. Ms. Colburn: One (1) issue may be looking at this, stripping out the Mayor's specific responses so that it is only the Council. That kind of flies in the face of my understanding of the purpose of today which is collaboratively and collectively speaking what are the things that have mutual interest across the board. It is a chicken and egg kind of conversation. Councilmember Kaneshiro: Yes, I understand. Council has their priorities. We are seven (7). The Mayor is only (2). The Mayor has his priorities. I was thinking we were going to compare what the Council's priorities are, what the Mayor's priorities were, and then we would see what is similar. When it is combined like this, I do not know. Maybe the Mayor's number one priority might be Solid Waste and the Council's number one priority was five (5) year financial plan or something. You do not really know what the Mayor's and the Administration's top things and what... Ms. Colburn: I can offer to do this. I can pull the Mayor's specific feedback out of the matrix so that it is exclusively a Council numeric figure, but until you have actually had a chance to hear what the projects are about, that does not necessarily improve the accuracy or the viability of the priorities. Today was to pick something to start with and then let you hear a little bit about it in case you had not even heard of it before. Then, your thinking might actually change. If time permitted today, I was hoping we could have a conversation about how do you prioritize. What are the characteristics? Mayor Carvalho: Unless it is just based on how you were saying, projects overall. I do not know, the specifics or just in general. I think from what I saw, pretty much in the ball field as far as some of the similarities or the thoughts from what I am hearing. I do not know. Maybe it is just that, just the key projects and then boom, boom, boom. I am not sure. That is why we are here. Ms. Colburn: What the suggestion can help accomplish if you want it done is to see where there is strong alignment and overlap so that you have the necessary heft to get it addressed and successfully through the process. If you look at it as the Council's perspective and the Mayor's perspective and compare, you are probably going to have a more thoughtful discussion about this because you will see some that standalone, does not make sense at all, but if it is done in tandem with something else that was highly rated, it makes sense. I do not know how to get you information about every project. Mayor Carvalho: Just let me say, for me, number one I have said it and I will say it again. The waste management program. That is number one. Anyway. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 20 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Do you want me to separate the votes out? Show of hands. Mayor Carvalho: I would rather go through this process. Councilmember Kaneshiro: For me, I am not trying to circumvent the system or anything, but I was just trying to see what the end goal was. To see what the Mayor's priorities were, what our priorities were, and then try and see where the common ground is. If going through this we are going to get there, then I am fine with going through the system. Ms. Colburn: I think this is a step in that direction. I am sorry. Go ahead. Councilmember Kuali`i: I will just say one (1) thing as far as the analysis. I think the Mayor just saying what he said about solid waste, then you look at the evaluation, we were all number 5 for solid waste. I do not understand what the "F" means. I might have missed you explaining that. Ms. Colburn: Somebody split their vote between two (2) scores. So, the denominator should not be...so in this case... Councilmember Kuali`i: It was not the Mayor. I know that from what he just said. Ms. Nakamura: You know where he is. Councilmember Kuali`i: With all of those five (5) and that very confused split votes... Ms. Colburn: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Ms. Colburn: I mean, I think that is a broad brush way of interpreting it, go right to that part of it. It is not all quantitative, but it is probably as accurate as this attempt was. JoAnn, you had a comment and then Chair. Councilmember Yukimura: Given all of the uncertainties of the criteria for marking votes, it does not really matter what is number one and what is number five. I am not even sure why we should just make it six (6). I am thinking we should have ten (10) or twelve (12) key priorities. It is not like you can ignore the elderly if that is a priority to solid waste. The top ten (10) or twelve (12) if you want to figure out what the top ten (10) of the Mayor's is and the top ten (10) of the Council is, that is fine. But to try to squeeze everything into six (6) does not make sense and to argue about whether one is higher than four, I do not think is a very good use of time. Ms. Colburn: I would not argue that they be hierarchally structured because that is the sentiment. It is an uniformed sentiment. These are the top. I pick six (6) because there is no way we would have a chance to have a meaningful conversation about that many. I just wanted you to see what the spread was at the top end. If you look at the numbers, you probably can come to a whole bunch of conclusion about there not being a lot of things separating some of these. This does not preclude making the case for things that you believe should be SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 21 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP considered high priority. I believe we caucused a boards opportunities to make the case if in fact there is something that does not fit with any of these that happen to be scored highly. It cannot be subsumed or it cannot effect the direction of it. If there is traction around it, it should get on the list. Councilmember Yukimura: Linda, are you saying that what is one and what is five is not really very significant or what is six or three? Ms. Colburn: The spread is not that significant. Councilmember Yukimura: So, we are just looking at the top six (6). We do not care which one is one or two? Ms. Colburn: It is up to you folks to decide and affirm what the priorities end up being. This is a starting point. Mr. Chair. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. It is like chumming the ocean when you go fishing. The chum brings the fish up and then if you are successful you catch. If you are not, then you do not. This is just to start the discussion. I think it is great. I think the discussion that led up to this matrix is a good thing because we are not expecting to pass the budget today. We are just going to have that dialogue and we just kind of want to know where everybody...if any one of our Councilmembers believe that something should be on this list, this was the venue to have that done. I do want to get through it as we go down this list whether it is in hierarchal order or alphabetical. I mean, put stars or dots. It does not matter. The bottom line is we have to get through them all and so we get to hear from the Mayor. If any one of us has a project or a proposal in any one of these areas, this is where you bring it up. That is all this is meant to be. Not to approve the Mayor's budget or his plan. • Ms. Colburn: Your thinking might change just as a result of things here this afternoon. It is a snapshot of a moment in time. Ms. Nakamura: Do you want me to go to the next one? Ms. Colburn: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: The next one is the Solid Waste Solution. There is the Ma'alo Landfill which is ongoing and it is in the study process. You folks recently approved the funding for the Hazard Mitigation Assessment. So, that piece is moving. The draft EIS is moving, the roadway studies are moving, and discussion with the community is ongoing. The Solid Waste Management Material Recovery, that piece with the whole Pay As You Throw, curbside recycling, and all of that. There are a lot of components to this solid waste management piece. There is the Kekaha Landfill going vertical or going horizontal, there are projects going on there. Ma'alo, there are ongoing studies going on, and then the whole Pay As You Throw curbside recycling, and the MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) which are connected, and is considered diversion. That strategy is ongoing as well. Then, we recently put out an RFI (Request for Information) to take a look at all of the other possibilities to deal with the solid waste on this island. We can report that we had eight (8) responses to the RFI and we also got feedback from others that they were interested, but did not respond to the RFI. In the meantime, we have a solid waste team that is reviewing those eight (8) responses to give us a sense of how we should proceed moving forward. There are different ways to go either through an RFP (Request for Proposal) process now that we have better information about what is out there or go into a PPP with SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 22 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP public/private partnership possibilities or just continue on the way we are going down these three (3) routes. There are options and Larry Dill is taking the lead with his team right now reviewing those RFIs. He will be advising the Mayor on how to proceed. Any questions about that? Ms. Colburn: Since I think you have spoken the least, how about we hear from you first. Councilmember Chock: Thank you for the update. I guess what it comes down to for me is more philosophical because I am supportive of, as I had mentioned before, of pretty much looking at everything. I kind of wanted to hear back from everyone including the Mayor's Office, about going down the road of looking at these RFIs, moving to an RFP, and if we see something will work. Where does that leave us with? Is it one (1) or two (2) zero waste programs? If we scrap it, does it cost too much? Do we just go down this other road or is still a combination? A big part of it for me is about shifting the mindset of the consumers as well, that I am worried about. Mr. Trask: I can wait until after. Ms. Colburn: Is it on the subject? Mr. Trask: It goes to priority setting and goal setting and how we do that. Ms. Colburn: I will defer to the Chair to... Council Chair Rapozo: I need to know what you... Mr. Trask: Mason is saying really broad and philosophical...the discussion is you folks would like to discuss all of these things. I think there are twenty (20) whether, thirty (30) projects listed on here. Some of them are redundant, but about there. No? Council Chair Rapozo: No, he is talking about just the RFI, Solid Waste. Mr. Trask: Oh, okay. Council Chair Rapozo: More information because that is a great question he brought up, if I may because you are running this meeting. I am serious. Ms. Colburn: I need judgment help sometimes. Council Chair Rapozo: Mason brings up a good question when you are looking at alternatives, what happens to the existing process of diversion. I am sure the RFI is available for the Councilmembers too, if they want to read that. I think that is a concern that many people have that if we go to an alternative technology, you are going to have to forego your recycling efforts. I think that is the question that will be asked and would have to be answered at some point. He said that he wanted to hear how everybody else feels, this is the kind of discussion I did not want to get into today. The Mayor talked about or you just mentioned the expansion of Kekaha. I will just say I do not support that at all. I think we have done enough... SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 23 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: I think we have to stay away from endorsements, right? Council Chair Rapozo: Endorsements? Ms. Colburn: Did I misunderstand? Mr. Trask: No agreement as to a vote, but you can... Council Chair Rapozo: Oh, yes. This is when I talked about what is the consensus of the Council. It is not on the agenda. It is a matter before the Board, so it is not subject to Sunshine, plus this is a posted meeting anyway. Mr. Trask: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: But we are not taking a vote on it. I just wanted to express my concern about expanding Kekaha any further. Ma'alo, at the size that it is at, the scale that it is at. It is huge. I would much rather see that reduced. Of course, I support an alternative method of waste disposal. Councilmember Kagawa: I guess the key date was, I think, by February 14th they will have their recommendation come out. Ms. Nakamura: Yes, they are reviewing the eight (8) RFIs and then will be giving the Mayor a recommendation. Councilmember Kagawa: Then at some point, we will be having an item on the Council agenda. So, the Council will be involved in this process? Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Councilmember Kagawa: I just wanted to let all Councilmembers know the Mayor is going to do his due diligence and we will have our chance to do our due diligence. Together, we will be selecting probably, the most important decision on Kaua`i in recent history. If you look at the Big Island, they recently committed to somebody and then reneged. Maui, I believe, has some issues with the ones they just selected. H-Power just purchased another broiler and they are having problems with getting that broiler running. This decision is not an easy one and that is why it is so important for us, to ask all of these questions. Even when we come to a decision, it may not be the best one. We may go with something and it may not work and we are going to have to go with something else. We have six and a half years to get something in place otherwise, we are going to have to really deal with a big headache in trying to open Ma'alo. I think that is why the urgency is there and I am glad it is up on the top of the priorities because the years are just ticking by very fast. Ms. Colburn: Given the duration of coexisting with whatever it is you choose, it is worth taking the time to get it right. Haste without fully considering emerging technology could ultimately create more problems than it resolves. I think the thoroughness and the comprehensive examinations of it might have multiple component parts and get some response regarding Kekaha because your priority (inaudible). Yes? Councilmember Yukimura: I think we have to be clear that with the separation of powers, it is the Administration's decision as to if we go out with an SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 24 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP RFP to decide on the vendor, right? The funding is a Council decision. So, that is where the Council fits in it. With respect to the Public Private Partnerships, PPP, I would like to understand it. This is the first time I have heard of that and I would like to understand what that is and what is the process of going through it right now. You just mentioned that in your presentation, yes, Nadine? Mr. Trask: Generally, Public Private Partnerships, they are more of a term of art in the law versus anything that is specific. They exist because government as you all know, you can appreciate it is a very expensive operation. The trend in the country is to move towards Public Private Partnerships in order to get jobs done. Now, when you do that like the County's stewardship program is a home grown example of generally what it is. The thing is though, when you get into actual services, land, or employment operation things like that, you hit the myriad of issues. You have public employment, civil service rules, collective bargaining, permitting things, and all of these things. Generally, a Public Private Partnership is when the government partners with a private company to provide a certain kind of service. Prisons are the most understood example. Privatization of prisons to a certain degree. You achieve these through Public Private Partnerships. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Trask: You achieve these through certain State statutory things. Charter Schools is another one. Hawai`i is moving towards privatization of medical facilities and hospitals. Councilmember Yukimura: Mauna Kea, just for the sake of time, can you tell me whether it is inside or outside of the procurement process? Mr. Trask: It is not clear, but when you do procurement, it is generally if you look at when you bid the operation of toll booths, you bid it. Council Chair Rapozo: Of what? Mr. Trask: Like toll roads in the mainland. You bid these things out. Now, there are some questions because it pertains to solid waste. There is nothing really in the law that specifically speaks to solid waste. Those are the issue we are kind of, not we kind of. We are addressing right now. Right now, we have identified generally what it is across the country. We know that in Hawai`i there is nothing specifically on point, but you have the general intent of procurement which is to open competitively, use the money the best way possible, and encourage competition. We are looking for opportunities to cover all of our bases. Really, we are at that point whereby we have to wait until Public Works is done reviewing the RFI submittals to know really what the next step is because it is fact specific. I am waiting for that right now to do my next level of review. Councilmember Yukimura: Alright. Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: Any other questions before I move onto grant management? Here is another Financial Sustainability initiative that ranked high. This is the Mayor's big push to get all of the different grant managers from the different departments to kind of work together. We reassigned Ann Wooton to be the lead with the Grant Management Team. She has gotten some software that will help track different grants out there as well as allow our internal grant making happen. Anyone applying let us say for a grant through the Office of Economic Development SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 25 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP (OED) for HTA funds can then apply online to make it more paperless and to make our internal systems run smoother. The software will be very interactive and Ann is serving as the role as manager, trying to train all of the grant managers within the Departments to apply for this grant, and to work with our Federal person in DC, Mary Cronin, to look at grant possibilities. This is all about trying to improve and add revenues to the County so we can do more with outside funds. Mayor Carvalho: Also, I wanted to add to our Departments using Ann. Now they have a place to go, resources, referring. She is a link. She understands. If not, she will research it and get back to the departments. So, they are feeling better with how to manage the grant to follow it to the end instead of leaving open balances. I mean, we are going to have a better understanding of where we are at in the grants programs. Ms. Nakamura: Ann is working with every department on all of the backlog grants that have not been closed out, as the Mayor said. She is getting them caught up. Ms. Colburn: Any other questions? Go ahead. Councilmember Yukimura: I think this is a wonderful thing that is happening. I think we had a couple of audit findings about grants. The Mayor is talking about when we do not close them et cetera. This is wonderful, but I do not see it as one of the top five (5) or ten (10) priorities of the County Council. It is mainly an Administrative thing. It will have impacts on budget and revenue. It would be nice if somebody tells us how much grants really are part of our budget. It is not ongoing moneys and things. That is an observation. I do not think it is one of the top five (5) priorities. Ms. Colburn: You are entitled to that perspective. These could shift now that you have been hearing more about them or you get data. So, nothing is precluded until it is "make die dead" because the collective will is... Mayor Carvalho: "Make die dead." Ms. Colburn: ...it is not going to make the impact we want or the priority becomes more striking because there is more alignment as a result of the information. This is an imperfect way of trying to figure out where the collective will is, but it is what was available to us at the time. It does not rule out things. Council Chair Rapozo: A real quick comment. I share JoAnn's concern about wanting to know where all of the funding is coming from. This year, I have requested that when they come over with the budget presentation, it will include all funding sources including grants and everything else. We should have a better indication this year of where the money is coming from. All total money. Ms. Colburn: What was the data, I am sorry, that you had mentioned you would like to have in order to make a better decision? Ms. Nakamura: How much grants are coming in. Ms. Colburn: Oh, the numbers? Okay. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 26 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I mean, what role do grants play in our budget stability? I mean, I think they might be great for initiatives and in Housing they are actually keeping us stable. In the big picture if we are looking at revenues and property taxes, Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) and General Excise Tax (GET), are probably the bigger sources. Ms. Colburn: Alright. Yes? Councilmember Kuali`i: I just wanted to add that I think if you look at all of our analyses, a balanced budget, financial efficiency is probably our number one priority. From the Council's side, we are talking about policy and then from the Administrative side, they are talking about program or projects to achieve that. So, when you get specific to the point of grant management, in non-profit, we call it "fund development." In the County, I guess you can call it "revenue development." If revenue development helps our number one priority which is a balanced budget, then yes of course. I think we need to look at it broadly as a Council where it talks about policy priorities and then allow the Administration to deliver on those policy priorities in the manner that they see fit, because it is the Administration that manages the day to day operations. That is how I am seeing it. Ms. Colburn: Thank you. Any other comments about the grant management item that was listed? Yes? Council Chair Rapozo: Just that we also have to be careful too, kind of piggy backing on what KipuKai is saying, because there are grants for everything out there and some of the grants that we receive do great this for the County upon expenditure, but then the recurring cost to maintain that project or that park or that road or that structure. I am hoping that this committee will analyze all of that, make an assessment, and we should be going after the necessity grants that actually affect or impact exactly what KipuKai said, the financial efficiency and stability of the County and not the plush items, the swimming pools and all of that. It is nice to have, but it comes with a cost that is recurring and we have to be real careful with that. Ms. Colburn: Any others? Okay, I am going to call on the altos pretty soon. The sopranos, the altos, second alto. Tenner 1. Mayor Carvalho: Bass. Ms. Colburn: There you go. Okay, everybody. Hawai`i Aloha. Sway or no sway version, depending on your choice. Let us see if we can try to bring this piece closer to closure. I believe the next item we are prepared to talk about is... Ms. Nakamura: Lima Ola is on the list. Again, this is one of the Holo Hobo CIP project priorities. Ranked high. The current situation is that there was a plan done for it. Kamuela went through value engineering because the cost of it was so high. He broke it down into different phases. He has done the analysis of the infrastructure needs to support the different phases. I believe the Council approved the marketing piece for the project. We have a CIP request to the Legislature. Basically, we are at the point now where we need funding in order to...I think the water piece is all in place for Phase 1 only. The road improvements is what is needed in order to access the site and then make it safe to cross for the people who SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 27 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP live there, cross the highway. Funds are being requested to do that piece. I believe the funding for the draft EA is in place. That is kind of where it is at. Ms. Colburn: Yes? Councilmember Kagawa: I remember funding was the primary obstacle. They said if everything goes well, I think, they were talking in 2016 breaking ground on construction. Where is that funding expected to come from? Is that private investors? Ms. Nakamura: The infrastructure funds for the roadway improvements, there is a CIP request. I think the joint legislators put that in. So, that is at the State Legislature. I think that is one million dollars ($1,000,000). So, that is one (1) piece of it. The water as I said is in place. Then, the idea would be to do as much as we can on the site and on the infrastructure piece so that we can put it out and see who might be able to come in to do the actual development. All the risks are then...the infrastructure pieces are in place. Ms. Colburn: Yes? Councilmember Yukimura: I do not think the Council has been formally ever informed about the CIP request. So, that is sort of a lack of communication. Then, this project is an example of single-purpose planning, trying to create housing, but not showing it in the context of planning. It does not satisfy the Hanapepe/`Ele`ele plan. I do not know where it stands with respect to the General Plan. It is deviating from the Water Plan and it will have ramifications on the South Kaua`i Circulation Plan because Papalina - Kaumuali`i Highway is at a level "F' of operation. Ms. Colburn: I am understanding you to say these are some of the things that you want people to address and come back with to help make the case to continue working on this. Today is not the day to sink it or fly it. It is just what kind of information will help you better understand it and help you make a more confident decision. Could you recite them one more time for me, please? You said it was outside the `Ele`ele Plan. Councilmember Yukimura: And outside of the Water Department's Plan and I want to know how it is satisfying all of the water pieces in place for Phase 1, who is paying for the tank that I understand is required, and how much will that cost? It does have a huge impact on the South Kauai Plan, circulation study, and I do not know, already nineteen thousand (19,000) cars a day, I think, is going through that intersection. The plan is not to widen it. I do not think Planning has been consulted on this project at all partly because of the aura that it is the Mayor's project and I do not know if we have gotten honest professional planning input on it. I am talking, I guess, about information that has been lacking in the decision making process and we are putting a lot of time and money and this is the only Housing project that is on the priority list. Ms. Colburn: At this point in time. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Ms. Colburn: I am understanding you to say that these are all of the things that would concern you and if more information could be shed on SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 28 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP them, you can either vote against it more vigorously or for it because your concerns have been addressed. These are the things that you would want to understand better. Councilmember Yukimura: And these are the things that I feel the Council as a body needs to understand in how we set our priorities which the Administration also needs to understand in terms of how we pursue them. Ms. Nakamura: Can we also add though, that Rice Camp Phase 1 opens up in March, Kolopua follows probably in April or May? Other priorities on Kamuela's list, Mel wanted to clarify or asked us to tell us what are some of the other priorities, include Rice Camp Phase 2. That would be twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) units. Mayor Carvalho: Phase 2? Ms. Nakamura: Phase 2. Kukui`ula Workforce Housing, one hundred thirty (130) units with infrastructure already in place. So, that is low hanging fruit. Then, looking at increasing rents at the Kaua`i Rental Housing projects that have not been increased for over ten (10) years, and then potentially selling Pa'anau Village Phase 1 improvements or leasing it in order to raise some capital for some of these other opportunities. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, but if our goal is to build one hundred (100) houses per year, how are we going to achieve that goal? We have a need then for one thousand (1,000) houses probably in the next ten(10)years. How are we going to achieve that? Ms. Colburn: So... Councilmember Yukimura: We also have a plan that says most of our housing should be in Lihu`e, Po`ipu, and in the other "job areas." How are we doing that? Ms. Colburn: Okay. In your estimation, in your view, absent information you have a lot of questions that need to be answered and your cumulative thinking at this moment in time is that these are pretty critical issues that should be important to the entire Council. Mayor Carvalho: I would just like to make one (1) statement that, having confidence in our Housing Agency and Kamuela Cobb-Adams as our Director. I have been in close communication with him obviously, in every step of the way. He has been very thorough. Whatever we have not shared will be shared eventually as soon as it can, but I ensure Councilmembers that Kamuela has walked through this step by step and came close with the parties making sure that we are in line and I would never allow something to happen without the support of our Housing Director with some of the things that are unfolding at this time. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you, Mayor. It is not a question about our Housing Agency's competence, but it is about Housing doing their work in isolation without checking with our plan, our Planning Department and how that all works. I would like an answer today about how the water piece is all in place for Phase 1. Ms. Colburn: Okay. What does that mean? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 29 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: It is a water tank. Mayor Carvalho: Again, is that what we are going to get into, the specifics of the projects? Councilmember Yukimura: Where is the money for Phase 1? Mayor Carvalho: Or are we just looking at Lima Ola as a whole... Councilmember Yukimura: But I am sorry... Mayor Carvalho: ...and then we can get into specifics. Councilmember Yukimura: ...but this is a statement that was made. It was a statement that was made and I would like to know where the money is coming from the water piece. Ms. Colburn: I have captured that as one of the information requirements. Councilmember Yukimura: Well... Council Chair Rapozo: Our staff... Councilmember Yukimura: Can she explain? Council Chair Rapozo: Staff has captured all of the questions. I would suggest we get that over in writing and then we can get a follow-up from the Administration on that. Mayor Carvalho: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Ms. Nakamura: So, should I go onto the next item? Mayor Carvalho: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: The next item is under this Government Efficiency. It is this Energy Management Task Force. This is about really working on Ben Sullivan's work, building off of that, but looking at ways that we can reduce our footprint, the County government's footprint by doing the street light project, by looking at energy improvements within the County owned facilities, here, this building, the Civic Center, looking at off-site facilities, and just trying to pull the different people together to look at ways to reduce our energy costs. Mayor Carvalho: And the methane. Ms. Nakamura: The methane, the gas collection system at Kekaha is part of that. Linda. Ms. Colburn: Okay. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 30 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: I like what I heard. I want to know whether there are any plans or attention being paid to the island's energy management. We are doing internal County management, but what are we doing in terms of the island as a whole because I think we had an energy plan that addressed that? Ms. Nakamura: I think our feeling too is that Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is making great strides in that area and we are working with KIUC on a lot of these projects. Mayor Carvalho: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Just as long as we have some indicators that are measuring our progress on energy management island-wide. Do we have that and do we have system where we are setting up annual reports so we know every year whether we are approaching our goal or we are going away from it? Ms. Colburn: So... Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I want to know what our goals are for the island and whether we are moving toward it or away from it. Of course KIUC is focusing on energy generation, but there is the transportation sector energy and whether we are making any progress based on Blue Planet's indications, we have an "F," right, for this year. We got an "F." Ms. Colburn: That is kind of cool. Mayor Carvalho: I think KIUC has done a great job in looking at photovoltaic projects throughout the island. The Anahola one, Koloa. Councilmember Yukimura: You did not hear me. I said, electrical generation, we are doing a great job. Mayor Carvalho: Oh, okay. Sorry. Councilmember Yukimura: Through KIUC. Mayor Carvalho: Got it. Councilmember Yukimura: In the transportation sector, that is not KIUC. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: I guess I... Ms. Colburn: I was not quite sure whether it would make sense to do this piece, but it is clear to me this is a good time to consider incorporating it. Again, it is simple and it will not take more than a few minutes. Once again, I believe I can make the case that it has relevance for where we are. You are all going to get this. Has anybody seen this before? Mayor Carvalho: Oh, here we go. Ms. Colburn: It is a...you will all get the same document. It is an exercise and it says, "Five (5) figures are shown below. Select the one that is SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 31 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP different from all of the others." When you made the choice, let me know so I can move us along. Council Chair Rapozo: All of the above. Ms. Colburn: I am crushed. Okay. I am hearing some choices already. I just want to make sure everybody has had a chance to think it through. I used this one at OCCC too and somebody got busted up because of it after the meeting. However you want to respond to this. It is up to you. Councilmember Kuali`i: There is no "all of the above" is the choice. Ms. Colburn: Oh, well, who says everybody is playing by the rules? Councilmember Kuali`i: We have to play by the rules. Councilmember Yukimura: What are the rules? Ms. Colburn: It is printed on the sheet and I will let you interpret it as you will. I will not compromise or muddy the waters or be too Portuguese about it. Is there anybody still trying to make a...okay. Just out of curiosity, I am interested if you chose Figure B, can I see a show of hands? The following chose Figure B: • Councilmember Gary L. Hooser • Councilmember Ross Kagawa • Councilmember Arryl Kaneshiro • Councilmember JoAnn A. Yukimura Ms. Colburn: Okay. Why did "B" become your choice? Councilmember Hooser: They are all circles, no curves. Ms. Colburn: Okay, alright. Any other reasons? Council Chair Rapozo: Because "B" is different from all of the rest. Ms. Colburn: Okay. If you chose "B", congratulations, you picked the right answer. Bigger "B" is the only one that has all straight lines. Give yourself a pat on the back. All straight lines. Some of you, however, might have chosen Figure C. Can I see a show of hands? I think I know... Ms. Nakamura: JoAnn and... Ms. Colburn: I think I know what your strategy is. Well, hear it out. Some of you...show of hands for "C." The following chose Figure C: • Council Chair Rapozo • Councilmember Yukimura SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 32 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Some of you however, might have chosen Figure C thinking that"C' is unique because it is the only one which is asymmetrical. You are also right. "C" is the right answer. A case can also be made for Figure A because it is the only one with no points of discontinuity. Therefore, "A" is the right answer. Well, what about "D?" It is the only one that has both a straight line and a curved line. So, it is the right answer. "E" among other things, and you have to listen. I have to read it because it is kind of complicated. "E" is the only one which looks like a projection of a non-Euclidian triangle into Euclidian space. It is also the right answer. In other words, they are all right depending on your point of view. That is true of the priorities that you are talking about today. That is so true. It is so true. You are all going to end up in different places. The point of this discussion is to see where you can go collectively and have some alignment and some synergy so that the work goes more smoothly, it goes faster, and it is more comprehensively reviewed. That is not going to happen if you do not choose to make it happen. Let me just say that the Euclidian triangle, at OCCC, it was actually an inmate who answered this for me. He said, "If you take a basketball and you draw a triangle around it and then you deflate it, you are projecting a triangle into non-Euclidian space by flattening it out." Inmates thought that was pretty brilliant actually. Mayor Carvalho: So, deflated balls are not an issue anymore? Ms. Colburn: This is about if it is true for an exercise on a piece of paper that has no budget, that has no impact on your community, that does not affect kupuna differently then it affects kids, that does not necessarily benefit one zip code over another. If you can have all different right answers for this, surely these more complex issues should be open to full exploration. I guess what I am encouraging you to do is to hear the spectrum, communicate your questions, and then when everybody has had their questions answered to their satisfaction, then you can look at whether the traction is there or not. To do it as a stab in the dark is kind of reckless. To do it by lining things up offline and politically solving it is not necessarily going to be an outcome that represents the best outcome. The challenge for you is to acknowledge you may all have different answers, they may all be correct, and you have to listen to enough content in order to see what things are commonly viewed as important. Then, you will have a more solid decision than if you fail to go through a process that is kind of like that. That was a cheap ploy to change the momentum of the discussion around things people are unhappy and disinclined to agree over. It is to set the stage for moving into the next thing which...so, let us say you have a chance to get the information you want. Now let us say some of the information is shared with you proactively. It is just offered and you get some of it that way. At what point do you call for the question, go wherever the collective will take you, and hope that everybody has done their homework, everybody is trying to be mindful of things that matter? For example, you might want to take a look at the answers to some of the other survey questions. If you look at the answers to question number 3, that one addresses what are the most attractable issues. You folks are all over the place with that. How are you going to get from all over the place to some convergence of thinking? That is the challenge. If you look at another question it says, "What should the Mayor be mindful of as decisions and recommendations are made going forward?" There is a whole bunch of advice there about what you should be thinking about before you make a decision. If you can have agreement on those things, the collective impact benefits more people than not, sustainable, the numbers pencil out. Whatever those criteria are, if you can have an overt discussion about what those criteria are, then you will probably find yourselves asking similar questions and reaching a sense of readiness at a closer together time span. If you look below that question, there are responses that you will see about what the Council should be mindful going forward. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 33 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Nothing was excluded and I think I got as much as possible in there. Given all of this, given that you have a numerical priority or ranking that is imperfect, given that some important things were not represented among the things that were scored, given there were flaws in the interview list that we started with, what steps do you folks need to take in order to get more convergent in your thinking and make these hard choices that have possibly been put off for many years? What you decide to do around Solid Waste will need to be influenced by many factors, but whatever it is that you choose, I would hope that you have confidence that the rationale holds together for you and that you could explain it to somebody whose opinion you might want to change. You could do it cogently, clearly, accurately because you can still advocate for anything you want. It is about what the collective will is prepared to entertain. You cannot get to the collective will unless you have opportunities to have the information flow accurately, quickly, and comprehensively so that people are informed. You cannot figure out what the collective view is if you do not talk to each other. I think the challenge is to find ways to do that which do not contradict the intent of Sunshine literally or figuratively. There must be ways. I understood you, Mr. Trask. You said earlier that if somebody wanted to work with you who is a Committee Chair, their committee that they chair might have options for doing things in a way that might be different from the chair of another kind of committee. So, there is not a one (1) size fits all solution about how Committee Chairs handle information and share that information. I understood you to say that if somebody came to you, you would be willing to kind of co-create a process for information to flow that stands up to external scrutiny. Mr. Trask: Yes. The County Attorney's Office really wants to be a resource. Ms. Colburn: Every time you say that, I think of that camel in that movie trailer. Mr. Trask: The County Attorney's Office will be a resource for all of you. It is what you want, in finding a way to make it do what you want. We are here to be...if it cannot be done one way, it usually can be done another. I just wanted to throw that out there. Thank you. Ms. Colburn: Is there anything you would...are there things just generically speaking, that you would be interested in knowing about any new initiative that might come across your desk? Ideally, if you lived in a perfect world what are some of the things that you would expect to see some documentation on if it is available? Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Actually, instead of going that way, I wanted to see if we could say what our top ten (10) priorities are that we agree on that we could move ahead. Ms. Colburn: Do you want to do that in the form of some sort of a ballot? Councilmember Yukimura: No. Ms. Colburn: Or what would you propose? Councilmember Yukimura: I want to do it in the form of identifying key areas that we agree are major problem areas within our kuleana and then see if the SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 34 FEBRUARY 6,2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP projects within those areas, we have agreement on, one (1) of them. I mean, on one (1) project that we can move in that area together. We have strong consensus on. Ms. Colburn: I would be willing to have that conversation if we approach it in the following way. That would be to say what kinds of things would you consider in order for it to pass your litmus test? I do not want to know what the issue is, but what are the kinds of things...? I am understanding you to say critical mass is important and maybe pick one thing in each category. Is that what you are saying? Councilmember Yukimura: When you say "critical mass," you mean number of people in this room here... Ms. Colburn: Who would share your thinking that it should be one of the top issues? Councilmember Yukimura: I mean, I think we are going to agree, have large agreement, on what top problem areas are. I could be wrong, but I think we could agree on areas when it comes down to subjects. My criteria...I mean, I love what you said at the very beginning, that our job is to figure out what is the best problem solving process. I mean, I think our job in government is to solve problems, community level problems and what is the process for solving those. What is the best process for finding the best solutions for the people of Kaua`i? I do not know if we are prepared to do that today, but I mean, when we go to the project level, that is what we want to do, right? This project is going to be the most strategic way to address the problem now or for the next five (5) years or whatever it is. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: I think it is to identify first the areas, what is important? Traffic and transportation. I mean, I just came out of the Royal Coconut Coast reception, along with the Mayor, two (2) nights ago and everybody I talked to were saying, "Do something about the traffic." If we are taking our cues from the public, that is one area that is in our kuleana. Ms. Colburn: Okay. What aspect of traffic would you want your colleagues to consider as a high priority? Councilmember Yukimura: No, but I just want us to agree traffic is one area we should be working on. It is our priority. Ms. Colburn: Is there anyone in the room who would object to traffic being a category for consideration in considering priorities? Mr. Trask: It is a big issue. What about traffic? On State roads, County roads? Councilmember Yukimura: Once you agree that area is an area we should be addressing, then you would... Ms. Colburn: Hypothetically let us agree that it is not dead in the water. Traffic is an area. What aspects in traffic? We are going to get traction from you, and what aspects of traffic from the rest of you might get your attention and cause you to commit your energies? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 35 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: If you want to go down to the next level, I can go there, but is everybody willing to go to the next level? Ms. Colburn: I want to get at this one way or the other in the time I have left. I can think of several strategies. We could take the original approach, we could use your approach because I think your suggestions have a lot to be said for them, we could resend the ballot out to everybody with whatever the new things are and you could rank again. I am wanting to know specifically if traffic is something that the group would object to considering as a priority issue. Councilmember Hooser: Is the microphone on? Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: I would think if we walk out of the room and do not include traffic in the priorities, something is wrong. From a public perspective, the priorities would be housing, traffic, and the economy are the three (3) things they are concerned about. Even if it is State roads that may be targeted, the County can still provide a leadership effort on that as well as a County road. So, I would support traffic as being certainly one of the top ones from the public's perspective, and no doubt about it. Thank you. Ms. Colburn: Okay. So, it is proposed that it be added as a category generally speaking if you want to be responsive to what you are hearing from your constituents. Okay. Any others? Council Chair Rapozo: I think traffic, that goes without saying. I mean, that is a problem we have that realistically, what are the solutions? You really have one (1) solution. The County cannot afford to build a new highway, the State cannot afford to build a new highway, and the Federal government does not have enough money to build a new highway. Expanding certain areas of Kuhio Highway or Kaumuali`i Highway, the little segments that the State is doing is not solving the problem. It just creates more of a bottleneck. The reality is, and I know Councilmember Yukimura will disagree with me, we need a new highway. We need a new highway. Ms. Colburn: Is that the only answer? You were the first one that got the point of this one which is that there are multiple right answers. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Ms. Colburn: So, there are some things in the responses that said, "Oh, the shuttle is relieving some traffic congestion." There was another one that said, "For people who cannot afford multiple cars for their family, it is economical and efficient." So, that is a solution at getting reductions in traffic so you do not have to build a highway. Council Chair Rapozo: Well, we have tried. We have tried. We have expanded the bus at a significant cost and it has not reduced it. It increased ridership, but it is like the rail in Honolulu. You are going to build that rail and spend all of that money, but what impact is it going to have on the H1 in the morning? Not much. Three hundred (300) people, maybe four hundred (400) people ride the rail. I guess if you want the meaningful resolution of traffic, you have to remove thousands of vehicles from the road. The only way you do that is provide an alternate route SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 36 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP because this is not San Francisco or Seattle or Honolulu where you have the volume of people where you can have bus stops at every subdivision. I mean, this is a different place. What is the answer? Three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000), four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000), five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) for a new highway? That is not going to happen. I do not know what else to do. Ms. Colburn: Okay. So, you are not optimistic that you are going to solve that in a half hour meeting? Council Chair Rapozo: We are not going to solve it, but I think that we need to for me again, if you ask me what I think. As Mr. Hooser said, we have to show leadership and work with the State and the Federal government to find a solution because it is going to be a multijurisdictional solution. It is not going to be just the County. Ms. Colburn: Where you are in agreement is that it resonates heavily with your constituents. It may not be the easiest, it may not be the cheapest, it may be the most vesting, but if it is important to your constituents it deserves to get some face time. Council Chair Rapozo: I agree. The question to ask is will it be better in twenty(20)years or thirty (30)years? Absolutely not. Will we need a new highway in thirty (30) or forty (40) years? Absolutely. Is it even feasible? It will take thirty (30) years to build a highway if we start now. That is just the unfortunate reality of the world we live in. Ms. Colburn: Well, so if it is something that is going to take a long time, then taking an incremental approach is what I heard some people say. You take these gnarly things and you do some things that are doable. That brings us back sort of to the particular level of detail that I understood people to have some interest in, not getting too specific about. Yes, and then we will come back to you. Councilmember Kuali`i: Then I sort of have a question because if this is about the Council and the Mayor working together and we see in this Holo Holo priorities there is one (1) transportation related item that we graded and that was having to do with bus shelters. Do we think of transportation in the Administration as transportation and traffic because that is to me, how we hear it from our constituents? When they talk about transportation, they are not just talking about the County providing bus service. They are talking about how we are getting around on the island. Most of us are doing it in our cars. So, even though traffic and the highways are primarily a State issue or responsibility, what is the County doing on that matter? Even if it is just a matter of bringing citizens together to push the State to do the right thing. Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: My question to the Mayor then would be where in the Administration, if we as Councilmembers and maybe myself as Chair of Economic Development & Intergovernmental Relations, who do I work with on this issue? Ms. Nakamura: I think we would start with the Department of Public Works. They run the, first of all, the Islandwide Road Resurfacing program. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 37 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP So, that is just the condition of the roads. In terms of road improvements and expansions, that is all part of the Statewide Improvement Program, the STIP, the Transportation Improvement Program that deals with collector roads and improving those roads. Then we also have to look at what are the County roads that provide alternative routes that expand capacity so that people do not have to go on the main highways. There are fixes there as well. That is just on the road improvement side. As Council Chair said, the whole Wailua/Kapa'a bypass has been scrapped by the State Department of Transportation. There is not a lot of energy that is going to be going that way which was kind of guiding us for the past twenty (20) somewhat years. Those are all sort of roadway capacity type approaches and then there is the how do you relieve congestion? You can relieve congestion through public transit, you can do it by getting our visitors off the road because you notice when there are fewer visitors here there is less traffic that we all get tied up in. The whole getting the visitors out of their cars into shuttles is a strategy. The other strategy is just getting people onto the fixed bus route and improving the frequencies, improving routes so it is more convenient and reliable, and you can get on time information on where those buses are at any given time. Ms. Colburn: Is that the kind of conversation that you were envisioning? Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. I actually loved this last half hour of conversation because I think if we stay on the large topics, we will find a lot of agreement. Like I will agree that affordable housing should be a priority. Whether Lima Ola is the best way to address it is up for discussion. If we identify the key areas that we want to work on, but know that is not enough, then you begin to go down to the next level which is what is the most strategic way to address the housing problem, the transportation problem. Council Chair Rapozo: We are still on transportation. Councilmember Yukimura: No. The reason why I am not going down, I mean, I can spend the rest of the afternoon talking about how to solve the transportation problem on Kauai. Ms. Colburn: That would be a deal killer for me. Councilmember Yukimura: That is correct. That is why I am not going there. I am just suggesting that first we do the major areas and then we may have to have another session where we begin to find the project that is the strategic project we all agree with that we move ahead on for each of these large areas that we agree our people are demanding from us. I mean, parks. I am looking at Ross. Parks is a priority for our people too, but you are not going to prioritize them first by project, you prioritize them by area and then you go and say, "Okay, what is the key project or two (2) or three (3) under the area that we are going to address. We cannot do that today. I am just suggesting a framework for it, but really finding consensus and momentum to proceed with certain projects. Ms. Colburn: I think that is a very responsible approach, but it requires time. It requires discussion. It requires homework. It requires comparing one thing against another. It also requires agreeing on how you prioritize. What are the things that matter that you can hold up against anything that is proposed and have a chance of coming away with something that is going to be stronger than if you do not have those criteria? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 38 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Mayor Carvalho: I know in conversations with Mel, Council Chair, I mean we are trying to look at what can be realistically done within a twelve (12) month period, what can be done in a twenty-four (24) month period. That was said earlier. Then, you also have the bigger picture things. Under transportation for example, can we agree we are going to finish all of the bus stops on this island? Just as an example. The things that are realistic and can happen. The bigger picture things, let us begin the conversation of how we are going to manage that. It is part of this discussion that we are going to go full on into road maintenance. Is that part of our current infrastructure program? Then, really go into the feeder routes and bus routes. I do not know. I am just saying that as an example. For me, how we can look at what can be done within this timeframe, I thought that is what some of the goals were for today. I am just talking about today, and then go from there. Under Housing, I can tell you Lima Ola is not happening right now. Rice Camp is happening. We have the blessing in March. Things like that. Is that something we can all collectively look at as an example and then look at the bigger pieces under each heard like JoAnn was saying, and then kind of decide on that? The things that are already moving. Ms. Colburn: If you were to reverse engineer from the ones that you picked, I would suspect you would end up with the categories. If you reverse engineered the Grants Management Committee. That is about leveraging Finance. It is part of the five (5) year budget. If you work backwards from the Building Permit Review that could conceivably go to Planning because you can predict a demand for employment and it could go to Finance because you have an ability to forecast revenues. Councilmember Yukimura: An area would be government... Ms. Colburn: That is the category we had. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, one of our priorities is Government Efficiency. Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: One area is Financial Stability. One area is Affordable Housing. One area is Transportation. One area is...I mean, I do not think it is going to be hard if we just look at what we have and just pick out the big areas. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Let us dedicate a little bit of time to that and see if we can actually get where we need to go faster. I reserve the right to abandon it if it becomes too frustrating or a source of too much contention. Councilmember Yukimura: Agreed. Ms. Colburn: Traffic was an addition that was suggested. Councilmember Yukimura: May I suggest traffic/transportation to cover what KipuKai was saying? It is not just about traffic mitigation. It is how people move around though on this island. Ms. Colburn: Just to be clear, the category Traffic/Transportation is important enough that something should be identified that falls within that, it provides relief, and to make transportation more expedient. You SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 39 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP may have already got some things in the works, you may not, but I am understanding you to say that if all of these categories get addressed and you can park some of these things there or other things that you think are more appropriate, then you will have a different way of getting us to the priorities. Councilmember Yukimura: We identify these big areas and then in each of these areas we have a plan which has short-term things and long term things. Then, that is how we go. I hear that he says that he and the Chair want twelve (12) months, twenty-four (24) months, five (5) to seven (7) years, or twenty (20) years. I mean, that is what you would have, but to develop that kind of plan, we tried with Energy Efficiency. We have with Transportation, but these are big areas that everybody has to inform themselves about and then choose the projects. I know people can just choose projects. That is fast. Ms. Colburn: Well, anything you choose will fit somewhere. It is about how you get the critical mass and the will together, have the ability to stand up, and make the hard choices because you are a larger group. It is not this is the demon, this is the evil person or this is the person that tries to always block things. Your ability to do some things with something closer to unanimity sends a message to the community too. It says you are willing to make hard choices. It says you are looking at things and doing your homework. It says somebody has to make the decision and the buck stops here. There are actually advantages to that. The categories... Ms. Nakamura: There are all of the categories and then we can add to this. Ms. Colburn: Wow, you write really nicely. Financial Sustainability. Does that conflict with anybody's thinking thus far about an important category? Okay. That would include the five (5) year strategy, the five (5) year budget. That would include balancing it without tapping your reserves. All of that could fit in there. Alright. Traffic/Transportation, meaning how people move around the island. Councilmember Yukimura: I think it should be Land Transportation. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Affordable Housing. Usually if people are having any kind of insomnia and you bring up either homeless or affordable housing they are going to go like (snoring) because it seems intractable and unsolvable. It is more solvable if you folks work together toward a resolution and again, it may be incremental. So, is that a keeper category, Affordable Housing? Solid Waste Solution. Okay. Government Efficiency. That is a big category. The bigger category would be Governance or Finance. What do you want to call it? Just leave it as Government Efficiency? Okay. Councilmember Hooser: Just a note. Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: Is that better? It is obvious but I wanted to state it anyway. Financial Sustainability and Government Efficiency are linked. There is no question about that. I just wanted to also say that Affordable Housing and Transportation/Traffic are linked. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 40 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: In Kapa'a now there are three (3)projects that are not going anywhere because of the traffic. So, the traffic solution would free up economic development and it would free up more affordable housing. So, there is definite links that are there. Thank you. Ms. Colburn: I think that is an excellent point. Part of what helps people develop consensus or critical mass and support of things even something unpopular, is the fact that when you put them next to each other, there is a strategy over here that addresses five (5) aspects of the category. There is one (1) over here that solves some thing. You look at what you have available to dedicate to it, you look at the time, and again, you have to come down to the strategy at some point. It seems that there is still willingness to consider that as a category. If I do not hear from anybody else, this may need to get deep sixed. Councilmember Yukimura: I think it was just making an observation. You are not suggesting to put it together necessarily? Ms. Colburn: No, but you are saying that there is a relationship between them. Councilmember Yukimura: There is a relationship amongst all of those. Ms. Colburn: You can make the case that everything is connected. That is true at the cellular level, the atomic particle level, biblical. You have it. It is an eccentric manner of how the universe works. The question is though, if it is too high and too broad and it does not mean anything to get people's fancy and it is not concrete enough that you can have measures and chip away at it and make progress you can measure, then it is probably not going to get the traction. Councilmember Yukimura: Linda, we like them as they are. Ms. Colburn: Okay. So, you keep the ones that are here or... Councilmember Yukimura: I want to add two (2) more. Ms. Colburn: Well, we cannot have like ten (10). Councilmember Yukimura: Yes we can. Ms. Colburn: What would they be? Councilmember Yukimura: Economic Development and Parks. Ms. Colburn: Okay. I used to work at a place that shall remain nameless that had three (3) letters in it and sometimes it was my job to write a letter stating a position based on documentation and findings as to why a policy might not be in the best interest. Then, I would get a call from someone who is at the policy level saying, "I need you to help me write a response to the letter we just got." I spent a lot of time writing letters back and forth to myself. I would not recommend it unless you have multiple personalities in which case it could trade off or maybe have more rewards associated with it. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 41 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: There is one (1) more and it is Energy because it was on the original list unless people do not think it is important. Ms. Colburn: Energy. Councilmember Kuali`i: It was under Government Efficiency. Ms. Nakamura: We have it under Government Efficiency. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Is there anything that is important to people in the room that will not fit in any of these? Councilmember Kagawa: It is a personal thing with me that I feel like can benefit Kaua`i in the long run. It has always been my thought that sports tourism. We are a perfect island for that and we do not have the facilities to handle those kinds of things, but I think there is a big market out here for sports tourism for Kauai. Ms. Colburn: So, that would fit under Economic Development. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, that and Parks. Ms. Colburn: And Parks. We have just rearranged the chairs on the deck of the Titanic, but we have different signs over them. Basically, same smell. We are just parsing it a little wider. Councilmember Yukimura: May I? Ms. Colburn: If no one else is going to... Council Chair Rapozo: I have just real quickly because I am the realist. We talk about traffic, how we are going to fix the traffic, and we talk about how we talk about a five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) highway or whatever we talk about, or the cost to improve it. I guess and I enjoy this discussion because it makes me feel good. Ms. Colburn: It does? Council Chair Rapozo: It does. When I hear everybody and what they want to do because I have a lot of things I want to do. I really do. I mean, I am more inclined to support public safety, giving the cops and the firemen what they want. I realize that there is a limit to what we can do for people. My good friend Ross Kagawa talks about the sports, I want to support that so much. The paradigm we discussed this morning, it was a twelve (12) month deal. It was a twenty-four (24) month deal. What can this organization do in the next twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) months because we know that we are going to be here? Being the realist, that is what I was hoping to achieve, that we were going to end up at the end of today with some projects that everybody found consensus in. If you are just looking at the traffic and just looking at the times that we have an accident on Kuhi5 Highway or Kaumuali`i Highway. We have an Open Space Commission. They have about six million dollars ($6,000,000) in the bank, but what would it take for this County to create a bypass road? Again, those are projects that would require Administration and Council approval. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 42 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: I am going to start... Council Chair Rapozo: I do not want to hear that oh, we have this semi-improved road that the police can open up whenever there is a fatality. No. I am talking about why would we not move towards creating that road as a full time road? Ms. Colburn: That is an option. Council Chair Rapozo: An option. I mean, why would we not look at that? Rather than trying to expand parks which comes with recurring cost and... Ms. Colburn: Let us use that as an example. If that is the thing that you think the Council can collectively support and you determine that by interviewing people or doing other rankings, but that is the approach that you want to take. How would you evaluate from among competing options if there are ten (10) ways to relieve the congestion on streets, what information can you use to compare things side by side in order to pick the one that is most likely to work best and enjoy the support of majority of the Council? I am guessing it is like, well, can it be done within the timeframe? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Ms. Colburn: Then I would think another one would be what? Councilmember Yukimura: Cost. Ms. Colburn: Cost. Okay. What would be another one? Councilmember Yukimura: Effectiveness. Ms. Colburn: What would that mean? What would you look at? Councilmember Yukimura: Well, how many cars would it take off the road or how many cars can you get through one (1) point at a time? Ms. Colburn: The impact of a particular strategy. It might be speculative, but nonetheless, you are making the case that these impacts can make things better. What else do you look at? Council Chair Rapozo: How about the... Councilmember Yukimura: Cultural and environmental impacts. Ms. Colburn: Cost/resources is a thought to add because you can leverage resources and get things that are external to County supply, open funding, or in kind, but a lot of ways to leverage the money. If you have two (2) projects and they are both doable in twelve (12) months, they both can be handled with the resources that you have, and the impact of them is predictable, defensible, there is documentation, how would you tell them apart? How would you choose one from the other? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 43 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Kaneshiro: Ultimately, it is going to come down to which one is going to improve the traffic the most. I mean, where is the greatest congestion? Is Kapa'a the area with the greatest congestion? Is Lihu`e the area with the greatest congestion? If they are both comparable, which one is the most congested and that is the one you choose. Ms. Colburn: I am going to generalize that and say the one that is most responsive to the issue. The one the fixes the problem... Councilmember Yukimura: The best. Ms. Colburn: Best. Council Chair Rapozo: I guess for me it is planning maybe a three (3) phase project because if you ask the constituents on the west side, and believe me. I have been in both. I will be honest. The west side traffic is worse than the Kapa'a traffic. The west side traffic coming in the morning or going home in the afternoon is worse than the Kapa`a traffic in the morning and in the afternoon. Ms. Colburn: How do you measure worse traffic? Council Chair Rapozo: For me, the constituents. Ms. Colburn: How do they measure it to be worse? Council Chair Rapozo: Oh, when it takes an hour and twenty minutes to get to Lihu`e from Kekaha or Waimea. I think that is unacceptable. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo: But... Ms. Colburn: So, it takes an inordinate time? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Ms. Colburn: And you could be doing it in less time and a lot of people would benefit and it would do all of these other things. Council Chair Rapozo: The bigger part is when we have a serious accident on those roads. We are talking four (4) to six (6) hours of nobody going anywhere, people missing their flights, or tourists not making it home. It is a slew of problems. Again, I mean, I can sit here and do a wish list all night long. Mayor Carvalho: Let me add to the wish list then. Council Chair Rapozo: I was more interested in talking about the bus shelters and things like that, where if there is no issue, we are moving and things like that. Mayor Carvalho: Also I just wanted to add because we are talking west side, I mean I have had conversations with just that bypass if you will from Maluhia all the way through K"ipn and that side of the island. That is a way to SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 44 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP also access that roadway. So, that is open for discussion as well to see how we would manage that. Ms. Colburn: I am going to take us to neutral territory and say it can be done in the timeframe, it can be done within the cost predicted and the resources available, and the strategy has impact on solving the problem or improving the condition. It might be phased if it is a big thing. So, you take the incremental approach. In the case of travel, figure out what all of the problems are and then find data that goes with that. You also mentioned it has to be viable in times when things are good as well as when things are not so good. It has to stand the test of time and conditions. Council Chair Rapozo: One more thing is the opportunity for Private Public Partnerships as well because a lot of these lands that would be available are currently owned by entities. I mean, it would obviously take some cooperation with those people. Much like Mr. Kagawa's sports tourism plan which on the west side, the community has come together and they have a plan. They have some financing plans. So, those are opportunities as well. Ms. Colburn: So, some kind of balanced regional benefit. Everybody gets something, but each one elevates the conditions for anyone anywhere on the island. Councilmember Hooser: There is, I think, another important element. All things being equal. Some areas I had mentioned in the Kawaihau District has projects that are blocked right now. Expansion of transportation would remove impediments to housing, economic development, and other things. So, it is more than just moving cars. It is opening up the opportunity for developments in the area. Ms. Colburn: If it eases implementation and supports progress, and your traffic example... Councilmember Yukimura: It is cost-benefits. Ms. Colburn: I am guessing the carbon footprint of the collective explorations of people breathing in this room has a thick concentration level. I am just wondering if this would be a good time to take a twelve (12) minute break for contributions of future fossil fuels which can often times improve concentration and stamina, to snack on something, and see what else is available that is still fair game. In twelve (12) minutes we will reconvene and I will try to bring this mercifully toward closure after I caucus a little bit here to see whether a change in strategy is called for. Add twelve (12) to 2:44 p.m. and I guess that puts us at...I cannot even do the math, 2:56 p.m. There being no objections, the Council recessed at 2:44 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 3:00 p.m., and proceeded as follows: Ms. Colburn: The last piece involves this exercise that needs to happen at two (2) separate tables. So, I need two (2) groups of five (5). There is, I believe, a split opinion about the utility of trying to settle on the categories as being definitive and also trying to put them in some kind of hierarchy in a way that reflects your thinking today. It could change tomorrow, but what I wanted to do is to create a snapshot of how you would allocate three (3) votes to help prioritize these. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 45 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP You could have one (1)vote on three (3) different things. You could have two (2)votes on one (1) thing and one (1) vote on another. I like recklessness. If you want to plunk all three (3), you can. Yes? Councilmember Yukimura: First of all, I do not want to vote for any category, meaning that we are voting for all of the things that are listed underneath it. Ms. Colburn: That is understood. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Ms. Colburn: These are things that have been tossed around and that is where they would go if they get traction. I think you are going to have to, at some point, decide what goes on an agenda at your next meeting and what goes on your agenda four (4) months down the road. At some point, there will be a need to sort and put these in some kind of sequence. Councilmember Yukimura: What I am saying is I do not want to see anything printed with all of those things underneath it saying that we voted for the head thing because there are things that are missing or not missing. We have not gone to that next level of discussion. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is not a vote, it is a straw poll. Ms. Colburn: It is a straw poll. It is to put these in some sort of hierarchy that reflects your thinking to-date. These are not "garanz ball barenz." They are not final. They are not exclusive in terms of things that might be considered, but they appear because they have been the subject of discussion today and these are places where they would fit best if people wanted to take them further. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Linda, but there is more that we should be putting under there. If it is going to the public with those subtopics, I believe it will be a misrepresentation. Ms. Colburn: I have a couple thoughts on that. One, you will never get a perfect list that is going to pass muster with the public, with the rest of the Councilmembers, with the Administration, and with the Department Heads, unless you have a lot of time to devote to it. It is not going to happen. I think these things appear here because they are related and they are examples of possibilities. They are not a contract for implementation. If I create an exhibit, I will make that very explicit that this is a way of trying to decide the order in which these might be addressed or the importance of it. After this, I am just going to move forward. Councilmember Yukimura: I want to suggest that Energy be a separate thing out of Government Efficiency because it is a sustainability issue and we need to show it as such. I also want to say or somebody please explain to me why we have to prioritize. We have one, (1), two (2), three (3), four (4), five (5) , six (6), seven (7), eight(8). Ms. Colburn: Because I am compulsive and I am trained to do that for groups that cannot make decisions quickly and easily. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 46 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: No, but what is the purpose because we are going to do something in all of'those categories? Why could we not say they are the top eight (8) Council priorities? Ms. Colburn: I do not suspect the patience exists to fully profile each of these so that it would be defensible. Councilmember Yukimura: Exactly my point previously. Council Chair Rapozo: Give me my three (3) dots. I will start. Ms. Nakamura: Okay. Ms. Colburn: Well... Council Chair Rapozo: Give me my three (3) dots. I will start. Let us move on. We are not following the process. We hired you, you state the... Mayor Carvalho: No, just move on. Enough already. We have to just prioritize that listing. Ms. Colburn: Now, I could do dots. Council Chair Rapozo: Or however you want. Ms. Colburn: But maybe three (3) votes. You can use them all at once or spread them out. You just need to hold up your hand and we can count. With a number. If you are voting it as a single vote, please be careful what finger you use because at this time of day, people get cranky more easily. Council Chair Rapozo: I would suggest we just go right down the list...I mean, down the line of Councilmembers and then you will get the three (3) because sometimes people forget three (3) and they go four (4). I am not afraid or ashamed to say where my dots would go. Ms. Colburn: I would like to try it nonetheless if you do not mind. If you have an opportunity to allocate your time and attention to these major categories which consist of Energy, Financial Sustainability, Traffic/Land Transportation, Affordable Housing, Solid Waste Solution, Government Efficiency, Economic Development, and Parks. You are going to cast three (3) votes somehow. I am just taking the temperature of the group with respect to interests at this point in time and because information has been shared with you today that has been designed to shed more light on some of these. So, you have a better understanding of what was intended. If we were to query you about Energy as it should be one of the top things, may I see by a show of fingers how you feel about that one as a category? It does not mean it does not get addressed. It is just that it is not at the top of the list necessarily. Oh, you do not want to prioritize. The query was made for Energy to be a top priority and no members voted for this subject matter. Ms. Colburn: Financial Sustainability. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 47 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP The query was made for Financial Sustainability to be a top priority and the following members voted for this subject matter: • Mason K. Chock • Gary L. Hooser • Ross Kagawa • Arryl Kaneshiro • KipuKai Kuali`i • Mel Rapozo • Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Councilmember Hooser: I am struggling with Councilmember Yukimura's comments. They are all pretty important to me. I mean, I am a multitasker and I feel like... Ms. Colburn: Well, you may recall that... Councilmember Hooser: Just for the record, I am struggling with the same dilemma that Councilmember Yukimura articulated. I feel compelled to work on all of them almost equally. Ms. Colburn: This does not prevent you from it. It is to take the collective temperature of the people in the room about where they are inclined to put their attention at this point in time. The whole point of this was to identify the things, even though it was not a perfect list, everybody agreed on one (1) thing. I think that is a pretty clear message even though the list was not as extensive as it could have been. This is one (1) way to go from a large number of options and to get down to a more manageable number. This is in a sense the same way, so that we do not really go backwards and expand it all out again. My understanding was to try to get narrow enough attention so that there could be some focused discussion and information sharing today. Energy... Councilmember Yukimura: I am not going to be voting. Ms. Colburn: Is that a problem for anyone? Councilmember Chock: Well, yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. Councilmember Chock: The whole reason for this exercise today was for us to kind of move the needle forward for us to get to points where we can agree on. I mean, I get the point about not wanting to share it with the public or whatever. That is fine. Humor us. This is part of a discussion and process of getting an understanding about what it is we agree upon. We are not making decisions here. We are just trying to get clear. This clarity will not come without having continued discussions in many different ways, backwards, forwards, and upside-down. Humor me and vote on it. Ms. Colburn: Anyone else want to make the case for a different outcome or decision? Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: We go back to the original exercise of the value and kaulike, respect differences. This is a snapshot in time. This is an exercise. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 48 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP This is just part of this process that we wanted to do. One of the conditions was everybody would participate. That was my rule and if we could not get seven (7), we were not going to do it, because it is important. This is really, I mean, I told you. My priority is public safety. That is not on there. Does that mean I am not going to work on public safety? Does that mean I am not going to work on my passion to make sure our public is safe? Hell no. Ms. Colburn: I predict that you will work very hard to... Council Chair Rapozo: Very hard. Again, this is a group exercise. I am trying to honor the spirit of the exercise. Do I think Energy should be up there as one of the top priorities? No. I am not going to say, "Take it off." Let us just honor the process. Ms. Colburn: Well, there are a couple of you who have reservations about prioritizing these categories. We do not have to use those priorities, but I need to take the temperature of the Councilmembers in the room today about where you are at this point in time in relation to those generally. Mayor Carvalho: My understanding, again,just so we are clear. We are all coming here...very seldom does this happen. I thought this was a time that we could come collectively and just see where we are at. I would like to see everybody in this...that was the direction I got and I accepted that. I think this is a great time. We all participate and just get an idea of where we are at. I need that. We put up what we think and so we thought maybe this is a good thing for all of us to collectively share and come up with something that we can look at. But this kind of... Councilmember Yukimura: I am sorry that you see it as something... Mayor Carvalho: ...behavior. Councilmember Yukimura: ...that is deflecting the process. I cannot vote on three (3) because those eight (8) represent my priorities. No one has given me a reason why we have to choose the top priorities among those except that Linda says, "Well, I am trained to do this." Ms. Colburn: That was kind of... Councilmember Yukimura: To me, those are eight (8) priorities that are very good for us to say are our Council priorities and that is what I believe it represents. I do not know why we have to go further. Ms. Colburn: Well, I would ask you, are there any conditions under which you would consider voting, understanding there are a couple of you who are not enamored of the need to prioritize? Councilmember Yukimura: I am voting on what I want to vote on by not voting because I believe those eight (8) should be the top priorities. Ms. Colburn: Well, I can respect diversity. I am not in a position to be coercive. What I would recommend is that those of you who wish to... SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 49 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: Who else has explained why it is important to choose three (3) top priorities? Nobody has given me a good explanation. Ms. Colburn: Well, can you deal with all of these at the same time? Councilmember Yukimura: We have to. That is our job. Ms. Colburn: Okay. You were going to make a statement and I preempted it. Council Chair Rapozo: I am going to call for the question real soon. Just please proceed with voting with these dots or whatever, three (3) votes, Linda, please. So we can at least just get past this. If they do not want to vote, they do not have to vote and we will average it out whatever the case is. Let us just move on. Mayor Carvalho: I just want to say it defeats the whole purpose of why we are here today. Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura: How does it defeat the purpose? Mayor Carvalho: It is just my opinion. Ms. Colburn: A couple of observations. This is the time of day when people are tired and cranky anyway. If you do not eat chocolate a lot but you have been chewing on it now for sustenance, your body probably has got some chemistry things going on that is not optimal for making important decisions. This is not a critical decision. It is a snapshot of the thinking at this point in time and does not obligate this to be...something could happen tomorrow that would change your thinking about what needs to be most important or addressed first or most urgent. You are in the Civil Defense building. Something happened. You had a disaster. Would you still be focusing on Government Efficiency necessarily or Parks? You have to make choices. I leave it to you to consider whether or not to cast your vote. Because you made the mistake of establishing eye contact, I think I will ask you first. If you could distribute your three (3) votes. Councilmember Chock allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Government Efficiency • Economic Development Ms. Colburn: Okay. Alright. Would you care to express your current thinking about how you would allocate your three (3) choices? Councilmember Kuali`i allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Government Efficiency • Solid Waste Solution Ms. Colburn: Okay. I feel like I have Vonna White helping. How about for you? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 50 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Council Chair Rapozo allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Government Efficiency • Solid Waste Solution Ms. Colburn: Does the Mayor get to weigh in? Mayor Carvalho: Yes. Mayor Carvalho allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Government Efficiency • Solid Waste Solution Ms. Colburn: Okay. Thank you. How about for you? Council Chair Rapozo: Can I vote again? Ms. Colburn: Oh, did you already? Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: Put my three (3) on Solid Waste Solution. Ms. Colburn: As I said, I have done work at OCCC. At the end of the exercise and you tell them, "Oh, you folks have five (5) votes. Just honor system." Duh. Where am I? I have like two thousand (2,000) votes and there are five (5) people in the room. Who is surprised? Talk about not preparing for the gig. Councilmember Kagawa allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Government Efficiency • Parks Ms. Colburn: Okay. Thank you. Councilmember Hooser allotted his vote to the following: • Financial Sustainability • Economic Development (2 votes) Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Kaneshiro allotted one (1) vote to each of the following: • Financial Sustainability • Affordable Housing • Solid Waste Ms. Colburn: Last call. Our top pick Financial Sustainability. Oh my goodness. Is that not what people voted on? This would be SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 51 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP something that everybody agrees is important to address period. They are all important. This is probably going to have systemic impact. Second one was five (5) votes, and that was Solid Waste Solution. This was the can that has been kicked down the road and guess what? Tag, you are it. Do you want to make a bold resolution and decision about this? The third one is Government Efficiency which gets at a lot of things, but there is an expectation that you do work well with less resources if necessary as opposed to expanding resources. This one is linked to this one because the economy is realized through technology and it may save some position counts that might loosen up resources that can be devoted to yet another thing that is on the list that you find appealing. The last one with three (3) votes is Economic Development which is also related to Financial Sustainability. None of these are orphans. All things being equal, if you have to start somewhere, this is an indication of how you are feeling about these options at this point in time. Like I said earlier, free country. You can change your mind if you find information that begins to affect your thinking, but the big goal is to collectively identify things that most people can get behind. So, you can do the difficult things better, faster, more comprehensively, and you will take into consideration, the impacts of the strategies that you elect to incorporate. Again, not highly scientific. Standard deviation, 0.5. Yes? Councilmember Hooser: As the facilitator, this is what you do. The decision to let people plunk all three (3) of their votes on one (1) topics seems to skew the priorities toward one (1) person. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Hooser: We have votes there, five (5) votes and one (1) person was three (3) votes. I do not know. Is there any... Ms. Colburn: Did anybody cast three (3) votes? Ms. Nakamura: You are the only one who plunked. Councilmember Kuali`i: You are the only one. Councilmember Hooser: No, I did not. I did two (2). I thought you did three (3) on Solid Waste Solution. Council Chair Rapozo: No. Ms. Nakamura: He did not. Council Chair Rapozo: She caught me the second time. Councilmember Hooser: Oh, okay. Ms. Nakamura: He did not. Council Chair Rapozo: If you are going to let me vote again, put it all... Councilmember Hooser: Oh. I plunked because I thought you plunked. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 52 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: When you count the votes, that tells you sort of how many units of support you have for that in the room to be taken as a priority. Councilmember Hooser: Okay. Ms. Colburn: When you see how people distribute their votes, you can measure the intensity of commitment to the topic. If somebody does plunk, they may in fact skew this highly scientific approach, but you can suspect that the follow-up activity is going to be vigorous, relentless, and hopefully well organized and strategic because no matter what, that is the thing that is most important. That person picked their number one. That is the... Councilmember Hooser: I withdraw my question. Councilmember Kuali`i: I would just add that along the lines of what Councilmember Hooser was saying, he got to vote last and he saw how everybody voted. If Financial Sustainability and Solid Waste Solution were important to him but he already say it had plenty enough support, then he could throw two (2) votes for Economic Development. Ms. Colburn: Okay. You are absolutely right and that is why these were deduced from interviews that were conducted with you privately. One, it did not contradict the requirements of Sunshine. Two, if you had something confidential you wanted to say, you could be reasonably assured that it was not going to be spread all over the place. Three, I think people share more details when they are not feeling judged by their peers. Four, if you are insecure because you do not understand an issue, it is really hard to take a strong position. Again, imperfect, but a start. I understood that prioritization today was a critical piece. I think that might be...is it of interest to you to see if any of the sub-points, understanding that it is not a deliberately constructed full list, is it of interest to you to see kind of where your sentiments are in relation to the things listed? Council Chair Rapozo: With an hour and seven (7) minutes left, I do not think that we would be able to do it and give it justice. Ms. Colburn: Oh, we have until 5:00 p.m. Council Chair Rapozo: What time is it? Ms. Colburn: It is 3:20 p.m. Council Chair Rapozo: Oh, I am sorry. Ms. Colburn: It is even better than you thought. Ms. Nakamura: Can I jump in a little bit? Under Financial Sustainability, I think through the survey, the five (5) year plan was the number one issue. I just want to get agreement that it is still, based on what we talked about today, it is still your priority? Just a show of hands that you agree or if you disagree, raise your hand. Councilmember Yukimura: Question. Ms. Colburn: What position? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 53 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Hooser: The five (5) year plan is very important. I think it should be a priority, but it is not the end all financial sustainability in terms of balancing the budget. Ms. Nakamura: It is not tactical. It is long-term and it is a process to get to the plan. Councilmember Hooser: Alright. So, Financial Sustainability, I am looking at it in terms of the budget. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: Period. Okay. Ms. Nakamura: But the five (5)year plan, everybody...I mean, that ranked number one. I just want to get confirmation that is where you are still at. Councilmember Yukimura: My question is, are we for the record, we are doing this by votes, by majority? We are not doing it by consensus. Is that what you are doing? Ms. Colburn: I think there are lots of definitions for consensus. It can be fifty percent (50%) plus one (1), it can be two-thirds (2/3) or three-quarters (%), or it can be raw vote counts. What do you mean by consensus? Councilmember Yukimura: I am not asking for the definition. I would like to suggest that we just choose one (1) item under each of the main topics rather than try to vote on each item under every topic. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: I am suggesting we do it by votes and record the votes so we have a record, so we know whether it was unanimous or not. Ms. Colburn: Will you be participating this time? Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. Ms. Colburn: Is there any objection to the five (5) year financial plan? Ms. Nakamura: How many of you support the five (5) year plan? Raise your hand as your number one. Ms. Colburn: As your number one at this moment in time. Councilmember Yukimura: It is a good idea under that broad topic is how I am voting for it. Ms. Colburn: Okay. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 54 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Council Chair Rapozo: I am just thinking if we can even vote. I do not know what the outcome of the votes will be. I mean, other than for discussion purposes. Ms. Colburn: Well, it is just to get a sense of where the collective interest lies at this point in time. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: For other Financial Sustainably we have the Five (5) Year Plan, Grant Management, Building Permit Task Force, and Facilitate Private Development. Ms. Colburn: Sure. Councilmember Yukimura: I think it was unanimous. No, Mel had a question. Council Chair Rapozo: No. My concern is that our agenda is not posted for any kind of decision-making or action item. It is one thing to toss out three (3) votes... Councilmember Yukimura: This is a straw vote. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, just making sure it is a straw poll. Ms. Colburn: I stand corrected. Straw poll is a better term. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Ms. Colburn: It is just to measure this moment in time. The following people support the five (5) year financial plan: • Mason K. Chock • Gary L. Hooser • Ross Kagawa • Arryl Kaneshiro • KipuKai Kuali`i • JoAnn A. Yukimura • Mel Rapozo • Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Ms. Colburn: How about... Ms. Nakamura: Do you want to go down each one or that is it for that category? Pau. Ms. Colburn: Solid Waste Solution was a favorite subject during the interviews, during the ranking. There was a fair amount of discussion about it today. So, you know what that means and what some of the complexities are. The follow-up is request for information follow-up. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 55 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: No, wait a minute. What are we saying here? That is a good idea under Solid Waste Solution? Ms. Colburn: It is an idea that people can support. Ms. Nakamura: The RFI and the follow-up. The RFI is the process we went through. We have eight (8) responses. We are doing the research now. We are going to get a summary, a recommendation will go the Mayor, and the Mayor will make a determination on what the next steps will be in terms of our strategy to proceed. Ms. Colburn: The next critical mass was expressed for Government Efficiency. Councilmember Yukimura: Wait, wait. I am not unanimous. Ms. Colburn: The question is, is that the only thing that can happen under Solid Waste Solution? Councilmember Hooser: I am not prepared to vote on this one. I do not feel like one hundred percent (100%) voting on that myself. Ms. Colburn: Let us get a sense of the positions of those who do feel they could express a position at this point in time. The following people support the RFI and the follow-up: • Mason K. Chock • Ross Kagawa • Arryl Kaneshiro • KipuKai Kuali`i • JoAnn A. Yukimura • Mel Rapozo • Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Ms. Nakamura: Next. Ms. Colburn: The next one that got a lot of traction was the whole area of Government Efficiency. I am interested in sensing from you today if there is something underneath this that you think rises to the top. Councilmember Yukimura: We cannot read it. Somebody has... Ms. Nakamura: The ones that received the highest traction was the Vacancy Review Committee, the Human Resources Information Task Force, and the Supervisory Training. Those received the highest in the first go around. In this situation, we are proceeding with all of these. It is moving, it is good to know where you think it is important. I do not know if it is necessary to vote on each one unless you want to. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, there is a major one missing under it. Ms. Nakamura: Okay. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 56 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: What would you suggest be added? Councilmember Yukimura: Collective bargaining process. Ms. Colburn: Okay. That is a gnarly one, not only is it a very popular facilitation term. Can we take the temperature of the group with a straw vote? Do you want to vote on the Government Efficiency sub-points? Council Chair Rapozo: I had a comment on the Vacancy Review. I think I addressed it in our interview, Linda. I may have or may not. I am more interested, and this is just a suggestion or a proposal to the Administration, is that looking at it as a Position Review Committee because we are only looking at vacancies and what we are missing are positions that have been in this County for decades that over the years have been subject to duplication of service and overlap. I think we have come to a point now as we see the vacancies showing up and that if we need to do away with certain positions because we do not need them anymore and we are simply overstaffed in certain positions. Then we have the vacancies to go back and fill so that we are not losing the one (1) body and attrition of the position. Ms. Colburn: Are either of you willing to provide assurances that it is not just dealing with vacancies? Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Actually, as we are doing it, Mel, it is a misnomer because it is really about government. Council Chair Rapozo: A position review? Ms. Nakamura: It is a position review as we are going through the vacancies, but it is also reengineering government. I think it is a reengineering... Council Chair Rapozo: That is being done by the review committee? Ms. Nakamura: It is. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Ms. Nakamura: It is doing it and in so many amazing ways that I would like to...that is a separate conversation. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Ms. Nakamura: Really good things are happening, but we are taking advantage of the vacancies as they arise, doing the analysis, and really asking the hard questions at the time of those vacancies. Department Heads are not really happy about this approach... Council Chair Rapozo: They are not supposed to be happy. They are supposed to be productive. Ms. Nakamura: We have some really awesome people working on this. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay, good. Now we can vote. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 57 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: I believe do we need to break it down? Ms. Nakamura: Do you want to vote on each one? Councilmember Kuali`i: You said in the earlier process this was the number one priority. If we still feel that it is the most important. In the earlier process, we... Ms. Colburn: Economic Development is the remaining category that has some... Councilmember Yukimura: Are we done with Government Efficiency? Ms. Colburn: I was trying to. Things that are under it include the Vacancy Review Task Force, the Data Sharing and GIS system, the Human Resources Information Task Force, the Energy Task Force, the Motor Pool Working Group or Task Force, Supervisory Training, Emphasis on Procurement Refinements, and the last one is Collective Bargaining which is an a component to home rule in the minds of some people that inflates or hides your compensation to a broader negotiated agreement that is different from what your comments support. So, it is a panoply of things. I guess my question would be, do any of those rise to the top? Councilmember Hooser: The issue that we talked about that I put on my list deals with the Supervisory Training and the issue that the County has with employee conflicts whether it is discrimination, EEOC, and the whole area. So, that was certainly one of my main priorities and I do not know if the Supervisory Training is intended to address that. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: Most of these, I do not know that much about period, in terms of the details, but that particular issue is one that I would like to see as a County priority. Ms. Nakamura: That is exactly what the Supervisory Training hopes to achieve, is to nip problems in the bud by offering training to our supervisors at all different levels including Department Heads. Now that we have an HR Department, previously Personnel did not want to really provide advice on these types of issues. Now that we have an HR Department with a Department Head who has experience in this area, they can now assist departments. What this training is about, just last week, they did the Water Safety Supervisor Training because there are so many management problems there, to offer training, and there were so many questions and dialogue. Jill Niitani, Janine Rapozo, and Nick Courson led that group. That is the kind of thing we want to be proactive about, we want to do these kinds of things on an ongoing basis to address the problem, and we also did a day in the life of an effective supervisor. We brought in resources. We have to work at all different levels. One of the things we are going to be doing next week Monday at our Department Head meeting is just talk story with the Department Heads. One is going to be talking about an alcohol problem in the workplace, workplace violence. Another department will be talking about that. Another Department Head will be talking about employee to employee conflict and the fourth Department Head will be talking about ethical issues they are facing and how they work with HR, how they work with the County Attorney's Office to resolve and nip problems in the bud. That SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 58 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP is the kind of things we are working on now and we have a lot of energy around it with the new HR Department Head and with a County Attorney who wants to do this proactive things rather than deal with it on the back end. It is moving. Ms. Colburn: The Parks category. Councilmember Yukimura: We are still on Government Efficiency. I really appreciate what the Managing Director has explained to us. Like Councilmember Hooser, I do not know much about the Data Sharing/GIS Task Force or the Human Resources Information Task Force though, in concept, I think they are very good. When I look at the list, it is really impressive how the Administration has been addressing all of these different areas. My question is, are we voting on any of those or can we give an endorsement to all of those, but with some understanding that either through (inaudible) because in concept, those are all excellent and I do not have any problems with that. If that is the meaning of(inaudible), then why do we not show it with a straw vote? Ms. Colburn: Is there anyone who could not support the concept of these categories... Councilmember Yukimura: Under Government Efficiency. Well, we could go down the line. So, we are at Government Efficiency. Unless we decide to not vote on those subheadings, but I am suggesting that there is enough concurrence that we just give a... Ms. Colburn: Would that spare you agony? Councilmember Kaneshiro: Yes, it would spare us a lot of agony. Just like Councilmember Hooser and Councilmember Yukimura, some of those I do not have much information on. We are running out of time. I do not want to spend the time here going over what each and every one is. I know eventually if I get in touch with you, Nadine, you can talk to me about what the procurement thing does, what the ARB chart thing is. We are running out of time. So, I am willing to just vote. Ms. Colburn: Remember that thing with asking questions to know what you are looking for, and identifying the thing that you want to accomplish? At some point these all have merit, they may have reasons to be taken in a particular sequence, but I am understanding you to say generally speaking, you have no objections to these understanding that it is an imperfect poll. Councilmember Chock: I just want to remind us that when we started with Financial Sustainability, we decided that we were going to choose one (1) of them and vote on one (1) of them. We have kind of moved from that. If the intent is to look at all of them and give endorsement to all of them, then we should do the whole list too. Ms. Colburn: Perhaps that was a bad judgment call on my part because, and this was a unanimous priority in your matrix. I did not think that your sentiments would change dramatically on that front. If you wish to, we can do that. I would like to leave Government Efficiency or can we just... Councilmember Yukimura: Can we finish Government Efficiency because I think there is a consensus? SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 59 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Alright. How do you frame the question that you want people to express a view about it? Councilmember Yukimura: If everybody is okay in concept with all of the subcategories under Government Efficiency, then raise your hand. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Can I see a show of hands? The following people supported the concept with all of the subcategories under Government Efficiency: • Mason K. Chock • Gary L. Hooser • Ross Kagawa • Arryl Kaneshiro • KipuKai Kuali`i • JoAnn Yukimura • Mel Rapozo • Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Ms. Nakamura: Thank you. Ms. Colburn: This is the buyer's remorse kind of vote. Economic Development includes Sports Tourism, Creative Technology Center, Agriculture Stewardship, Kauai Nui Kuapapa, Kaua`i Community College Commercial Kitchen, Joint Fact Finding Project relating to Pesticide Impact, and the Cultural Stewardship. Councilmember Yukimura: I would like to suggest that we do not vote on anything on there. Each one is very complex. I am sure there is some consensus on some of them, but we do not have the time to discuss it. Council Chair Rapozo: Just go down the list. We went from one (1) to all to none. That is not a very consistent method of... Councilmember Yukimura: Well, we did... Council Chair Rapozo: Just go down the list, please. Ms. Colburn: Despite the contradiction, let us be consistent throughout. I did not hear anyone pushing back against that. Economic Development. You heard there was Sports Tourism, Creative Technology Center... Councilmember Yukimura: Excuse me. Ms. Colburn: ...Agriculture Stewardship, Kauai Nui Kuapapa, Kauai Community College Commercial Kitchen, Joint Fact Finding Project relating to Pesticide Impact, and the Cultural Stewardship. Ms. Nakamura: Just to say, the ones that rose to the top in the internal survey that was done, Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa was number one, Cultural SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 60 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Stewardship was number two, and I think Creative Technology Center was number three. Councilmember Yukimura: I just want to point out that under Traffic and Housing, we did not talk about any of the subcategories. I do not think we are ready to. Sometimes we are ready and it is partly because the Administration has done a lot of groundwork in Government Efficiency. Thank you, but in other areas, we do not have a complete list to consider and think about. I think where we do not, we should not try to do it here now. Council Chair Rapozo: That is the world according to JoAnn. The world according to Mel is I want to see a straw poll on the Creative Technology Center because I believe that should be on the top of the list right now because we have some momentum, and it is going to generate a heck of a lot of things for our kids. I would ask that we take a straw poll on the Creative Technology Center. Ms. Colburn: This one. The following people supported the Creative Technology Center: • Mason K. Chock • Gary L. Hooser • Ross Kagawa • Arryl Kaneshiro • KipuKai Kuali`i • Mel Rapozo • Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Ms. Nakamura: We have seven (7)? Ms. Colburn: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Ms. Colburn: Do you... Ms. Nakamura: Agriculture Stewardship? Councilmember Hooser: Yes, let us do that. Councilmember Yukimura: Wait. Is it Agricultural Park Stewardship or is it Agriculture Stewardship. Ms. Nakamura: Agricultural Park Stewardship. Councilmember Hooser: I thought it was Agriculture Stewardship. Council Chair Rapozo: No, that is the Kilauea Agriculture Park. Ms. Nakamura: And others. Councilmember Yukimura: Excuse me. Council Chair Rapozo: No, we do not have land for others. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 61 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Councilmember Yukimura: I am in favor of Agriculture Park, but not Agriculture Stewardship. Ms. Colburn: I am actually a fan of oxygen. Do you know when you paddle and you practice, one of the things that is done frequently is to put the tire on the bow of the canoe to increase the coefficient of drag so you have to work harder with each stroke to build up strength and stamina. These digressions are increasing the coefficient of drag and I am confessing to you that I am teetering back and forth between wanting to be inclusive and appreciating diversity of opinion and also being faithful to what I understood my assignment to be. Is it necessary to looks at Parks? Councilmember Yukimura: I do not think we are ready for Parks. Ms. Nakamura: The other thing is, it is important and it can be handled through committee work. Councilmember Yukimura: There are one thousand (1,000) issues under Parks that we have to talk about. Ms. Colburn: Once again, this is to help staff know which ones they might start preparing to get the information to you about because they are complex. It is not concrete, but it has to start somewhere. I would like to ask you at this point, about your thoughts with respect to next steps, the things that you think need to happen going forward. One that comes to mind is a liberal sharing of information that is compliant with Sunshine, but more free flowing of information to ensure that there is equal or parody of understanding generally about the issues. My recommendation would be that I will write something up about the criteria that you might use are part of your thinking and I will also write something up about...I guess that would be the thing. The criteria for prioritizing. The other thing would be, what kind of routine information should be included when things get roached for the first time understanding that right now it may be uneven? If you could in a perfect world say, "When something comes to the Council, these are things I want to know before we start the conversation." So, I look like I am knowledgeable to my constituents, the conversation occurs at a higher level, and chances are there is more of a shared understanding so again, you can make progress quickly. Ms. Nakamura: I am not sure what the question is. What is your questions? Ms. Colburn: I forgot. I actually forgot. Yes? Councilmember Kagawa: If we are talking next steps, then I think some of the things that we talked about today, I guess, Administration was not ready to answer in detail. If we can somehow organize and maybe not tackle the whole set of things that we talked about, but let us attack maybe the top priorities and have some kind of agenda of some sort so that way, I guess, Councilmembers prior to that meeting can let staff know what kind of questions they may be needing answered. Councilmember Yukimura tends to look at the agenda and she will think that she may want the Administration to be ready. If we are going to tackle the five (5) year plan, what kinds of things do we need to get progress on that and get that moving. For the RFI, maybe Councilmember Hooser may want somebody from Public Works to just say where we are at right now. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 62 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: Right, exactly. Councilmember Kagawa: I think that could help., Ms. Colburn: The other thing that slipped my mind when I had a senior moment was being able to...God, it went away again. Oh, the information that staff should automatically present when they can. So, you get more things that are critical to helping you assess the issue. Who is working on it, what is it supposed to fix, what are the expected outcomes, what it the budget, what is the expected consequences, and is there a timeline? There are probably some things that may go into more detail than they are prepared to, but it seems like more information more consistently and proactively might be worth thinking about. I will summarize the criteria for the kinds of things that might work for that. Any other next steps? Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: I think under all of the eight (8) areas, we should develop a one (1) year, two (2) year, and five (5) or ten (10) year project that we can agree on. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Seek agreement on a plan for varying time horizons for... Councilmember Yukimura: Under each priority area. I am talking of the eight (8). Ms. Colburn: Right. There was something else that I had planned. Councilmember Yukimura: One (1)year, two (2)year, five (5), and ten (10) year. We are supposed to think. Ms. Colburn: I think I also heard you folks say that you would be happy to provide briefings with appropriate resource people if you know what the information needs are and that can be scheduled when it is relevant to the agenda. If that is a factor. It is having...this is really embarrassing. Council Chair Rapozo: I think what is critical is that sharing of information between the Administration and Council within the parameters of Sunshine, like you folks have been doing. We are blessed that we have the relationship with the Administration right now. The Mayor has protocol as does the Council. The Committee Chair can talk to the Department Head. Kaua`i is a small place. Councilmembers run into Department Heads at the store or at the park. We have the opportunity to talk. I think it works well. I think it works well. I think we as Councilmembers, I am actually kind of embarrassed that a lot of the things on the worksheet and I just had no clue what the heck it was. I do not blame the Administration because that is their job. They are doing their job. I have to educate myself more as to what is going on. That is through dialogue with them. Ms. Colburn: It is a lot to keep track of. For the Mayor to keep it in his head all the same time and for Nadine to do so is kind of amazing actually. I think aside from preparing notes for you from these scribbles here, yours are very tidy, readable, and legible whereas mine are not. So, I probably do not even want to try to transcribe them. I had something I wanted to do. There is not enough time. What I suggest we do at this juncture is have each Councilmember and Mayor SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 63 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP offer up a closing comment. It was originally going to be based on...can you take one and can you share them? What I would like you to do, and I am not sure if this is gluten free. I apologize. I want everybody to pull one of these out and look at the fortune, then what I want you to do is to read the fortune that you picked out of the fortune cookie, and I want you to try to relate something from today's discussion to that fortune. Everybody is going to be making closing comments. Let us start with the altos section. Gary, would you be open to reading your fortune and then tying it in some way to something that had value for you in today's discussion? Councilmember Hooser: My fortune out of the fortune cookie says, "Flexible people do not get bent out of shape." Ms. Colburn: Did I tell you the universe works in mysterious ways? Councilmember Hooser: It makes me think of Councilmember Yukimura for some reason. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Does it relate to anything that you would like to say about today's discussion? Councilmember Hooser: I mean, actually I think we were all pretty flexible today. No one really got bent out of shape. Close maybe, close. Ms. Colburn: We should have just started with the fortune cookies and saved eight (8) hours of time. Councilmember Hooser: Yes. Okay, that is it. Ms. Colburn: Flexibility is important. That is the fortune, and there is agreement from you that making that effort is valuable. Councilmember Hooser: Absolutely. Ms. Colburn: How about in your case? What does yours say? Councilmember Kaneshiro: My fortune says, "When you love someone, all of your saved wishes start coming true." All of your saved wishes. For me, when I think about this I think about all of us. I think about what we are doing and why we are here. I do not think it is necessarily when you love someone. We love Kaua`i, we all have the wishes that we want to come true, and we are all here to make the place that we love better. I think that is why we are trying to go through these priorities and actually see what priorities we have in common and which ones we can start moving forward with to actually make the island better. Ms. Colburn: Okay. Thank you. Would you care to share yours and how it might relate to something that mattered to you today? Councilmember Yukimura: These are always perfect, right? "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult." I guess I have to beg your forgiveness and hope that you will be a prudent man and overlook an insult which I guess, many of you took when I did not vote. In terms of what value we had here, this is a historic occasion. I have been in government for twenty-five (25) years SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 64 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP and I saw Jade kind of nodding her head. She has been in it almost as long, not as long. Never has the Mayor and the Council gotten together to talk about goals and priorities. I really want to acknowledge Mayor Carvalho and Nadine for her support of his intention, and for being here. He has been the most willing to collaborate of any Mayor that I know including myself. I also want to acknowledge Council Chair for taking on this goal setting process because I remember Chairs who did not want to do it and who also asked, I think, to have the Mayor here as well. They co-created together, they did this historic process. I want to thank everyone for coming because we have had times where Councilmembers did not show up. I also want to thank you personally for bearing with me. Ms. Colburn: Okay. The universe works in odd ways. How about for you? Councilmember Kagawa: Mine says, "Do not talk unless you can improve the silence." It is a perfect one for me because I think I am a highly emotional person. I think when I am emotional and upset is when I should actually keep quiet. I am trying my hardest to battle the urge because when you calm down, you have better words coming out. Thank you. Ms. Colburn: Thank you for that. We will come back to the Chair in just a moment. How many fortunes do you have? Councilmember Chock: This is a double message. They say the same thing so I have to take it to heart. Ms. Colburn: Double message, double intensity. Councilmember Chock: It says, "Change yourself and your fortunes will change." I am a true believer of it and need to remember it. I talk a lot about mindsets and I think that is something that we have to work on and the kind of change we need. Also, I think if we cannot do it, then no one else will be able to. So, the opportunity for us to come together and do this is so that we can be a better example for the community so that they can look up to us as leaders and support us. That is really important. The other thing I want to say is it just does not happen. I think it is the first good step, but this kind of work, as difficult as it may be, I think had to find a way into our process somehow in order for us to get clear and to make better decisions. Ms. Colburn: How about yours? What does yours say? Councilmember Kuali`i: Mine actually says, "Expect a big surprise before the next full moon." I think that we create our own fortune. So, I changed it to be using the word surprise, "Sometimes the best surprise is no surprise." I think that this exercise that we went through did not tell us anything different than what we already know and that is that Financial Sustainability and Government Efficiency is our number one job. I am looking forward to working with my fellow Councilmembers and with the Mayor and his Administration to balance the budget, being efficient, and being effective. Ms. Colburn: Thank you very much. Chair. Council Chair Rapozo: That would be me. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 65 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Ms. Colburn: That would be you. Council Chair Rapozo: Mine is, "Love starts when another person's needs become more important than your own." That is so cute. I cannot wait to go tell my wife that this afternoon. Ms. Colburn: That is pretty deep for a bag of fortune cookies. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, I would definitely change the brand of cookies because that is way too soft for an ancient Chinese secret. It is so true for us. Every one of us during the campaign trail will make the comment "We love Kauai. We love our constituents." Then when we get to Wednesdays and all of sudden we kind of revert back to our internal needs and we kind of forget sometimes the true reason why we are there. I have often said to people that I think politicians in general, sometimes they forget the reasons why they first ran for office. Whether they won or lost the first race, there was a reason why someone chose to run. I would say ninety-nine percent (99%) of the time it is for the right reasons. It is for good reasons. Then something happens along the way and we have to sometimes check ourselves back in and say, "Hey, remember that first time you decided I am going to pull papers to run?" We have to remind ourselves of that. What was so telling today is that you see how we can get along even when we do not agree. When we do not agree, we end up laughing and joking because as I said earlier in the day, I think there is a genuine appreciation for each other even when we disagree. It was shocking to me as we went down trying to figure out which one of these values really stuck out the most. It was difficult. It was difficult because on some days we do not do any of it. We do not express any of these and some days we express them all. It is a very turbulent profession overall and I think we just have to be conscious, all of us, of these Council values. I know Mr. Chock has offered his services as far as getting an internal Council goal setting, if you will, workshop which I think probably after today would be even more helpful. We can start working on that. I think that we just have to constantly remind ourselves of the values and making sure that we practice what we preach. Thank you very much. I appreciate the day. Ms. Colburn: Do you all have five (5) more minutes for the last two (2) comments? Nadine, do you wish to share your fortune and any epiphany it prompted to you? Ms. Nakamura: I have the same one as Ross. "Do not talk unless you can improve the silence." One of the things that I kind of regret in setting this up is that we sent Linda out to get feedback on the Mayor's game plan for the next four (4) years without really describing to you what each of these entail. That is the silence that can be improved. It was just to kind of move on this and try to meet a deadline. I think I want to offer to anyone of you to do a one-on-one, whoever is interested, to kind of go over the big picture plan and some of the details involved. I am happy to sit down with anyone to flush out the details and the direction that we are moving in each one of these areas. Ms. Colburn: Thank you. Thank you very much. Mayor. Mayor Carvalho: Mine is "Focus on what is right in your world instead of what is wrong." Perfect for today. We are doing what is right. We are coming together as leaders of this County of Kaua`i and Ni`ihau and trying to sort SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 66 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP through so many different issues and trying to come up with some kind of understanding or consensus. If we can agree on two (2) or three (3) topics, that come to me and I will go to you folks and we can collaborate. This is so appropriate for today. Focus on what is right instead of what is wrong. Sometimes we miss that. Hopefully the next steps will take us to the next level. We are going to leave this room today and go back to our own offices and deal with the things we deal with on a daily basis, but hopefully we can hang on to this moment today and move forward. I would really like to thank my staff, Ricky, Jade, Scott, Cyndi, and of course Linda for hanging in there with us and putting eyerything together. Councilmember Yukimura: Alli. Mayor Carvalho: And Alli. Anyway, the staff really hung in there with us today. Awesome. I really want to thank all of you, of course, Chair Rapozo. We are off on the right foot. We are working together. We are trying to talk as much as possible. We are not always going to agree, but we will agree to disagree, but let us disagree respectfully. That is the bottom line. Finally, my Managing Director over here. She has done a tremendous job in really trying to pull everything together. I am always throwing things out and she kind of makes it make sense. All of this is her hard work in trying to really relay the message. I just wanted to say that. Thank you for today and I end with this. Sometimes when things do not go right, we have to go left. Going left is okay sometimes because that means we are just taking another direction in what we have to do as leaders. Thank you. Mahalo. Ms. Colburn: Thank you everyone for making the time for the original interviews. Thank you for showing your thinking so freely that it could be codified and made available to your peers. You have an insight into what some of the collective thoughts are. Thank you for your forbearance today. I know this is a very long day for you and I would be surprised if you did not entertain options of where you would rather be at least ten (10) times. Lastly, it is like I do not understand it, but these fortune cookies work in a very weird way. I want to thank you for extrapolating from the fortune and trying to relate it to insights that you folks had today. This is not easy work, but it is absolutely essential to build a solid foundation. It gets easier with practice. So, the next time you have this, my sense is that it may not seem laborious or subject to as many starts and stops. Thank you for all you do for the County of Kaua`i and for the State by virtue of making Kaua`i so beautiful, functional, and looking after it for future generations. Aloha. Mahalo. Thank you very much. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you, Linda. Mayor Carvalho: Thank you, Linda. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 67 FEBRUARY 6, 2015 FACILITATED SHARED PRIORITIES WORKSHOP Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you staff, Scott, Alli, Ricky, Jade, and Eddie. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:08 p.m. •spectfully submitted, eigi JADE FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA Deputy County Clerk :aa