Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/13/2015 Office of Economic Development 4/13/2015 DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET REVIEWS 2015-16 OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Office of Economic Development Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable KipuKai Kuali i Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Mel Rapozo (not present at 4:33p.m. to 4:40 p.m.) Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Excused: Honorable Ross Kagawa The Committee reconvened at 11:37 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. We are going to have a presentation by Office of Economic Development (OED), we are going to hold our questions to the end, and then we will ask our questions after on the presentation. So, feel free to start. GEORGE K. COSTA, Director of Office of Economic Development: Alright. Aloha Council Chair Rapozo and Vice Chair...oh, Vice Chair is not here. Is he going to be here? Oh, okay. Budget Chairman Kaneshiro and Honorable Councilmembers. For the record, George Costa, Director for the Office of Economic Development. With me here today is Nalani Brun our Tourism Specialist and Ben Sullivan, our Energy and Sustainability Coordinator. For the Office of Economic Development, our Statement has been and will always be to work in partnership with the community, business, and government sectors to create economic opportunities. What you will see in the upcoming slides are projects that are very indicative of that. We pride ourselves and we are very honored that between the Mayor, Administration, and the County Council, we are delegated or we have the opportunities to work with quite a few organizations within our community. We ran the gamete from agriculture to workforce development to energy and to tourism. For that, we are here to just share a lot of these terrific projects. Looking back this past year on successes and achievement. The first one up is the North Shore Shuttle Pilot Program, which originally started as a 3 month pilot. Once we got going, we felt we needed to do at least 6 months to get really good data and let the community know because our challenge initially was to get ridership and people are not going to ride if they cannot count on a program that is going to last only a few months. I am very pleased to say we have surpassed 8,000 rides in the first 5 months and the program is doing very well. We get a lot of compliments from the community. What started out as really looking to reduce cars and parking on the North Shore, especially at Ke`e, turns out to be almost 50% of the ridership are our residents really needing public transportation to get to and from the Ha`ena and Hanalei communities to Princeville and Hanalei. Creative Technology Center is one of those projects that was determined by the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) to be a worthy project to help diversify our economy, looking at what was originally digital media. Now we are looking at a full technology center that not only includes media but music and other performing arts. (Council Chair Rapozo was noted as not present.) April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 2 Mr. Costa: The Kaua`i Made/Kaua`i Grown programs, we are looking to unite those two programs. When we initiated the Kaua`i Grown Program a few years ago, it was the hope and a lot of our marketing pieces and the logo was designed so someday the two programs would work side-by-side. We are very proud that this program has done very well. The Mayor's Crime Task Force. We have a task force that has met for 5 years and one of the products of that task force was to introduce into legislature, the live video testimony where our visitors who are victims of the burglaries will be able to testify via live video from the mainland or from wherever they are from as opposed to having the expense to come all the way back to Hawaii, which usually the chances of that happening are slim to none. (Council Chair Rapozo was noted as present.) Mr. Costa: This is the second year it went to the legislature. We made it as far as the Judiciary Committee and we hope to lobby again for this bill again next year. The Icilauea Agricultural Park. This is a project that I keep being reminded by the Kilauea community. This is 30 plus years in the works. Thanks to this Council and the Mayor who helped fund the initial agricultural park study and now the Mayor has created a Stewardship Agreement to actually put the farmers on the land to help us develop this agricultural park. We will be back April 29th to give a full detailed update on the agricultural park. But I am very pleased to say that we are going through the process of installing water meters, getting our necessary permits to start clearing the land, and opening up our incubator farms and community gardens. The Sunshine Markets are doing really well. Last couple of years in showing our revenue that is provided through our farmer/vendors turning in their income statements or basically their sheets that tell us how much sales they made on a cash basis. For the last couple of years, we have been close to$1,000,000 each year. We have gone through the entire list of applications that started back in the early 1990s and combed through all of our applications that farmers on the wait-list now has an opportunity to be in the Farmer's Market. We have actually gone through with our new administrative process and weeded out non-farmers by personal inspection of farms. NALANI BRUN, Economic Development Specialist IV- Tourism: We had another successful year of County Product Enrichment Program (CPEP) grant programming. That is complete. We are in the middle of it for the 2015 year. Typically, we start around July, August, and September with the next round. We will be talking about that later, but we funded all of these events right there. Actually, have another handout for later that has all of the events that we have funded since 2007 or something like that. Our office continues to work on the Kekaha Host Benefits Program, the grants that they do. Basically the community decides what they want to fund and that is how we do it. We work very closely with them and those are the projects that we are currently working on. We have finished some and we are going into another round of grant proposals again coming up next month. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 3 Our beautiful Kaneiolouma project is still running. We have about $35,000 that is left on the final grant. We had an $805,000 grant and $350,000. We are just finishing out the $350,000. The last things that they have to do is grassing and landscaping at the perimeter. Of course, our famous Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa program. That is underway. The moku signs are up, a few ahupua`a signs are up, and we will talk about this fabulous program in the "Challenges" section. Kauai Visitors Bureau had another banner year. As usual, they do such a great job for us. They have attended bridal shows. They followed along with what the budget plan was including bridal shows. They are just getting into their kama`aina marketing program, they are working on aloha video still, but everything else they have pretty much completed including they stepped in and helped us promote the upcoming Jurassic World upcoming movie that is coming in. So, they helped out with the AFCI funding for our film program. The Halauola World Hula Conference which happened last July really went off well. They went to all kinds of things and they helped the community with plantings. Councilmember Chock was there giving a talk over at Hulaeia by Alekoko and it was well-attended. Almost 2,000 people attended and that included family and friends that came with them. BEN SULLIVAN, Economic Development Specialist—Energy: With regards to energy use within the County operations, we have had a very good year in that we are almost 5% down year-to-date from last year. The combined effect of the reduction in energy use and thre reduction in rates have given us almost a 10% savings year-to-date. This is aggregate including water and wastewater, but we very happy about the result and we look forward to continuing the trend. Part of the way we expect to continue these trends is by projects that are in the pipeline now that will continue to deliver significant savings in future fiscal years to continue to hit this 3% per year target of efficiency reductions we have set for ourselves. This is just an example of efficiencies we expect to realize at Lihu`e Civic Center. This work was done by a consultant that recently completed. Both of these projects are now getting implemented. The chiller, as you can see, has a little bit longer payback than the others. But that is something that we need. So, it is not just about saving energy. It is also about replacing a chiller that needs replacement. The other measures are really a collection of energy conservation measures that include some things that are no cost. So, adjustments to the way we are operating our system as well as some fairly low cost measures that we are going to implement across the Civic Center. Finally, back in February, we initiated the Pilot County Motor Pool. This is a wireless vehicle access and online scheduling tool that we are really happy with the results of so far. We are in the process of kind of working out of bugs, but we are very happy, again like I said, with results. What we expect to be able to do with this is get to the place where we have a much more efficient fleet in terms of how it is used. Also, we have the ability to see what new vehicles we might need in the future and whether they need to be a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) or a more efficient vehicle. It is really a great way for to us driving down fossil fuel use and really monitoring that in a very thorough way. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 4 Mr. Costa: From our Workforce Development Coordinator, Ka`eo Bradford, he has done a terrific job of working with our Workforce Investment Board that is comprised of over 30 different organizations within our community. Some of the achievements have been job fairs at Kukui Grove and Kauai Community College (KCC) and free census workshop. This year, Ka`eo, implemented and imitated a small business workshop which we are going to duplicate again this coming year. The emphasis will be on agriculture. The Workforce Investment Act was changed to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act. We have been in communication quite frequently with the Labor Administration Regional Office in San Francisco. Carol (Inaudible) has actually made three trips out to Hawaii and to Kauai working with Ka`eo and we are gardening a lot of support from the Federal level as well besides our partners with the State Department of Labor. Filming on Kauai continues to do well. Although we have not had the 4 major productions that we had back in 2010, like Descendants and Pirates of the Caribbean. Each year we see film crews here to do commercials or other small productions and these are just some of the numbers that we had for this past year. Of note,we had The Biggest Loser reality show and Sports Illustrated did their swimsuit edition here on Kauai. We are going through a new paradigm shift within the Office of Economic Development. One of the things that we have talked about over the years is to create opportunities since we are a very small Department and we do have Economic Development Specialists. We would like to have the four or five specialists that we do have in our Department actually work with one another and with myself on various projects instead of, pardon the phrase, but "working in silos." So, we are looking at helping each other work within the different sectors within the community. A good example of this is agriculture. So within our Department, besides myself working on some major projects with the different agricultural parks or with East Kaua`i Water Users Coop or Hanapepe Salt Pond, we have recruited our Compliance Specialist, Dan Ford, who was originally hired to help us with agricultural compliance for Ordinance No. 960. Dan has actually been the one that I mentioned is going to farms, inspecting the farms, and making sure our farmers are compliant so that they do qualify to sell their produce in the Sunshine Markets. Our Administration Specialist, Teri Martin- Haumea, does the paperwork for the Sunshine Markets and also assists with the film permitting and some of the other agricultural projects that we do. Nalani is involved with some of the cattle programs and agricultural tourism. She will be attending some of our Hawai`i Agro Tourism Association meetings and other special projects that come through our Department. Of course, Melissa Sugai, who is our Administrative Specialist and basically works with all Specialists, is very much involved with the Kaua`i Made and Kaua`i Grown programs. Prior to her leaving, has gotten the blessing of Beth Tokioka who was really instrumental in creating the Kauai Made Program is now very confident with Melissa in carrying on that program. Ms. Brun: Another one of the challenges that we are having this next year is that Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is holding to a policy decision that they made that after four years of funding starting in 2012, certain events will lose their funding. We are in discussions with them trying to get them to change their minds. This slide just kinds of shows who would be losing funding and would not be able to apply in 2016. That would probably be this year in August or September. It is just a lot of loss of funding April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 5 for some of our major festivals, one in each month pretty much of the calendar year. Here are some of them. Another challenge is our Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa Program has been struggling to put the signs up on Department of Transportation Highways land. We are working really hard with Michael Motile, who has been a blessing with us, to try to get an exemption for historical signage. He is helping us. Mauna Kea has been helping us. We have a great team effort of trying to get those signs put up so that people can see them and education can take place. Mr. Costa: Looking ahead for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 in the agricultural sector, we have the continuation of the Island Wide Agricultural Park System, specifically the Kilauea. Now it is being referred to as the Kilauea Community Agricultural Center. We have $50,000 request and that is best basically to assist us with removing the abandoned vehicles on the property. If there are any additional funds, those would be used to help the Kilauea farmers with the infrastructure of the community gardens and incubator farms. We also have the Sunshine Market monitoring and marketing. Again, we look to continuous improvement with the Sunshine Market. Also, the feasibility of maybe relocating the Sunshine Market. We have been in discussions with Public Works and with the Kauai Police Department. On Wednesdays, if anybody has been done down there at 3:00 p.m., it is quite a mess as far as traffic. The Kapa'a area is always a challenge with traffic, but exacerbated with the Sunshine Market there. It is very well attended as one can see. But we are also looking at other opportunities for another location that might be more conducive to an open market setting. Kaua`i Cattlemen's Association continued support for our slaughterhouses on the island. Next steps are to assist them with possibly expanding to create more chill and processing facilities. A lot of this came out of a study we did several years ago where in trying to promote our cattle association meat processing for the island, they really need more capacity and chill to keep meats longer and to process them here on-island as opposed to exporting our cattle off-island to be finished, and then imported back for us to consume. Kaua`i Invasive Specials Grant, again we continue to support KISC. They do a great job in helping to keep our island either free or minimize the threats of maikonia or mongoose or Coqui Frog or fire ants and other invasive species. The Kauai EBT program, we got a late start last year, but Malama Kauai has done a great the job in getting that program going. They are in our markets now and there are other requests for the EBT program to expand to the private markets and Malama Kauai is negotiating with KCC market and the Kukui Grove Market to see if they can provide those services. Our partner, Kauai Economic Development Board with Susan Tai Kaneko coming back to the organization. She was instrumental in the inaugural agricultural business plan competition and is looking forward to having our second one initiated next year. Ms. Brun: Tourism, culture, and natural resources are all kind of in here. So, that is about $789,000. First off is the OED Tourism Sports Marketing. You can see kind of what our cost outs are for that. Basically, it is to support our lovely Wailua Golf Course right there. We are working on that first. Get the marketing done, see if we can increase visitors to that property, and have been working in cahoots with the Kauai April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 6 Visitors Bureau and Buffalo Communications. Ian Costa has been working closely with us on making that program happen. Second up is our fabulous Kaua`i Visitors Bureau who always gives us way more bucks than we actually we give them. They have a plan for their $225,000 this year. Meetings, Conventions, and Incentives (MCI), I think we spoke about this before. But basically, they do not have enough funds for MCI. In fact, I do not think they have any funds for MCI, yet it is really important for Kauai to make sure that we sustain that for some of our properties. They do trade blitzes and you can see some of the photos there that are some of those blitzes that happened. They want to do a mini series with VIP seminar events, key markets, and do a lot of reservations, training. This helps reservationist and people that are doing bookings to Kauai to pick the right people that fit our island, and that is really important. Also, they always update their photography. It is really important that we stay fresh and look good. They also do consumer and bridal shows. They have already picked their shows for the year. The New York Times Travel Show, Seattle Wedding Show, and the Salon Bridal Show. They also do press trips and bring people here. This time, it will be for fashion and food in the film industry. They want to continue the Aloha Video Project. I am sure we will be able to talk about later. That is the continuation of a series of videos that talk about aloha and the aloha spirit. Kama`aina Campaign, that is always a good savior for us because it saved us many times in the past to keep people in the rooms when we did not have as many visitors. So, we always like to keep that fresh and of course, their administrative fee which is required by the HVCB. Next up is our match members to the CPEP grants. Basically, that money goes different types of projects. So, HTA takes the projects that have moved more along in the whole process. They are used to it. Then, the County money usually is kind of the start-up ones, the ones who are just kind of learning how to do it and getting their feet wet. Here are some examples of some of the projects that we funded in the past with those match funds: Everything from the Makahiki Celebration to the Nu'alolo Kai Project support, E Pili Kakou came back to Kaua`i this year. We would like to help Makauwahi and Kaneiolouma support in the past. We have done ANA Grant Workshops which helps our Hawaiian organizations apply for larger grants with the Federal government. The left side just shows some of the other things like the West Side Walking Tours Museum Exhibits, the beautiful Lihu`e Airport Displays that Carl Yotsuda and the Garden Island Arts Council does. We have the Airport Greetings Program and as was requested last year, we did get some match on that. Here is our performers prior and now, the airport actually has come in as a partner and built us a stage. The entertainers are able to stand on the stage. Basically, that is about half. We got about $25,000 addition from HTA to match that to us for another part of the program that the VIP service does, but they also putting entertainers in there. Mr. Costa: We are also requesting another $180,000 for the North Shore Shuttle. The total cost of the program is estimated to be about $300,000 for the year. So far, through the pilot program, we are averaging about$5,000 a month in ridership revenue. We are also going out to do a promotion and sponsorship drive where our partner Kaua`i Economic Development Board Susan Tai Kaneko has created this brochure that you see here on the left. Basically, we will be selling ad space in the brochure as well as ad space on the shuttle itself and in the interior of the shuttle, and going to the resorts and the April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 7 businesses in Princeville and Hanalei, which there are over 100 businesses and asking them to support the shuttle program through sponsorship. We will have different sponsorship levels. We started with different types of fish: Moi, ahi, Manini. We are thinking about changing that though. I do not think anybody wants to be manini. We are really committed to this program and I think it will benefit the community and we want to get the entire community involved as well. Ms. Brun: Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa, we have them back in the budget. You can see the years of what things have paid for as we moved throughout the year. This next year, the $40,000 would go towards the interpretative signs. These are the big signs that basically you can actually touch. There is a scan element to them for smartphone devices. We have about 7 to 10 places picked for these interpretative signs. We already have two on schedule to come up and this would do the next set. The Tourism, Culture, and Natural Resources area, we put in another $50,000. We specifically used those funds for moku projects that are natural resource related. So,we kind of listed there all of the different types of projects that we are looking at. Halele`a, of course, we want to support Makaainana 0 Makana with their area and what they are doing. Koolau, we are looking at the fishpond project and a Hawaiian Healing Center. That is not absolutely clear, but that is what we are looking at. Puna,we are still looking at restoration of Wailuanuiahoano restoration of sacred sites and we want to support Malama Huleia efforts. In Kona, we would like to continue to work on Kaneuioluma and Hanapepe Salt Pond restoration and the protection of that area. This is one of our challenging areas. This was new for us. We did the Special Events Security Grants. That is kind of a list of where we are right now. I think it was originally estimated at $40,000. It was a little more than that. So, we have kind of shifted funds to make sure we can handle what we are doing because it is really a pilot year for us. So we are just trying to figure out how it works and what the true costs are so that we can get that down so everyone does a grant. It looks like we are going to come in on-budget and make it. We would be requesting that again next year to continue that effort. Of course we started the Visitor Industry Plan, which is an update. It ended in 2015 or it ends this year. So, we wanted to make sure we had an update. This year it will be for the next 3 years. It is basically to look at where we are with our plan because we have done so much work with that one. There is not a lot of changes, but it does need an update. So, that is what we are working on and we want to continue to work on for three years, monitoring it. Mr. Costa: From the film world, we continue to work with our film producers and our State Film Office as well as our partners on the mainland. The trade shows, $3,000, that is to be a partner with our other film commissions in the other Counties: Hawaii County, Maui, and City & County of Honolulu. We partner to put together a booth at the Annual American Film Commissioners International Trade Show in Los Angeles. (Councilmember Yukimura was noted as not present.) Mr. Costa: Also, we are asking for support for the Hawaii International Film Festival. Thomas Nizo does a great job every year out in Waimea. We may be looking at bringing that activity centrally located in Lihu`e and instead of spreading it over a week, maybe the possibility of having a weekend where we can have people from the April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 8 north side of the island and the east attend the Mm festival as well. Then of course, the Kaua`i Creative Technology Center. The next phase is $75,000 and those funds will be used by our consultant to do a lot of the construction studies that need to be done, and project management. Mr. Sullivan: With regards to energy and sustainability, you can see the numbers all around there. We are in going to go into detail in future slides. So, just go ahead and roll in. Consulting Services, $60,000. This is money to allow us to continue forward on several projects and it is not determined which one exactly we will work on. But basically, the two major projects in the pipeline right now that would be considered for this project would be food waste co-digestion at the Lihu`e Wastewater Plant and/or energy retrofits at the police facility at Ka`ana Street. The reason we need this money is because these projects are actually considerably more costly in terms of consultant services, but there are times depending on how previous works times out that we need to be able to keep something moving and this allows to us do that. County Facility Energy Monitoring Program. We give a lot of credit to our success this year in terms of energy savings and reduction in energy use to the fact that we are doing a much more comprehensive job tracking energy use across the County at a very granular level. These tools are evolving at a very fast rate and we see this as something that we are going to need to continue on a subscription basis. This is about the ballpark costs to manage this data and really get the results we want to get year over year with continuing to drive down usage. One example of why we need to continue this, Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC)has been a great partner with us in terms of providing data for our energy monitoring. But they are actually in the midst of changing platforms, which also indicates that we probably have to change platforms this year as well, just in terms of how the data comes through. Again, really critical program to measure what we are doing as far as driving down energy use. Our sustainability focus is primarily on in-house operational goals. As you can see here, we have a very aggressive goal of reducing our overall County emissions by 80% by 2023. We are doing that by a 50% reduction in fossil fuel use, which that number is larely dependent on our success in converting landfill gas to C&G to be used in our bus fleet and other heavy vehicles. Another major component is our efficient reducing energy use by 30% of to 2013, which is roughly 3% number a year I keep referring to. We are also looking at significant improvements in efficiency with regards to our light vehicle fleet. Again, that is tied to the Motor Pool Pilot, which we hope to be expanding and measuring and tracking what we are doing with our vehicle fleet and perhaps moving towards greater electrification. Green Office Challenge is another sustainability effort. This is really about culture change within the employee pool at the County. Last year, we had this Green Office Challenge. We got 6 or 7 different offices to participate and they all just did a really great job to creatively come up with solutions about how to think different about things as diverse as waste, paper use, recycling, and energy use. We really got a lot of good engagement out of this and want to continue. It is a small project, but it is valuable to us. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 9 Hawaii Green Growth is the primary means that the metrics project that we worked with Hawaii Green Growth on is the primary means by which we are trying to create broader sustainability metrics beyond just the energy metrics that we talked to you about already. We feel this is a really important effort and we feel like the best way to do it is to work in conjunction with the Statewide group. Last year, we have worked with them and they have established some very good metrics that are now available online, really for some good dissection in terms of data both in terms of energy and solid waste. As you can see, natural resource management and food production will be the focus of coming year's metric development and that relates to the 2016 World Conservation Conference coming to the islands. Mr. Costa: As mentioned previously, our Workforce Development Coordinator, Ka`eo Bradfor, is looking to do her second small business fair and workshop. We will be inviting speakers focused on agriculture and how to grow an agricultural business. Also, speakers in the realm of agricultural tourism. Our partners besides the Office of Economic Development, includes John (Inaudible) with the Small Business Development Corporation and Helen Cox at Kaua`i Community College. As far as the other expenses that we have in the Office of Economic Development, we have promotional materials. These are the "goodie" bags that we have people that are interested when they are traveling to the mainland attending conferences. We provide them with promotional items from Kauai•to market our island and to spread the aloha. Here is just some of the numbers on how many of these items are used or requested in a fiscal year. Emerging Industry Support (EIS), $15,000. In the past, we have used these funds to support grants that were not initially submitted during our budget process, but during the course of the year, they come through and these organizations ask for some funds to help them with either their activity or starting a project. Some of them include the Hanapepe Economic Alliance with their Orchid Festival, Hawaii on the Hill. Randy Francisco with the Chamber of Commerce was instrumental putting this Hawaii on the Hill where it showcased Hawaii businesses and from the County of Kauai, with some of the OED funds we were able to ship Kauai products like Kaua`i Cookies, Kauai Coffee, Salty Wahine, and a lot of the Kauai Made member shipping their products to Washington D.C. where it was showcased. We have also helped the Kauai independent Food Bank with their Kupuna Program, the Kauai Japanese Cultural Society. They did a terrific job with the Matsuri Kauai Festival. Those are just some of the examples of what these funds are used for. As I mentioned, Kauai Made, we continue to support the program. We provide them with a lot of marketing opportunities besides the website, we have a coupon book, we have the Facebook page, we have the shopping guide that we produce for our Kauai companies, and also, advertising in various magazines to help promote the effort. For University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO), we have contracted the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. They will continue to provide us with excellent economic data and guidance. In some of our previous projects we have gone to them. The group is comprised of several doctorates and doctors in economics. We have found their advice and data that they have had provided is very useful in the work that we do. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 10 Economic Plan Implementation. As I mentioned, one of our partners is the Kaua`i Economic Development Board (KEDB). These funds help to implement the CEDS program and the various projects that we have. As we mentioned, the Creative Technology Center, the Commercial Kitchen Business Incubator, some of the workshops that we have had in the past, the agricultural and energy workshops, Robotics tournaments, and quite a few other expo-type events that help to promote our students in our schools. Keiki to Career. We also support the Kauai Planning & Action Alliance. Diane Zachary does a great job in our community. The Keiki to Career program has been instrumental in really looking at our youth from birth to after college to see what we can do to support not only our youth, but their families to help strengthen our families in our community. Then we also support the YWCA with their Family Violence Center and Sexual Assault Treatment Program. We have been supporting them for a number of years. They do a great job and they are a great partner in our community as well. Another area that we would like to focus on is sports marking and sister cities. We have done a lot of sister-cities programs in years past and we are working with Art Umezu, long time film commissioner and also our expert in Japanese relations to help expand not only from a cultural aspect but also from a business aspect through sports marketing. In years past, we have had baseball teams come to Kauai and we are hoping to expand that to possibly some other professional and semiprofessional sports. There is a lot of interest on Japan. Obviously we have seen with hula and we would like to expand that into other areas along with culture and to include our sports marketing as well. General Fund statistics. Here is a comparison of the Office of Economic Development budget over the past few years. As you can see, the largest line item in our budget is "Other Services" which is basically a lot of grants that we just reviewed with all of you. As far as salaries, wages, and benefits, they represent about $500,000 to $600,000 in our budget and then the remaining balance are our operating supplies whether it is travel or office supplies. Well, this shows a comparison of our expenses from next fiscal year to this year. We basically, as I mentioned, the bulk of our expenses are in the grants. Ms. Brun: This slide just shows basically looking at our grant flow in our office. Our grants come from WIA/WIAO and Hawaii Tourism Authority. So, we just did a breakdown there of where those moneys go in our budget, last year versus the next year. Mr. Costa: For our budget discussion, going into our budget process, we were given the goal to achieve close to 8% reduction in our budget. We met that goal and through our deliberations, our goal of 7.9% was about $209,000. We actually came through with a reduction of$519,000 in our budget. This slide represents the various areas that we were able to achieve this goal. As you can see in salaries, we actually eliminated one position, which was the Agricultural Specialist and the corresponding benefits and Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB). In the "Other Services," we were also able to reduce some of the grant opportunities that we have had in years past and another $7500 in April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 11 operating expenses. This is another look at the reduction. The goal of $209,000 and the actual of$519,000, and that is it. We thank you very much for your time and we will open it up for questions. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. I was planning on taking lunch of a 12:30 p.m. So, I am open to taking 10 minutes of questions. Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: I have a meeting downstairs right after lunch. So, I may not be here for the first half hour or so after lunch. But I guess I have a bunch of questions, but a couple of them that really stick out, number one is the YWCA. There was a $40,000 reduction and I am curious for those services, which I believe in my opinion, are pretty critical. Mr. Costa: For me personally as the Director of the Economic Development when I was given the task of reducing the budget, I went and looked at projects that I thought were not specifically economic development-related. I actually took the entire budget out. Upon the Mayor and Nadine Nakamura's urging, they put it back in, but reduced amount so that we either eliminate it or reduced grant amounts in other areas. We have decided to keep funding in there, but at a reduced amount. Council Chair Rapozo: I would agree that it is not an economic Development function. I do not know where it goes. If your goal was... Mr. Costa: It was $209,000. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Basically, you exceeded that by over $300,000. Unless there was a reason to reduce that that budget line because again, we go over this every year. They provide some really important services for Kauai and they just received a cut in State funding again. Regardless of what we think of the State, it is what it is. If the State is going to reduce, I think for some services that I believe are important, I do not understand the reason to reduce that by$40,000 and yet in the same budget increase the Humane Society budget by$100,000. That for me, is very hard to stomach, I guess. So maybe that is not directed to you. Nadine, I see you up here. NADINE K. NAKAMURA, Managing Director: Nadine Nakamura, Managing Director. In the course of working on the budget, we also learned that the Prosecuting Attorney's Office also funds these two programs in the YWCA using other sources of funding. We can get those numbers for you, but that was part of the deliberation as well. Council Chair Rapozo: Are they getting the same funding as they did last year from the County between the Prosecutor and... Ms. Nakamura: Let me get those numbers. I know that it was part of the discussion at the time trying to find out how much the Prosecuting Attorney's Office was contributing to these two programs. Maybe we can get a bigger-picture after lunch. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 12 Council Chair Rapozo: I looked at the Prosecutor's budget. I think the Prosecutor is here tomorrow. I did not see. I will look again, but I did not see anything in there that was for those two functions. But we can double-check. Then the other question really, and we will send it over in writing, but we talked on Friday about the shuttle about how we go about selecting the provider. I am concerned because it is not going a non-profit like most grants from our office goes to non-profit. This is going to a private, for-profit company and basically KEDB is just a placeholder and that money goes to a private company without procurement. I think I am a little concerned about that. I will send a request to the Attorney's Office as well to review that as well. I was looking at the last years when you did your presentation on the shuttle program. In there, it was mentioned that there may be a request for more County subsidies for six months after the end of the program. But it is going beyond six months and, in fact, substantially higher subsidy. I am concerned and I just want to make sure we do not violate any procurement laws. We will be sending that over in writing. I do not expect you to answer that right now, but just so you know it is coming. Mr. Costa: Alright. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a follow-up question on the shuttle. As I was looking at the amount, I was wondering did we do a cost analysis to see if it made more sense to do it in-house and be a function of transportation. I mean, $180,000 I do not know how many vans are using, what time would be, but it would be one-time costs for vans and we would be just paying an employee. It was whether we looked at that or if that is a possibility. Mr. Costa: Yes. Yes, we did. In fact, when we formed our North Shore Shuttle Committee, it comprised of not only the resorts, but business people in the Hanalei/Princeville community. We also involved Celia Mahikoa and Lee Steinmetz, our Transpiration Planner, to hopefully I have us some insight. Obviously, no one has done a shuttle program on the north shore. Celia did run some numbers through and initially to do the routes that we are doing every day, 13 round-trips between Princeville and Hanalei and Hanalei and Ke`e anther 13 round-trips from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., to do that, it would cost the County about $700,000 and then another $200,000 for American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and then additional expenses for base yard so that we would have to be driving these buses all the way back to Lihu`e. So a base yard component would need to be done. We are looking at about $1,000,000 a year to run the same program. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: Follow question. So an estimated $1,000,000 a year in operations cost to run the same program? m. Costa: Right, and that is with the County purchasing the vehicles, paying County wages with benefits, and then the bus stops. I guess the bus stops would need to be ADA-compliant with bus shelters. Right now on the route, we have four stops that are shared with the County bus and one of them has a shelter and the other two in Hanalei do not have a shelter currently. But I believe it is on the plan to build shelters. The rest would be out in Wainiha and Ha`ena. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 13 Councilmember Hooser: So if it was just operational costs not capital costs, but just operational costs using the same routes that are there now, what would that comparison be? Mr. Costa: That is $700,000. Councilmember Hooser: $700,000? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: So existing is operator does not comply with ADA? Mr. Costa: What is what? Councilmember Hooser: The existing operator does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act? Mr. Costa: They have a shuttle van that can take ADA. But where they stop is not ADA-compliant. They stop at the beach park at Ke`e. So, a lot more would have to be done to make shows stops ADA-compliant. Councilmember Hooser: I guess we can talk more about this later. It just does not make sense that one can comply and one does not have to comply. They are both the same law. Another question,you had mentioned they were going to be selling advertising brochures or something and then putting advertising. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: Who is going to be selling the advertising? Mr. Costa: That would be the North Shore Committee comprised of the business community that would be soliciting other businesses to get sponsorship support to help subsidize the program. Councilmember Hooser: In a magazine/brochure? Where do the advertisements go? Mr. Costa: It will go on the shuttle itself or in the shuttle on the ceilings or in the flier. We have a schedule and so in the schedule, advertising would be incorporated acid part of the schedule. So, whoever is the company buying advertising will be out there and would have recognition. Councilmember Hooser: I have some concerns. Basically, we are privatizing public transportation, this leg of it. If that is the path we are going to go down, then we need to have that discussion. It seems to me that this should be an expansion of public transportation system,but that is just one Councilmember's opinion. Thank you. Yes? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 14 Ms. Nakamura: Just to answer Budget Chair's question and then your follow-up question. I think that is why the last budget there were funds put into the CIP budget to do the north, south, and we are adding east shore shuttle feasibility studies. Part of that is to look at those two options to look at whether it should be done privately or whether it should be done within our current transit system. This was a pilot to just look at whether there would be numbers and interests and riders to use the system. I think we have some good feedback now to work off of. So, just to let you know, that we are in the process of procuring the consultant and that process will, I believe, take 12 to 18 months to complete. But it will go into far more detail as to the feasibility of all three shuttle systems and really the whole purpose is to reduce the number of vehicles on the road especially the visitor vehicles on the road. Councilmember Hooser: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think we have come to a pretty good stopping point. We are going take a one hour lunch. We will be back at 1:30 p.m. and we will pick up again with questions. Mr. Costa: Okay. Thank you There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 12:32 p.m. The Committee reconvened at 1:35 p.m., and proceeded as follows: (Council Chair Rapozo and Councilmember Yukimura were noted as not present.) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back from lunch. We are going to continue where we left off. I think we were talking about the shuttle. If we have any further questions regarding the north shore shuttle. Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: It is $180,000, is that the budget item for that? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: And originally pilot program for how long? Mr. Costa: Originally it was for 3 months. Councilmember Hooser: 3 months? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: And that 3 months passed already? Mr. Costa: No. We actually extended it to 6 months and that ends this month. Councilmember Hooser: But the first 3 months has passed? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 15 Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: Now the 6 months has passed. It ends. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: This is for an additional 6 months? Mr. Costa: Actually, that is for all of next year because what we are doing is now that we have run the shuttle, we have seen how much revenue is generated on an annual basis or actually for the last 5 months going on six months. We are averaging about $5,000 a month. So, figured $60,000 would be ridership fare. $180,000 is what we are asking for, $180,000 from the County, and then the sponsorship drive with the businesses for the other $60,000. So, for $300,000, we feel we can run the program for about a year. Councilmember Hooser: So, the cost of running the program is around $300,000? Mr. Costa: $300,000, right. Councilmember Hooser: And cost of the County running the program was $700,000? Mr. Costa: $700,000, right. Councilmember Hooser: And both programs have to comply with ADA, I would guess. Mr. Costa: Right. As I mentioned, we have a shuttle with ADA access, I guess, but so far we have not had any requests for the ADA. (Councilmember Yukimura was noted as present.) Councilmember Hooser: I am having a difficult time grasping the priority of this item, quite frankly. Instinctively, let us do a shuttle for north shore and shuttle for Po`ipu and increase our public transportation system to move people around. But the Administration...I started saying"we." But the Administration has cut the only position we have in agriculture and yet, we want to provide$180,000 to lessen traffic and parking at Ke`e Beach. I would think that we would take that $180,000 and use it for agriculture if nothing else. I mean, I look in the audience and I see a lot of people that would go, "God, what I could do for $180,000," in terms of infrastructure on farms and irrigation and all of these needs that are here. it is needs and wants. I see maybe the timing for myself personally for the north shore shuttle and I have questions about some of the implementation too, but the timing I would question. I have also had calls from taxi companies talking about negative impact on their business. So, there are always unintended consequences that come about. I just wanted to share that. Thank you. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 16 Mr. Costa: Okay. I have actually spoken to some of the taxi companies and asked if they would be willing to be part of the program. Obviously, $36 fare from Princeville to Kee would not work for providing that type of service. Like any private company would, they said, "We are in it to make money, not to cover costs." Councilmember Hooser: Right. Mr. Costa: I have had those conversations with them. When we looked at the shuttle program initially, as I mentioned, it was looking at reducing the number of cars, carbon footprint in Hanalei/Ke`e, and reducing the parking. Then as we launched the program, to our surprise, a lot more of the residents used the shuttles specifically for getting to work. So, now that we find 46% of the ridership is residents. We think it is not only trying accomplishing by reducing the number of cars traveled, which it does, with the employees as well. Some of them actually do not even have cars and they hitchhike to work. So, we have been able to provide a service as well. But I do understand your concerns. Councilmember Hooser: It is a balancing of priorities I think. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: The fact that agriculture, which we will talk about a little bit more, is taking such a back seat to everything, in my opinion. To see this $180,000, I have a hard time reconciling it. Thank you Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any more follow-up questions regarding the shuttle? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I share the same concerns as expressed by several of my fellow Councilmembers and the Chair. The numbers you gave us at the beginning, which tells us of the success people using it, have you broken it down between people using it between Princeville and Hanalei and then people using it between Hanalei and Ke`e or Princeville and Kee? If think if the primary purpose of the pilot was to reduce because everybody knows there is a horrible parking problem at Kee. So, if it was to get people out of their rental cars and from driving to Kee, how are you showing that whether it was successful during the pilot or not? Mr. Costa: As I mentioned, we have 2 circuits, one from Princeville to Hanalei, and Hanalei to Kee and back. Through the first 5 months, the Princeville to Hanalei run is predominantly visitors, 69% are visitors. 29%, almost 30% are kama aina and there is a small number of children on that route. From Hanalei to Ke`e, we find it is almost the opposite where 40% are visitors and 60% are residents. I have the exact numbers. I can E-mail you the statistics. We have it for every month. We started tracking from each resort in Princeville how many riders that they have. So, it kind of gives us an indication of the resorts themselves and where those visitor counts are coming from. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 17 Councilmember Kuali`i: So you just gave me percentages. But what I am really looking for is the difference between when there is this chart on your slide number 2 and number 3. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: It shows November, December, January, February, and March. It has totals, visitor, kamaaina, and children. November was 1,000; December was 1,500;January 1,800; 1,600; and 1,600. I want to know that total broken down between Princeville to Hanalei and Hanalei to Kee because I would imagine that everybody is popping back and forth between Princeville and Hanalei because there is no real convenient way to walk that. I want to see how effective we are being addressing the Kee problem, which is the Kee parking problem. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: So, if you could get back with that. Mr. Costa: Sure. The numbers are 2,588 visitors on the Princeville to Hanalei; 1,114 kamaaina, and there are 32 children. 3,734 total for those 5 months. Then from Hanalei to Kee, 1,583 visitors, and 2,384 kamaaina for a total of 3,967. So, the combined total is about 7,700 riders. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: You keep saying"riders." Is it not "rides?" Mr. Costa: Rides. Councilmember Yukimura: I mean, we need to us...because there is a difference and I believe the measurement for transportation system is number of rides. That is how I understand that we measure our daily ridership on our regular bus system. Mr. Costa: Excuse me. Councilmember Yukimura: Go ahead. Mr. Costa: Just so I understand, we are talking about the individual person, but instead of calling them "riders," we will call it"rides." Councilmember Yukimura: Well, the will go one ride is one way. Mr. Costa: Right. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 18 Councilmember Yukimura: And another ride is the way. So, where there are roundtrip rides, it is 2 rides, as I understand that count goes. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: I think we need to use standard transportation terminology so we are measuring apples and apples. Mr. Costa: I just wanted to make sure. When you say"rides" I was not confusing it with the actual vehicle carrying 8 people. It is actually one individual is a"ride." Councilmember Yukimura: Right. Mr. Costa: Okay. Got it. Councilmember Yukimura: The other is vehicle miles. Councilmember Hooser: Follow-up. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: I think it is a good point and maybe you might want to double check with whoever is providing the information because if it is 7,000 riders or rides, it could be half as many riders if they are doing 2 trips, the ride from Princeville to Hanalei, get off to go shopping and come back to Princeville. That is 1 rider and 2 rides. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Hooser: Just so the number you are using is defined. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: And so we understand that so we are not double counting. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Hooser: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. I really support the concept of a north shore shuttle and have been saying it for years. I think the implementation is really key. I applaud the initiative to try to get it done, but I am worried about its sustainability and also about proper procurement. I mean, you can do a project as a pilot for a while but at a certain April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 19 point when you mentioned the cab drivers, they should have the right to bid on something that is clear in terms of specifications and others so that we get the best possible service. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: So that is what I am concerned about. Do I hear that you wanting to do this as an extension of the pilot so we it is still a pilot project? Mr. Costa: That is correct. Councilmember Yukimura: At the end of the year, then what? Mr. Costa: Then we will have sufficient data. We have 6 months' worth and we will have at least a year's worth. The other part of the initiative is to garner a lot more support so in the long run when you mentioned sustainability, we are looking at the community and the business community specifically supporting the shuttle and does not need to be subsidized by County funds. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I do not think you should put forth that vision it is not going to be subsidized by County funds because if so, you need to show us a plan. I have not seen transportation systems, although I have not studied it thoroughly; that survive on just private fund. We need to be careful about the expectations we create in terms of what we are moving towards. That is why I would prefer that we do the study that we are supposed to do. We are doing a study for the south shore and the north shore circulators or studies, and then let people participate in saying what form of public support and private support should be done, how have other visitor destinations done it, should it go to Kilauea as well or just stay between Princeville and the end of the road. I mean, all of these questions. I do not know that is the best way to answer them is just trial-and-error. My question is, how does the study that we are doing dovetail with this pilot program? Mr. Costa: Well, as far as the study, I know that is in the Planning and Public Works Committee. I am not sure of the specifics, but I do know that the information that we have gathered from running this pilot program will be instrumental in helping with the study. The other long-term vision as well is working with the State. They have their Ha`ena Master Plan, which calls for limiting cars in Ha`ena, creating a parking area of about 100 stalls, and basically if you are 101, you do not get to park in Ha`ena. You basically have to go back where you came from. So, part of that vision is having the shuttle component providing transportation into Ha`ena. Councilmember Yukimura: How much has this 6 month pilot project reduced parking at the end of the road at Ke`e or are we even measuring that? Mr. Costa: We are having the drivers spot-check, but because they are driving, they have not gotten out and counted cars. So, that has not been done so far. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 20 Councilmember Yukimura: To the extent that you take somebody to the end of the road or you pick somebody up at the end of the road,you could say that you are avoiding a parking space, right? However if that person would have hitchhiked over there, then you are not eliminating a parked car at all and that is the kind of analysis you have to have done to know what you are doing and how you count your indicators. I do not know that has been incorporated into this pilot. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think Nadine, did you want to say something on the south shore and north shore study. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Nadine Nakamura, Managing Director. Before the break, I said this before, but you were not here. Councilmember Yukimura: I am sorry. Ms. Nakamura: I am just going to repeat it, that yes, the study that the Council funded to look at the north shore, and south shore and we are adding east as well, shuttles is really the effort to compare whether these shuttles should be done publicly, whether it should be done privately, what should the system look like, what are the alternative locations to put our stops,what is best way to run these systems, and then connect to the mainline so that it is running as a system. Really, the effort is to look at how do we get our visitors off our roads and how do we reduce traffic congestion in these areas? So, I think your point about counting the number of cars that do not go to Ke`e Beach and that do not go into Hanalei is very important and we will follow-up on that. I think that as I said earlier, we are in the process of procuring the contractor and the results of that study will help us next fiscal year when we take a look at the options for funding these shuttles. Councilmember Yukimura: The study will include a proposal or a detailing of several options by which to finance the system in both cases? Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, and it is not necessarily all public or all private. It can be a match or a mix of funding as I understand it through an improvement district and a public subsidy combination. I am hoping we will get that kind of useful information and the money we are spending on the shuttle now could be to actually establish those kinds of facts before we implement it. But since we have done it, and I am sure there is some helpful information, but you have to structure the data gathering into the pilot in order to get the data you want and need. Ms. Nakamura: As the Committee that worked to get this going and off the ground said that is nice that you are doing the study, but really we need some relief now. We need some options now and not wait another year to get results. It is good that we actually have some good data to work with and I think it will help the consultant do a better job because at least we have some working knowledge of what might work. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 21 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: I am still confused about the concept and the more I hear about it, the more troubling it is. This is a private service the County is subsidizing as a pilot project. We give them $180,000 a year. Ms. Nakamura: I would like to clarify it is actually a contract with Kaua`i Economic Development Board. They apply for a grant to the County. The County provided the grant funds to KEDB, which is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization and KEDB then enters into contract with the private operator of the bus. Councilmember Hooser: Okay, I understand that. There is a buffer zone between us and vendor, if you would, and this will be the third extension of a pilot project, right? Is that correct? 3 months, then 6 months, and now it is a year. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: Without any procurement. So that is one issue. Then when I heard the discussion was that the hope was that the end of the period they would be self-sustaining. The thought that comes to my mind we are actually just funding the start-up cost of a new business. If they are successful, then the County steps back and they run their business and there will not be any procurement or anything because they are in business. In my mind, I have a hard time reconciling that also, that we are funding a start-up business and allowing them to make the mistakes and learn and if they get established and make money, then they are in business. Ms. Nakamura: I do not think that any public transit system is self-sustaining and part of the initiative really from the north shore community and businesses was to look at a way that you could do something in partnership just to get it going. Now that they have seen some of the numbers from the pilot program, there is confidence that they can do private sector fundraising to help support this venture. KEDB, I think the committee is also now looking at, okay, now we know that there is interest. It is not just visitors using it. Roughly half are residents who are using the system. It is providing a needed service in this community. It is relieving some traffic that we also look at ways to improve the system. It will be looking at possibly going out so KEDB does an RFP in next go around so that it is open to all. In the pilot project it made sense to just go. A vehicle was donated by one of the developers there. So, it was just to be creative to get something moving and off the ground. It does take a lot of initiative to do that. Now, I think they are learning as they go along. Yes, they have made some mistakes as they have gone along, but I also think they have found it makes a difference. If we have a good system, if we have stops where visitors want to go, they will get out of their cars and use it. Councilmember Hooser: Just a quick question, why did the County not do this directly? Why did we go through KEDB? Mr. Costa: It is one of our partners that we use, non-profits that we use to implement projects. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 22 Ms. Nakamura: And just with the current system of the number of vehicles and so forth, it would take quite a major allocation of funds to make it happen. Councilmember Hooser: But rather than the County Economic Development Office just working with the community, and does KEDB get an administrative fee? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: How much is that? Mr. Costa: It is $7,500. Councilmember Hooser: Is that a flat fee? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: That is for the $180,000? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: So half of that for the prior 6 months? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Hooser: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: So is KEDB involved in the first pilot, the 3 month pilot? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So they were involved from the start. Mr. Costa: From the beginning, right. Councilmember Yukimura: So you have run it for 6 months. How many cars have you taken off the road? What statistics have you gathered to show how many cars you have taken off the road? Mr. Costa: We do not have that information. Ms. Nakamura: Let us say if you took the ridership number, one month, what would be the average? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 23 Mr. Costa: We are averaging 1,500 to 1,700 a month. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, but... Ms. Nakamura: So, let us say 75% of those or you could take a percentage of it, half. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I would like to you get a Transportation Planner to do it. If they were carpooling, you did not take any car off the road. If they were hitchhiking, you did not take a car off the road. So just some kind of professional analysis of how many cars you are taking off the road and please make sure that is incorporated into the next year's. Ms. Nakamura: What we could do is just design a user survey to find out how would they have gotten in Hanalei, if they did not use the bus, how many in their party, and where was their destination. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. If you were an employee who does that, how did you do it before you took the bus and how often do you take the bus? Some may take it 2 days a week when their husband took the car or something like that. It is that kind of trip analysis that has to be done. But yes, that would give you firm figures and probably could give you some potential. If this bus were to come every 30 minutes, would you then take it 5 days a week instead of the 2 you do? What are the reasons you are taking it for? Are you saving money or you do not have another option? I mean, I am just envisioning that is how some of the professional planners would do tracking of this data. Mr. Costa: For the Princeville Resorts, we know the majority of them prefer to leave their cars at the resort and take the shuttle down to Hanalei out to Ke`e just because of the parking situation. Councilmember Yukimura: How do you know that? Mr. Costa: What is that? Councilmember Yukimura: How do you know that? Mr. Costa: When the shuttle drivers go to the 5 resorts, they will ask the resorts. But as far as the residents, they have not asked those questions as far as you are riding because you do not have a car? They are just assuming that they prefer the shuttle to whatever vehicle they have. Some they personally know and know they do not have a car. So, there are those that would probably be hitchhiking. Part of the long-term plan and vision is to also look at a park-and-ride situation. We have had discussions with Princeville resorts and a private landowner in Princeville for some land that would be used for a park-and-ride. Again, the vision is to really promote the program so visitors and residents coming from eastside, coming from the Southside, and traveling to Hanalei have a place to park. Well, we already know that is happening, because again, I have talked to Mike Ching and Jeff (Inaudible) who found out that they have people parking at their April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 24 shopping center and then taking the shuttle out to Ke`e to go hiking on Na Pali. So, that we know. As far as the numbers, we are not sure how many of those people. Councilmember Yukimura: Are the drivers systematically questioning everyone or is it when they can or when they are not too busy? That just goes to the integrity of the data and you want good data. There should be not just the people who get on the bus, but people who might get on the bus, talk about park and -and-ride. I mean, I hope that we do good planning before we start projects or that is incorporated into the north shore shuttle study that is going to happen and make sure that there is enough dialogue so that your information does get used and they tell you what information they need from an ongoing shuttle so that we can really maximize our resources. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think the message is loud and clear. As the planning going on for the north shore shuttle, please ask for Councilmember Yukimura's input on what type of stats would help also or what kind of stats she would like to see and if they can incorporate it into the plan. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you, Chair. I mean, I am an amateur at this and have picked up some things as Transportation Chair. But it is really making sure that a Transportation Planner helps guide us. So that we do not miss something that we should have included. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a quick question. Mr. Costa: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Do we charge a fee for the shuttle? Mr. Costa: Yes. $4 for visitors and $2 for residents. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That is each way? Mr. Costa: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on the shuttle? Any other questions on any other items? Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Chair. I have a question on the Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa project. I know that the focus is to gain an exemption so that we can get our signs up. Have we had discussions with the Department of Transportation on trying to obtain that exemption? Ms. Brun: Yes, we are working with Michael Moule. He actually helped to write the MUTCD, all of the rules and regulations for signage. So, we are so lucky to have him. He is looking for some of his friends from Federal Highways to help him make a determination on whether or not we can get through with historical signage exemption. It is looking promising right now. We are really close. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 25 Councilmember Chock: Do you have a timeline on what that might be coming? Ms. Brun: I am still trying to finish the first part of the project by June. Councilmember Chock: By June. Mr. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Chock: Okay. Is it the project's intent to move to ahupua`a locations as well? I am just trying to get a sense of where we are. Ms. Brun: Right now, actually,we have the signs ready to go. Most of the ahupua`a signs. We put the ahupua`a signs up on the moku signs because we already had permission there and we were looking to go into State parks next, all the way up to Kokee, all of those different ahupua`a that we can mark. Then we have all the rest ready to go. We are mapping them out. Actually, we are kind of ready to put the signs up. We are just waiting for the permission. Councilmember Chock: Okay. One of the things that came up in the discussion about that exemption was the reasons for that there may be some discrepancies between the State agencies or Federal DOT locations and what we are coming up with. Have you folks been able to mitigate that? Are there any conflicts in terms of locations and boundaries set by what we know as local knowledge and what we have done in finding our boundaries rather than what is on the books? Ms. Brun: Yes. Well, there is definitely been lots of talk about that. Our project basically is a certain era. We are just doing the Kaumuali`i period of time. So, ahupua`a lines changed over time. So, we had to pick something. The team put their heads together and that is the era that they picked. It was a very happy time. So, we figured happy is always good. So that is where we are going to put those signs up. We always go back to the community and try to explain this is not the "be all/end all knowledge." This was a time period. We always want to honor all the kupuna that come forward and tell us, "No. At one point it was this," and it probably was. It absolutely was, but we just had to pick a point to put those signs up. Councilmember Chock: Okay. As some issues come up about where land boundaries are, do you think this project can inform specific lines of jurisdiction and access? Ms. Brun: Can form? Councilmember Chock: Inform. So one of the things that are coming up if we can successfully map these out, and some of these lines that have been for us in planning and so forth, there are questions about where things are. Like for instance, the Ala Loa trail and where we all have different opinions about where it is. I am looking towards to see where this kind of research and knowledge can take us into validating where these boundaries are. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 26 Ms. Brun: The team, they try to stay as far as away from too much of policy or politics, but they have always been available. They have started with this project and somehow are slowly getting sucked into many other projects, which they enjoy. They actually love. The do not only using GIS. They use every single historically map that they could find between Randy Witman, Peter King, Dave (Inaudible), and I know I am missing people. Then them also going through Hawaiian language newspapers and everything that they could find. They actually are a wealth of knowledge now. They have everything down on these little tiny drives and put them up and big maps come up. They can be utilized and that is what they want. They want to be able to share that knowledge so that we make some good decisions about our future. Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Nalani, for the update. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: While Nalani is here, can I ask about the Special Events Security Grant $65,000? Did you ask about that already? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: No, the only questions we went through is the shuttle. Councilmember Yukimura: Is it okay to go to another subject? Committee Chair Kanesiro: Yes. Ms. Brun: How they run? We were tasked last year with helping KPD to lower some of their off-duty amounts. So what they thought was it would be a lot cheaper if all of those events are taken off their plate and put into another pot. So what we did was they gave us some money and then we went out and contacted everybody that had special events from a big list. There was the Mayor's list, KPD's list, and some other things that we found that were floating, and contacted them and tried to find out of these events how many are happening and do they want to work with us on something. So what we did was they came into a room, we worked with the Kaua`i Police Department to figure out a way to make this happen. Basically, they work with the police to get their operations plan and permits in place and then the police determine the cost of what they are going to do there and what is safest thing to do there. Sometimes it is fireworks, sometime it is parades or whatever it is. Everything is totally different. Then they come back with estimate on what they think it would cost and then they come back to us and then we basically work on a grant with the non-profit to get the funds to help cover those off-duty costs. Whereas before, it just kind of came automatically out of KPD. It kind of comes through us. The pros to that is that everything is done way ahead of time. Before, I think the police were going crazy getting things done at last minute. Now we are at the front kind of bushwhacking our way through the process and guiding them through it. In that way, we are getting really good information ' and data about what it really does take as far as the police are concerned because before they would hold back that they did not have enough funds. Now they are going, okay, this is really what it takes for this event to be safe and good for the community. After 1 year of this, we had really good information about how many people and what it actually costs, if we can do April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 27 it off-duty versus on-duty. All of that will have a big waste binder of data and kind of know how to project. We projected $65,000 because right now we are at $53,000 and we have a couple coming down the pike. It may not be that much. It may actually be less if we do not have a few of those events handled like Taste of Hawaii and the graduation ceremonies. Certain things that they specifically regularly handle. Councilmember Yukimura: Now these are events that qualify for your event funding through the HTA? Ms. Brun; A lot of them are because they are big. Councilmember Yukimura: Hawaii Tourism Authority. Ms. Brun: Yes, Hawaii Tourism funding or they come through the CPEP program. So, we have them on that end and then we have them separately with the police. But some of them are not. Some of them are just things that were on the list that KPD and Mayor's Office are been helping them have police support for their events. Fun runs. Not always things that come to us for applications for money. Councilmember Yukimura: We are doing it now through private security? Ms. Brun: This is actually...most of these events... Councilmember Yukimura: Which theoretically is cheaper? Ms. Brun: Private security is cheaper. However, when you have some of the events shutting down roads or events that have alcohol or that might have to have a police officer, someone take them away, something happens, and goes crazy, the police are called anyway. So, some of them have both. They have private security and they have police there. Kind of just depends on what event is. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So, economic development is involved in this because you worked... Ms. Brun: They are community events. Councilmember Yukimura: You worked with community events that get funded. Ms. Brun: And we are good at the grant process. Councilmember Yukimura: I am sorry? Ms. Brun: We are good at the grant process. It think that is probably the primary reason. It was a grant process that we could maneuver to make work for groups that we were already very familiar with, non-profits. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 28 Councilmember Yukimura: I can hear how the planning is better and that is good. Is there any drop in costs to the County? Ms. Brun: Some of them there were drops. Some there were drops. Mostly the ones we changed from having an on-duty officer to off-duty officer. Councilmember Yukimura: Is it a significant drop or minimal drop? Ms. Brun: It is minimal only because when we came to do the projects what we realized they were understaffing some of the events. The events were hanging in there. They had police leapfrogging from one place to the next to try to cover it within the budget that they had. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, they are talking about needing another beat and if being on the street and on the beat is much more important than...maybe not. I am thinking out loud. I mean, if there is no drop in costs, then the benefit is mainly just better planning and less chaos for the police. Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: But no less use of police time, which is high premium. Beginning officers are getting $65,000 before overtime. Ms. Brun: The only people that are paid overtime on this are... Councilmember Yukimura: No, I am not talking about overtime. I mean in that respect. Mr. Costa: Yes, and that is what this was to help alleviate the overtime. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, if we are alleviating overtime in going from the old system to the new system, there should be substantial savings. Ms. Brun: The glitch has been as we have moved forward, so say one event, the original quote to us was 4 police officers and it would cost $2,500 or whatever. I know that is crazy. Councilmember Yukimura: An hour. Ms. Brun: Something like that. What has happened is when we have gone in to negotiate the operations plan, we realized that they should not have had 4, they should have had 6 officers there. Why did they only have 4 there? So, what happens is they upped the number to increase safety and security for the community so the numbers ended up going up. Most of them are pretty much even with what they thought they would be. A few of them though, went up, the bigger events. The Kaua`i Marathon. The ones that April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 29 really traverse a large area. Instead of having the police constantly leapfrog, they are actually able to stay in place in time for the last runner to go by. Councilmember Yukimura: There has been analysis of what has to be done by police and what can be done by security? Ms. Brun: That is what we are working on now. Now that we have both numbers, now we are meeting back together with the community to go okay, now there are the numbers. How can we get these numbers down? That is the next step, is to see if we have overstaffed some of these and if we have overstaffed, then we want to start dropping it because we do not want to go over the budget. We want to stay within what we are or drop. But that is definitely the next step. We just have to finish out of year, which we are right at the end. Councilmember Yukimura: Police time is very precious. If it can be done by private security at a less than or equal cost, it would seem better to do because police time is so precious. Okay. Thank you for explaining it. You explained it very well and I can see that your office has been really helping to bring some order and clarity about the whole situation. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I might be shooting myself in the foot,but have we ever look at possibly charging the police to the events? I am on Koloa Plantation Days. I know we use the police,but it is in here as a grant. Have they ever looked at possibly charging a fee to have their extra security? Ms. Brun; A lot of them have paid for their own security. They have their own security. So, that they cover, not the police, but the security. In the past, there has been some events, the bigger ones that really big a chunk of money, like Waimea Town Celebration, they have actually paid for police because they need it. They are selling alcohol or whatever. So, they pay to have police there. This is kind of over and above that while we are trying to work on it. Some of them can do it. Some of them cannot. They just do not make any money. Councilmember Yukimura: I think Committee Chair's point is well-taken. 0 mean, even Taste of Hawaii, they can cover that as a cost. Ms. Brun: Yes, and I think they are. Actually, they are this year. That is what we are learning. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. In your study or analysis of this, I hope will you will also include an analysis of which ones can cover it and which ones cannot so we can pass that onto the events that can. Ms. Brun: Yes, we will. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 30 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: First of all, in a general sense, I want to say that your presentation was really detailed and really comprehensive and potentially more than we needed today. But to be honest, there were several charts in there, which really broke down the dollar figures. It would have been nice to have gotten it earlier. So with your earlier presentation, I did a lot of work on that and had a lot of questions, but I think a lot of them were answered today, but I am not sure because you provided a whole lot of detail today. I appreciate the detail. I will just say next year, send it earlier because all of that breakdown, even like the slide on the Kekaha Host Benefits. Earlier it just talks about various grants and in here it breaks it down. The thing about that slide, I would say it says, "Current projects 2014-2015" and it lists these dollar figures. I am not sure how it lines up with next year's budget. We are putting away so much money every year and then spending it down with these projects. Then there are these small grants like basketball clinic, volleyball clinic, and playground equipment, and then the 4th of July celebration is pretty much bigger, almost $50,000 and then a foodservice project at (Inaudible) Ni`ihau and then the solarized Kekaha. But you are showing those figures as how the host community benefit is being spent out in the current fiscal year? Ms. Brun: In the current fiscal year, yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: And then you have a grant application process that you are undergoing now? Ms. Brun: Yes. Actually, I am more of a facilitator. Basically, their committee has Evon Hosaka. She is hired to kind of manage this process and puts it on the website and does the minutes. It is massive and she also handles a lot of the grant process. My job is to go in at the beginning and help train the people who want to write a grant and get them so that they are in a place where they will turn in a good grant that people can really take a good look at or the committee can. Then in the first year, I think someone brought a chart at some point. I think the first year they expended over $1,000,000 or close to $1,000,000. Then this next year, they had less money in the pot. So, I think they did about $350,000 or something. So, each year as they move into the next fiscal year, they just look at how much money is left and then they determine how much they want to spend. Then they take the proposals and divvy it up. Councilmember Kuali`i: Are you able to tell me if this has its own line item or if it is lumped in? Ms. Brun: Oddly, this is not in our budget. This is in the CIP budget. It is in the CIP budget. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Ms. Brun: We just handle it. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 31 Councilmember Kuali`i: I know in general, it does appear to me that yours is the most creative and comprehensive Department or Division we might have in the County. The next question has to do with the slide on the Kaneiolouma funding. So this is probably the same kind of thing, where the bulk of those funding is... Committee Chair Kaneshiro: What page is that, Councilmember Kuali`i? Councilmember Kuali`i: Page 6. The bottom. I mean, there are line items that are the Kauai cultural place names, research signage, but we went over there and I do not think that has anything to do with this Kaneiolouma, I guess. The there is also another one called Hawaiian Culture, Other Projects. With this one, you showed a breakdown of figures, but this is only in current Fiscal Year 14-15. Ms. Brun: This actually is just 2 different grants. So they have been rolling for probably a year and a half, maybe 2 years even. It just took a while to get going in the beginning to kind of come up with exactly what it was going to take to get this first part of the project done. The $805,000 started off and the as the one was clearing out, $350,000 came in. So, they were overlapping as to what they were doing. We just had to keep tabs on what they were paying for each pot of money. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes. Mr. Brun: Together that is how they got it done. The $350,000 kind of came into play when we realized that the berm needed to be fixed which is along the roadside. So, that was the second-half. That is where they started to build the viewing area. Of course, there is maintenance involved in all of it. Councilmember Kuali`i: When you say 2 different grants and throughout your presentation when we are talking and you were talking back about grants and HGEA. I am a little confused because it does seem like there are several different grants and maybe even different grant processes. I think it would be helpful to have the presentation or have the information provide it in such a way that we are clearer on which grants are coming from who. For one example, with this, are you talking about primarily County's OED grants going to this non-profit organization? Ms. Brun: Yes, this is County... Councilmember Kuali`i: You are not talking about because then on the other slide about the Cultural and Natural Resources projects, the $50,000 line item, where it has all of the different moku or ahupua`a. Ms. Brun: That is also County funding. Councilmember Kuali`i: The work that you are doing, is it all about people applying to us for these funding and we provide it or is it also about us assisting them to go after even larger grants from the State? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 32 Ms. Brun: It is both. Councilmember Kuali`i: Does the not HTA have a living Hawaiian Heritage Grant Program? Ms. Brun: Yes. We apply to HTA for grants for CPEP and then they give it us, and then we turn around and distribute. Same thing. Lots of times we will have a partner that we hope the partners can go directly into HTA and apply for matching funds. So, say we were doing the moku project and we decided we are going to work in Ko`olau and restore a fishpond. At the same time that we are giving the fifty, we are encouraging them to go to HTA to ask for additional funds and they can use that as a match. If that does not happen, sometimes we are the ones that go in and apply. If they are not ready for that, then we will jump in apply. At the same time token, we also do grant workshops like with ANA, where we try to encourage them to learn how to apply to the Federal government because a lot more money in the ANA pot for them and we always want to encourage our Hawaiian culture programs to go out and get those funds. Kaneiolouma is a good example. We are trying to get them up to that level to apply for those Federal funds. Councilmember Kuali`i: I would say ideally because our funding is limited, I think now when I look at the numbers here, $800,000, $300,000. We will not be able to do that again. Kaneiolouma is not a good example of how to do it. The rest of the community out there, do not expect that we as a County can come up with $1,000,000 no matter how important the project is because it is really important. Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: If you look around our island, we have many significant cultural sites that need to be restored. I would like to say that the program going forward maximizing on the leveraging of those grants and also making sure that the small piece that we provide to be used in leverage for grant applications be spread out amongst all of the areas because right now, all I see on this line item, moku Hawaiian Culture and Natural Resources Project is $15,000 and that has to go to Halelea, Koolau, Puna, and Kona. Maybe there is not anything right up on the burner. So, if one comes forward maybe they will have access to the full $50,000, but I think it is important work, it needs to be all over the island, and we need to maximize it by leveraging with other funds and making sure that we have non-profit organizations that step forward with the capacity to get the grants. We are not in the business of building their capacity because it is not our area. The community has to identify themselves, come together, build their capacity, and then we work with them. We work with the ones that are ready first because we do not have enough money to do it all. Ms. Brun: Right. Councilmember Kuali`i: I think the line item for me on this $800,000 was that $450,000 was expended for labor of a rock wall. I think that the community volunteers and the community people that are most inspired and moved to do this work should not require that much of the money because with grants, it takes leveraging of small amounts of money to get bigger amounts of money, but the biggest leverage is the sweat equity. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 33 Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: And people being willing to put their time and energy in there. I think going forward, we live and we learn. The nice thing is that we have something very important already. The foundation is there and we have a lot to build on. I am more than 100% supportive of everything that you guys are doing and throughout. But I think as times get tougher year after year, we have to keep leveraging and keep maximizing. Thank you. Ms. Brun: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on Kaneiolouma? Is there a criteria because I think Kaneiolouma funding is through CIP, yes? Ms. Brun: Right. It was actually developers funding, I believe. Mr. Costa: Kukui`ula. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, okay. Mr. Costa: Kukui`ula, the community development fund that they had. Some of that came from that fund. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I was just going to ask how you decipher between funding a project through CIP or funding it through a grant within your Division? Mr. Costa: Usually we get advice on that. Most of the grants are through either, as Nalani mentioned, HTA or even the Workforce Investment Act. Then when we come to the Council in our budget process, a lot of it is through County General Fund. But depending on the project itself and the magnitude or scope-of-work, we might get recommendations from Keith Suga saying, "Hey, this should be more CIP than General Fund." Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: I want to change the topic. Councilmember Yukimura: I have a follow-up. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You have a follow-up on Kaneiolouma? Councilmember Yukimura: Follow-up on Kaneiolouma. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up, Councilmember Yukimura. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 34 Councilmember Yukimura: There is nothing in OED's budget, operating budget for Kaneiolouma? Ms. Brun: No. We can maintain their maintenance. We probably will have that in our budget, but it is real minor. Other than that... Councilmember Yukimura: Maintenance of what? Ms. Brun: Like gas and weed whacking things,when a string runs out on the weed whacker, and those types of small things. We will give them a small grant every year just to help them maintain that that. The real crux of the push right now is one, they want to look at a traffic study to look at flow around Kaneiolouma for the future and second is, we are actually going to be working on ways and means this year with the help of our legislators to actually approach the State for funding. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, because if the major development work is completed, then there is a question of how do they sustain themselves and do we see OED providing that maintenance money year after year after year or are we wanting them to become a self-sufficient 501(c)3 that is going to provide a service and maintenance of the property? I mean, it is an incredible site. Will they do tours? Will they look at income generation possibilities? I do not know if their development process is complete. So, if there is more, maybe they are going to ways and means and to the Senate and Legislature for that. But long-term, what is their business plan if you will? Ms. Brun: Well, they do have a plan. It is on their website. The ultimate plan is that they would have a culture center and they would be running tours. They still have to go into Kaneiolouma and do restoration pieces there. That is another piece of it. I do not know if they have actually done a business plan yet. They have not quite gotten there. They were trying to finish this portion first. But the ultimate goal for them is to actually have a cultural center down there. Councilmember Yukimura: If that is the ultimate vision, we need to see what their plan is going to be, where it is appropriate for the County to support, and where it is appropriate for them to get other grants because I do not think OED is the proper budget for their maintenance year after year after year. Ms. Brun: No. They are done. They have almost got every bit of that cactus out of there. So, that is what we were paying for, helping them deal with the cactus. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, they have accomplished an incredible amount of work. I think everybody is pleased with their progress. But I think we just need to know what the overall plan is. Just like Alan Tang came in. First was the feasibility plan. That was completed. Next was the business plan. That was completed. Next was finding the site. That is completed. Now it is to build a center, and he has a business plan that shows how it will sustain itself. We are not going to be the ones that continue to fund its maintenance and operations. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 35 Ms. Brun: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: I think we have to do that with many of our projects. It is not the role of OED or the County to pay for maintenance. Ms. Brun: I agree. Councilmember Yukimura: At some point, we need to see what their plan is? Where they are at and what is their request for future County funding versus other sources? Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: I am going to switch topics to agriculture. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Hooser: If you could bring your Agricultural Specialist up. Mr. Costa: He is here. Councilmember Hooser: We do not have an Agricultural Specialist. It was eliminated from the budget? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Hooser: And there was some of us looking at that as an opportunity to take that position and turn it into something real special in support of the agricultural community. Could you explain the rationale in eliminating that position? Mr. Costa: One was to obviously save costs. But two, in the last 6 years, in my role as the Director besides other projects, I have spent a great deal of my time working on the various agricultural initiatives and from the very start, the first project I was assigned was the Kilauea Agricultural Park, then the Kilauea Irrigation Study, and then Papaya Disinfestation Plan. I mean, I have been involved with all of those. I see my role and the role of the Office Economic Development is to engage with the professionals that are out there in the agricultural community. My role as the public servant in the Office of Economic Development to help move some of these agricultural initiatives through the County to help these different organizations. I feel I have been able to accomplish that in the last 6 years and I am committed to helping as along as my time within the County to help see a lot of these projects come to fruition or work with the various organizations to help them. Councilmember Hooser: he decision was made to keep the position created for Ordinance No. 960, which we never really needed, to keep that position and eliminate Agricultural Specialist position? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 36 Mr. Costa: That position is an 89-day contract. We have extended that a couple of times. His title is Agricultural Compliance Specialist. So, literally instead of Ordinance No. 960, he is doing agricultural compliance for the Sunshine Markets. I am going to engage him in some of these other projects in working with the various agricultural communities. Ms. Nakamura: Nadine Nakamura, Managing Director. Just to clarify, the Ordinance No. 960 position was included in the last budget. As a result of the litigation and decisions made that for this budget, we eliminated that position. There was an 89-day position contract position that was retained to do the agricultural compliance work relating to Sunshine Market compliance and enforcement, which we felt we needed to do more work and the vendors were asking for assistance to make sure that products sold at the Sunshine Markets are locally-grown. He has done an incredible job working with Terry to make that happen. Councilmember Hooser: Okay. The Ordinance No. 960 position was eliminated, but the person was shifted to the 89-day position that already was there and then the Agricultural Specialist position was eliminated. Ms. Nakamura: That is correct. Councilmember Hooser: I got that, and I appreciate all of the work that you do in agriculture. I know that it stretches your time and your responsibilities around everything, actually. My hope was that we would have somebody, like Ms. Brun doing the kind of work on agriculture that she does on the visitor industry. The visitor industry in this budget gets about $800,000 and agriculture, if you subtract out the invasive species which one could argue is kind of agriculture, but not really. Fire ants, frogs, mongoose, and maikonia, are more of a natural recourse protection and you take out the Sunshine which we have had forever, which is kind of maintenance. There are no new initiatives at all except $15,000, which is a resurgence of an old initiative. I do not see any energy, any initiative, or any enthusiasm for agriculture. We are the Garden Island. This is a topic we have been talking about extensively for the past would 2 years. Ms. Nakamura: I would like to add that the initiative for the Commercial Kitchen Incubation Facility and Program is moving forward. It is under an existing contract. It took quite a long time to again, find a site for to initiative. Discussions were held with Kaua`i Community College and George has been working aggressively with the consultant. But because of the time it took to work through the UH Community College system and to get their approvals through the process, the consultant did not do a lot of work while it was going through the process. So, there are funds in that contract. He is still working now that there is a site and commitment from KCC and the UH system to move forward. There are funds in the contract to move it forward and towards implementation. So even though it does not show up in this year's budget, the consultant feels that he has enough funds to move it forward in this interim period. Councilmember Hooser: I am happy to hear that. Just looking at moving forward with new projects, I see nothing. I see getting rid of junk cars from Kilauea, that is April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 37 good. Then I see the scholarship program and then working on the Sunshine Market and that is about it. We cannot, as a Council, even if we wanted to put more funding in this, we cannot make the Administration get enthusiastic about moving forward on projects and looking at... (Council Chair Rapozo was noted as present.) Mr. Costa: We could certainly look at more opportunities working with the East Kauai Water Users Coop. Obviously, no water, no agriculture. So, bolstering that, bolstering what we fund for the Kilauea Agricultural Park and other agricultural parks around the island. Definitely, there are other opportunities that we could look at to support. Councilmember Hooser: It just seems we need someone. Again, I hate to pick on Ms. Brun, but somebody who is immersed in the industry, someone who believes in it, someone who understands it, someone who knows the nooks and crannies, they know who the players are, they know the Farm Bureau, they know the Farmer's Union, and they are they are working on it every day. I believe that is the kind of commitment that we need. There is a whole lot of people out there that want and need this support. Ms. Brun: Well, really in our office, there are some passionate agriculture people between myself who is very much into the ranching world, Ben Sullivan, and of course, George. We all have complete passion for agriculture, but you are right. It is how we focus our time. What we want to do is we are starting to divide up the way that the projects are, least for this year, while we are trying to adjust so that each of us can put like more of a foot forward on some of the new ideas. One of them is the Kauai. Cattlemen Association. So, reading through all of the studies that were done, they actually were, as you folks know, recommending that we work harder to build out chill and processing facilities because without that it is very hard for us to keep cattle here and finish them. I mean, we are not going to have anything to send to the slaughterhouse if we do not have anything that is finished. This year we are making a move in that area to move from just doing the maintenance of their Federal requirements to actually helping assist them in going after that process of getting better chill and better processing facilities. It is not just us, it is not just the County going forward. I mean, these people are going in and they are getting loans so that they can do that too. That is one of our initiatives that we just started which is really kind of pushing the cattlemen forward so that they can build that part of that. I think that is what we want to do for a lot of projects. At least let issue try it this year and move forward. Mr. Costa: To add to what Nalani just said, last year we had the food hub project which was basically that, looking at expanding the ranching processing of not just beef but also looking at the pork, lamb, and other areas. If what you are saying is we should be looking at something like that, helping with the ranchers, helping with processing, and looking at another food hub project, something similar to that, then definitely there are a lot of projects we could engage and seek more funding. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 38 Councilmember Hooser: I do not question what is in your heart. I just question what is in the budget and the budget does not reflect a commitment to agriculture. I mean, I appreciate the work you are going to do and your thought, but the budget talks about getting rid of junk cars, a small scholarship program, and the Sunshine Market. I will yield my question. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up question, Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes, the elephant in the room is agricultural park development, getting farmers on the land. I do not see any plan. I do not see a progress report on the line item of$20,000 that was supposed to be a day long workshop to bring people in with expertise on agricultural parks and find out how other people are doing it so we can have a community learning process. All of us can be involved in this. So, there is no performance on something that is already in the budget and there is no plan for an aggressive, well-thought out researched, and well-planned way to move forward on agricultural parks. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura, I am glad you brought that up. I figured this was going to come up. George will be here April 29th to present on the agricultural park. Councilmember Yukimura: You mean on the Kilauea Agricultural Park. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Kilauea Agricultural Park. Councilmember Yukimura: Now called the Kilauea Agricultural Center, instead of an agricultural park. That is fine. I have some questions about that in terms of budget. But that is not the agricultural park plan for the island. What is the plan and who is the coordinator expert who is going to be in the County's office to help move that forward? Mr. Costa: That would be me. One of the partners we are working with again, is the Kaua`i Economic Development Board. I have engaged Sue Tai Kaneko since she had been on board in the last 2 months, looked at your request, and it is another initiative that we would like to at least implement and get started before the end of this fiscal year. Councilmember Yukimura: So the $20,000 is the fee to KEDB? Mr. Costa: Not the fee. It is just to look at utilizing those funds to look at your request and see if it is something that we can engage in. Councilmember Yukimura: I think it is the first step to creating some real strategic actions for creating agricultural parks. But I have to say that the performance on the Kilauea Agricultural Park has not been very encouraging. If you want to go to my questions on that because I believe they are budget-related, I would like to go to questions. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 39 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Not to interrupt, but I think as we go through, I think we are just going to take this in sections. On our budget sheet we have page 92-93, we have all of the KEDB projects and rather than having people go back and forth and us jumping all around, we will stick to the agricultural items in the account description "agricultural" and then once we are through with that, we will moving down the list until we can get through with them. Councilmember Yukimura: So you saying, Chair, later, not now? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: No. Now we are on agricultural. So, we can talk about the agricultural parks, but again, I do not know how much time we want to spend on it. If it is a specific budget question... Councilmember Yukimura: It is a budget related question. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Then we can go through it. I would rather, if it is more what is the procedure,what is the plan for it, maybe we wait until April 29th date to get amore general overview. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Chair, because we have done in the past is ask specific questions of the presentation. I thought that is what we were doing up until now. If we are going to move to the budget questions, I just wanted to clarify that is what we are going to do. (Councilmember Hooser was noted as not present.) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think the presentation pretty much covered all of the grant information. I think we are still going to have to go through all of the grants and then the general Office of Economic Development. I know a lot of the discussion is going to be on this grant information and I would like to get through it. Then at the end if we have any specific questions for the Office of Economic Development, we will do those questions also. Did you have any broader questions? Councilmember Chock: I just had a broad question for the Kilauea Agricultural Park. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You can ask it in this agricultural section. Right now we are on the line item of agricultural parks. Councilmember Chock, if you want to ask your question and then Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Chock: Real quick. Thank you, Chair. What I heard in the presentation was that the money is slated for removal of abandoned cars. How many abandoned cars do we have on that property? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 40 Mr. Costa: I went on to the property in 2009 when I first came on board, I counted about 40. Councilmember Chock: 40 okay. The reason why I was asking because I know we have a line item for abandoned vehicles in Public Works, I think it is. I wanted to see if that was best utilization of the funding that was being requested. If there is something else that can help support the removal of the cars. I know you talked about infrastructure needs and so forth. I would much rather see those things come to fruition if we can get them done? Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I believe that is from the Highway Funds. I think it is for cars that are abandoned on the highway. Maybe that, you can move it to the highway. Mr. Costa: I have already had discussions with Public Works. In fact,we scheduled a couple of visits to go out there. Just from working with Aina Ho`okupu O Kilauea, which is a non-profit entity that has been given the stewardship agreement with their equipment and sweat equity, they have volunteered to remove the cars and bring it up to the roadway where Public Works can go and pick it up. In my conversations with Public Works though, they will need some funding that they do not have to pay for hauling those vehicles away. Councilmember Yukimura: Follow-up to that because that is exactly what I was going ask for. You had $50,000, right, in the budget for this? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: My recollection may not be accurate, but I thought there were going to be volunteers and companies. I thought that was the testimony last time around when we gave them $100,000. So, they have $120,000 from the State legislature and $100,000 from the County, and that is $220,000. I thought the moving of the cars was going to be part of that money or they were going to get volunteers to do it. So to have them come back before we have seen a strategic plan or a business plan, where are we on this, George? Mr. Costa: Okay. For the first $100,000, at least $50,000 of that will be for the installation of the water meters. We have applied and we are working with the Department of Water to have those meters installed. Right now there is an engineer working with Aina Ho`okupu 0 Kilauea to do the engineering requirements for the department of water. Some of that is going to be in-kind work. Some of it will need to be paid. There is also surveying of the property. Once we have the property surveyed, some fencing. If anybody has gone to the property lately, we went on last week, there is about, I believe, 6 to 7 camps of...I do not know, homeless or who those people are. But those need to be dealt with and I mentioned the vehicles. I feel and I could be totally wrong, but having come into the County in 2009 and working with the Kilauea community and really getting educated on this property, I feel it is my/our kuleana to do what is needed to turn over the land to this organization. The cars were there a lot longer. So, that is one area that I feel April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 41 the County should be responsible for helping to clean that up. I did mention the volunteer group is going to help at least move it out where they are in the gulch out to the roadway and that in and of itself is going to require heavy equipment to do that because most of those cars are not cars anymore, they are just heaps of metal. Then we are looking at starting to clear the land. We are working through the various... Councilmember Yukimura: Wait a minute, excuse me. (Councilmember Hooser was noted as present.) Councilmember Yukimura: The stewardship agreement was given because the group was going to do all of this. We gave them a stewardship agreement and $100,000. We did not say we were going to do all the work or pay for all of the work. If you look again at Alan Tang's model before they start any work on the building, they had a feasibility and a business plan. Where is that business plan and feasibility plan, and when will those two be available for to us review? Mr. Costa: Part of the State funding that they received, one is for a portable office and the rest is for a strategic business plan. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So, a strategic plan and business plan, they are one in the same, right? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: When is this going to be done? Mr. Costa: I know they are working on it. They still are... Councilmember Yukimura: No. When is it going to be done? Mr. Costa: I do not know. Councilmember Yukimura: We have not given them a deadline? They have not given us a commitment about when it is going to be done? Mr. Costa: I know they were given a commitment of the funds from State, but the State had not released it until just recently. I have spoken to Mr. Nakatani... Councilmember Yukimura: Why are we taking any action until we have a plan in place so we know what is going to happen and how it is going to be paid for? Mr. Costa: If I could just say getting back to the property itself,we are applying for water meters. Now years ago, and that is why I feel it is my kuleana as the Director for the Office of Economic Development, that for the developer, there were several requirements about 20 years ago. In order to get their Special Management Area April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 42 (SMA) permits and permits to do the Cliffside development, he was given some conditions because he was subdividing agricultural land. There were 5 conditions and 1 of those conditions was the developer was supposed to put in an irrigation system. That never materialized. Unfortunately, the Office of Economic Development and Public Works were a party to that agreement and it never materialized. So I feel 20 years later, it is still my kuleana to ensure that gets done, but not to have the County foot the entire bill. It is working with this community group. When we come back on the 29th, we have a budget, and we have a plan. Consideration that when I came to this body after we did the master plan with Kimura International and then we did our environmental assessment, the community was looking at developing this agricultural park for $8,000,000. That was when the community said they could do it this for less with their own equipment and back seat equity. The Mayor has given them a Stewardship Agreement to have them develop the agricultural park, but obviously, the County is still there. We are not providing $8,000,000, but we are providing some funds that will assist this group. Councilmember Yukimura: The $100,000 that the County gave, is that not being used to pay for staff? Mr. Costa: To the Administration of the grant, 10%. Councilmember Yukimura: No. Okay, so that is $10,000 is being paid to someone to do the staff work? Mr. Costa: To Malama Kaua`i because they are the Grant Administrator. Councilmember Yukimura: And they are doing work? Where is the results of their work? Mr. Costa: Most of the work is working on the non-profit work that they have been doing, working on the actual plan, and putting together a budget of what they are proposing to do on the first phase and the second phase. Councilmember Yukimura: And we do not have a deadline when that plan is going to be done? Mr. Costa: As far as the strategic plan as I mentioned, they just received their State funding. But as far as putting together a plan, utilizing the County's plan that we spent quite a bit of money on, most of the components of that plan is what they are planning to carry out, but not for $8,000,000. They are going to do it for less. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura, you bring up a lot of great questions. Councilmember Yukimura: I am done. Thank you. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 43 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think those are things that we can or should address in the presentation on the 29th because it is legitimate questions if we are going to provide money, then how is the money being spent and what are deliverables? If we could have that in the presentation. Do we have any further questions regarding the agricultural park? Again, we are going to have a presentation on the 29th? If not, do we have any other questions for the agricultural section? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: On your presentation on page 11, you show a Compliance Specialist like it is a long-term staff and you show a division of work, but then you said the position is not there or it is there for 89 day. That is supposed to do sunshine marketing. I think in your statement, you talked about upgrading the Sunshine Market and finding a new site for the Kapa'a place. How are you going to do that with somebody who is there for 89 days? Mr. Costa: His role to-date has been the actual inspections of the farms. A lot of those components were meant for him specifically, but his role right now has been going out to over 100 farms and inspecting the farms and making sure that the farmer/venders are compliant with the application procession. Councilmember Yukimura: But you have not answered my question because I asked how he is going to get this work on Sunshine Market development and monitoring that you have mentioned in your plan in an 89-day contract. Ms. Brun: Nalani Brun. The 89-day contract stops on the 90th day and then it restarts again. We will use him for the year, probably. Until pau. Thank you. Until pau. We have been really lucky with this Compliance Specialist in that he has some skills that are perfectly suited for what we are doing. He is great with people, he is able to put his foot down when he needs to, and actually helps us get compliance. We are using him on several different things, not just the Sunshine Markets, but also helping us with the First Saturday issues. He is a great liaison to the Police Department, which we work a lot with. We have actually been utilizing him in a lot of different ways and that is our plan. When we bring the monitoring in-house, which is also out plan for the next year, that he would continue to take that on. Councilmember Yukimura: What do you mean by bringing monitoring in-house? Ms. Brun: Right now we do a grant to the Garden Island RC&D for monitoring of the sunshine markets. So, basically somebody goes out and checks the Sunshine Markets. Eventually we realized that was something that we could pull in-house and we should be doing in-house. So we are hoping to pull that in so he would manage that whole program, which is what he is doing now. Councilmember Yukimura: You are doing a year position by 89-day contract, renewed, renewed, renewed. Is that what you are doing? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 44 Ms. Brun: Just this year, yes, to test it out to see if it works and if we have enough work for something like that. Councilmember Yukimura: You mean to avoid putting in a new position because you were instructed not to have any new positions in the budget? Ms. Brun: He is definitely not a new position. He is not a new position. Councilmember Yukimura: Where is he being paid with? Is that consultant services? Ms. Brun: Consultant services, yes. Oh, contractor. I am sorry. It is contractor. It is just below the salaries. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It is wages hourly pay. Mr. Costa: Yes, overtime. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Ms. Brun; The great thing with him of course, is that he is retired police. So, that is someone who does not need benefits. It is a big plus. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. I do acknowledge that you have tried to address the issue of Sunshine Market produce not grown on Kaua`i, which is a violation of both the intent and the regulation and that has been good. But what background does this gentleman have in terms of Sunshine Market development and finding a new site for the Kapa'a market? My question is, this is the first year I have not seen any statistics on the sunshine market revenues, but you say it is $1,000,000 a year. How does that compare with KCC markets and the other markets? Are we falling behind? Are we doing all we can to support those markets in their development? Is this person qualified to do that kind of work? Ms. Brun: The person that is there now actually has a lot of grant background experience, which is another unusual thing that we got. So we just happened upon a person who was very good. I can honestly tell you that when I came into this job as a Specialist, I mean, there is no way you can have the experience that you need to be in this job. It is just something you are going to be able to go out and grasp. I think a lot of that even with the Sunshine Markets. I mean, between myself and our partners, it is really a lot about our partners. We depend on them. We depend on KEDB, the Kauai Visitors Bureau, and KPAA to guide us and they do that. Although I cannot tell you that this person has absolute agriculture experience, I know he knows how to make things work in government and that is really huge...we are all there to help train this person. I have marketing background, Sue is always with me, and we work with Melissa McFarlin at the community market, we are keeping an eye on how she does it and how we can cooperate with her, and... April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 45 Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I guess I disagree that the County OED Office should be training grounds for an Agricultural Coordinator. I would like to see somebody like Stacey Sproat or Melissa McFarlin or somebody who has some background in agriculture to actually be able to work with and develop the whole agricultural area because I agree with Councilmember Hooser and I think probably all of the rest of the Council, that development of agriculture is key, production agriculture is key, and we have not seen much progress. The most exciting thing in your budget is the agriculture business plan, which we have seen brilliantly implemented by KEDB. I will approve those moneys and more for that because there is a track record of exquisite management and that is what we need, that level of excellence and good planning if we are to move ahead in the area of agriculture. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up question, Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. On the 89-day contract hire you have $25,000 in there. Mr. Costa: Right. Council Chair Rapozo: That is not enough, for the 4 cycles? Ms. Brun: We are likely going to shift the market monitoring money over to continue that if it all works out. Council Chair Rapozo: Oh, okay. So there is a source to continue? Ms. Brun: Yes. Mr. Costa: It is $32,000. Right now, that contract for a year is $50,000. Council Chair Rapozo: Mr. Chair, if you do not mind, I will give you a different perspective. I am very excited about the Kilauea Agricultural Park or center or whatever it is called. I have seen that land sit there for years and this is the first time I have seen movement. I am very impressed with what is happening. I think we are all impatient because we want to see it get done, but I think this is our best chance of any success out there then trying to get us as a County to get it done. I just wanted to make that note for the record. There are differing opinions on the Council. I just wanted to let you know that I am very excited about what is to come out there in Kilauea. I thank you folks and all of the members of the community that worked so hard and even more patient than us to at least get a shot at making it happen. Thank you. Mr. Costa: Thank you, Chair. What is exciting is last week as part of our permit process, working with USDA, East Kauai, and Soil & Water Conservation. Jenny (Inaudible) is the East Kaua`i Conservationist and the new person Jenna Dunn is representing USDA NCRS. They are excited. They are helping using with this project and they want to be part of the committee. Once we start getting incubator farms, they want to help with instructions and education. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 46 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on the agriculture section? I know we have been through the agriculture parks and Sunshine Market. Any further questions? If not, we will move on to tourism. Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Just a clarification. The airports, are we getting a match? Ms. Brun: Yes. Actually, it just did not come to us. It went to the VIP Service. So they are hiring separately from us. So, we work together on figuring out what nights and what days to be there. So, we lucked out. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just want to put forward a request, of something for you to follow-up on. On page 5, you had the slide on the successes and achievements of the CPEP grant and that the program is complete for 2014 and it is underway for 2015. So there is a whole list of all of the different awardees, if you will. It would be good information, even though it is not coming out of General Fund, to know what the dollar figures are for each. Ms. Brun: Alright. Councilmember Kuali`i: Perfect. If you would provide a copy and then the only other thing on that, is that someplace I saw the thing about four years. There is that other slide on page 12 where you were saying the policy is after 4 years, right? Ms. Brun: Right. Councilmember Kuali`i: So many of those, most of them are four years and some of them are three years, is that risk of losing funding? So it would be interesting to know again, what that actually costs in case we were looking to consider that. Ms. Brun: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: The last slide shows the 2 matching, if you will, product enrichment/enhancement, $80,000 and special events and grants, $65,000. So, the flipside to that was to know what is the potential funding that we get with that match. Ms. Brun: It is typically $400,000. Councilmember Kuali`i: And that has been that for? Ms. Brun: It has been that for three years. Before that it was $425,000 and before that it was $450,000. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 47 Councilmember Kuali`i: So in the same range for a long time? Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: The only thing, if their policy of funding new projects sticks, that means that we will have funding, but for new projects, not for the same old ones, and that is understandable because it is meant to get something going. Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: And then it is supposed to sustain itself. Some of the events obviously, are big enough that they probably should be sustaining themselves. But I have no idea what kind of monies we are talking about for each one because if it is small amounts like $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000 then it is definitely doable. If you could just provide that information, it would be helpful. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on the tourism section of the grants? I know we have talked about airports quickly, we also talked about Kaua`i Nui Kuapapa placement and the Security Events Grants. Any further questions on any of the items? If not, we will move on. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: One thing for further clarification. There are actually two different pools of money from HTA? Ms. Brun: HTA has one pool of money, Kauai County Products Enrichment. What we do is we split it up. So, we make sure we have so many projects that are product development versus product enrichment. We do some special events like the smaller ones, but work on other things like walking tours that are in areas and the airport display cases, we also help fund those. It is not always events. It is also projects, maybe Kamakawahi Cave or projects that NTBG is doing. Councilmember Kuali`i: So, it is out call? Ms. Brun: We split it all up. Yes, it is our call. We have a committee that just makes the decisions. Councilmember Kuali`i: Why is there a breakdown of the match, $80,000 and $65,000? Ms. Brun: The $80,000 and $60,000 are our match, but we try make sure that we are going do some natural resource Hawaiian culture and then some special events. So, we try to keep within the number guidelines. So we are always spreading the money out to different types of projects. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. (Council Chair Rapozo and Councilmember Chock were noted as not present.) April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 48 Committees Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on any of the tourism items? Any questions for the film item? Trade shows? HIFF? Any questions for energy with consulting services? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Let us see here. I want to know what the Statewide dashboard is and what we can expect from it. Mr. Sullivan: Ben Sullivan, for the record. The Statewide dashboard is a project that is headed by an organization called Kaua`i Green Growth and the dashboard is an online tool with a very rich data set that can be utilized by anyone in the State. It is public access. It provides metrics on various subject matter. As I indicated of the initial presentation, the first year's metrics were developed around energy and solid waste. So there is overall goals, but then there is also multiple data sets within that. I do not know if you are familiar with Socrata, but it is basically an online platform that allows open access to data. So the datasets are there now and will continue to be updated through that project. As I indicated as well, there are several other areas with metrics that are being established. So there is a group of us that meet Statewide and discuss what the appropriate metrics are for each of these areas and then Hawaii Green Growth goes ahead and develops the metrics and inserts the data sets as they have the ability to. In the next year, I believe as I said natural resource conservation and local food production are the targeted areas for developing out. Councilmember Yukimura: What is the information that we have from Kaua`i that is on there? Mr. Sullivan: A lot of information is Statewide, but there is some from Kaua`i. I did not come prepared to make a presentation on the Kauai-specific information, but certainly there is some localized island-based information as well. Councilmember Yukimura: The reason I asked because in the last budget, I asked if in this budget you might articulate some energy indicators for the island and I have not seen any in the report. I just wondered if there had been any effort to identify key energy indicators for the island or even for the County. I guess for the County, you have the overall energy use. Mr. Sullivan: That is correct, yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Is there any for our island as a whole as to whether we are making any progress in transportation or in energy conservation in the electrical sector? Mr. Sullivan: That is certainly information we could come back with, but I am reluctant to say when the specific metrics are from memory now. I am fairly certian there are Kauai-specific metrics that were established in the process, but I do not have them committed to memory nor did not bring material. I believe barrels of oil consumed is there on an island by island and I believe there is some breakdown between electricity and the transportation sector. But beyond that, I cannot recall the details. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 49 Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. If you would provide that, that would be good. Mr. Sullivan: Sure. Councilmember Yukimura: I am hoping as the Sustainability Energy Coordinator, you will help us track that and make it a public data, so people are conscious of it. At the State legislature, there is this machine on the balcony of the legislature that shows what the energy use of O`ahu is in the moment, I guess, and that is sort of an awareness thing. But I am hoping and especially because I understand you folks were asked to create in indicators in your budget or if you have them to present them. Hopefully we can use them to see whether we are moving forward or backwards or standing still. Mr. Sullivan: Sure. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I had a question on the food waste co-digestion at the Lihu`e Wastewater Plant, what is that? Mr. Sullivan: Okay. (Councilmember Chock was noted as present.) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: What is that? Mr. Sullivan: There is a National trend ongoing that has municipalities trying to deal with food waste in a different way, which is instead of landfilling it to co-digest it with biosolids in existing infrastructure. The Lihu`e Wastewater Plant has 2 fairly good sized digesters that are used to digest biosolids and those digesters were built with the typical wastewater process whereas you look 30 to 40 years out and build them very large. I do not remember exactly. I think we are using half of the capacity of the digesters now. So there is a significant opportunity to add food waste to them and co-digest them with biosolids as a process. So, that would potentially generate energy, but it would also help us alleviate some of what is going to the landfill. That project was investigated and we received the draft feasibility study in about February. That was the same consultant who did the work under the same project for the landfill gas. As if a matter of fact, Councilmember Yukimura requested a copy of that feasibility study. We soon as we get past the draft, we are going to provide that. But they are both very interrelated. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: You are putting food waste and including it with human waste, and then processing it just as the human waste gets processed or are we adding a system onto it to further get energy? Mr. Sullivan: You would have to add equipment in order to convert into energy, right. So what we would get out of that is biogas. That biogas would be cleaned up. So, it would be a capital investment in the infrastructure required to take from April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 50 biogas to what we would call compressed natural gas or natural gas. Then there would be equipment whether it be generated equipment or if we chose to put it in our vehicle fleet. We could obviously have conversions and things like that. It is essentially the same project we would get out of landfill or very similar. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Is that what we are looking to do or just reduce the amount of waste that is going to the landfill? Mr. Sullivan: To be clear, it is something we are investigating and the feasibility study gave us very positive indications, but we have not reached the point that we are concern that is the direction we want to take. One of the complexities is we certainly do not have a food waste collection system in place on the island. So, that is an issue and we are still in the process of getting better data from restaurants and grocers about how much waste there is in order to make the project pay for itself. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Follow-up. Will this food waste not be part of the Waste Stream Plan that is part of Solid Waste's budget this year? Mr. Sullivan: I am not sure I understand the question. Councilmember Yukimura: I think there is $50,000 in Solid Waste budget to do a Waste Composition Study because the one we did when we did our integrated Solid Waste Plan Was not fully procedurally correct. They only used one week's source of waste analysis and do it properly, you have to test it in different seasons. Anyway, so we are updating what is now an old statistic and the Solid Waste Division is doing a study. I am asking whether your question about how much food there is in our waste stream. Would that not be part of the study? Mr. Sullivan: There is a difference between the overall waste comp study that provide, you are correct, information on exactly how much is in the study and then how much we can get for a project like this in Lihu`e. We are focused on the commercial sector and primarily on larger generators. Our intent is to determine really even with some geographical information, could we set it up to work specifically at the Lihu`e plant? They information sets are complementary, but they are not redundant in any way. We are talking about surveys where we go specifically to grocers and to restaurants and say, "How do you currently dispose of your food waste," "How much do you have," and "What options would you consider if alternatives were available?" Councilmember Yukimura: A tiny addendum to the contract might get that you information. I see what you are saying, that they might just be studying what going into the landfill. That will include the sewage sludge that we take to the landfill. But to the extent that people give it to pig farmers or do something else with it, I do not know what else they would do other than throw it into the garbage that goes into the landfill, you would get how much we generate islandwide, which I am hoping you will also look at because if it is in Lihu`e, that is the central place where your food wastes could come when we go to curbside April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 51 pickup of food waste, which they are doing in many communities. It is dry recyclables and wet recyclables, which includes food waste and then trash that goes into the landfill. I am glad that you are doing this feasibility study. To me, you need that islandwide information, not just Lihu`e area generation of waste. Mr. Sullivan: No disagreement. Councilmember Yukimura: In answer to Councilmember Kaneshiro's question, you are doing a feasibility study to see whether this added process could take care of the sewage sludge and food waste on the island, in a way that would produce renewable energy? Mr. Sullivan: Correct. Councilmember Yukimura: That could be used either for power generation or for driving our vehicles? Mr. Sullivan: Correct. Councilmember Yukimura: Fueling our vehicles? Mr. Sullivan: Correct. Councilmember Yukimura: And it could dovetail with the landfill study methane gas, which we are anticipating might be used for our buses, right? Mr. Sullivan: That is correct. Councilmember Yukimura: Right. There is a couple of pieces that have great possibility of working together into some workable way to use our waste productively. That is great that you are doing it and you are going to have a draft? Mr. Sullivan: I have to check back. It will not be long at all. I would say in next 3 to 6 weeks we will have the draft back from the consultant. All they are waiting for is that they gave us a draft and we relied with our comments and then they are coming back to us. We just need to get that cleaned up version. Councilmember Yukimura: That is a draft feasibility study? Mr. Sullivan: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: They will have preliminary findings? Mr. Sullivan: Preliminary information about how to proceed, right. Councilmember Yukimura: Great, thank you. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 52 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I have a quick on one the Motor Pool. You had said it will lets us see what vehicles we need. So, the Motor Pool is in operation? Mr. Sullivan: . That is correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: When did it start? Mr. Sullivan: Early February. Councilmember Kuali`i: How long is the pilot project that you are collecting data? Mr. Sullivan: One year. Councilmember Kuali`i: Oh, one whole year. Along the way, will you stop and maybe look at three months or six months and see what is going on because I would imagine that you have a log or sign-in and sign-out, number of passengers, and which vehicle they are selecting and why because you have some hybrid vehicles, but you have many that are not as well, right? Mr. Sullivan: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: There are 40 vehicles in the pool? Mr. Sullivan: That is correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: Are there eight Ford Escapes also hybrids? Mr. Sullivan: I believe they are all hybrids, yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: All hybrids. So 23 hybrids and 17 not. Is there a policy or practice on what car you can choose? (Council Chair Rapozo was noted as present.) Mr. Sullivan: We are working through those details and one of the nice things is we can see the information as far as what the use was. So it is helpful to start to determine that. But we have not gotten far enough where we are encouraging people to use the hybrid, especially the Prius and electric vehicles, as much as possible. Initial results are actually the usage of the electrics has gone way up partly because put a lot of effort into training people and getting them comfortable. You would not think that there is a lot difference. As a technology person myself, I just think it is all the same, but when I talk to people, I realize people have some apprehension about it. It is very new thing. That had gone up. As far as whether there will be policy specifically, that is foreseeable, but our hope April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 53 is that we can just work through encouraging initially first and seeing how that goes and then we will make determinations from there. Councilmember Kuali`i: You had budget $30,000 last year, but nothing this year. Last year was to install the equipment? Mr. Sullivan: That is not correct actually. We will be come back in the supplemental budget to add that back in. That was an oversight in terms of which Department was going to go to. Councilmember Kuali`i: I was wondering how you are going to manage that. Okay, so we are expecting to see something. Thank you. (Councilmember Hooser was noted as not present.) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: On your electric vehicle charging stations, your goal seems only directed to the 5 public County-owned public chargers. Have you not started a user's group and are you not looking at the larger issues around the island with electric chargers? Is that not part of your goal to expand islandwide usage of electric vehicles? Mr. Sullivan: At this point, we are really focusing a lot on internal County operations and that is just a bandwidth issue. Yes. In fact, we just recently had a user group meeting. The first one, I believe, it was April 7th. So, we had about a dozen people at Convention Hall to discuss issues around electric vehicle charging and electric vehicle use. So, we do intend to follow-up on that and to try to find the best ways to promote greater adoption of electric vehicles, yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Certainly the electric chargers are key because without them, people could not use cars. Some of the issues you are looking at for County chargers like broken chargers and ant-infested chargers, those issues are islandwide and you are convening a user groups. Certainly they are not just going to tell about the 5 County chargers. Mr. Sullivan: No. Councilmember Yukimura: I guess I am asking whether your office sees it as a really natural scope to expand it to electric chargers around the island and how they function and how they support electric car use. Mr. Sullivan: So that was certainly a big part of the discussion in our first meeting. Councilmember Yukimura: I bet. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 54 Mr. Sullivan: I imagine it will continue to be. The split that you have is, I think, an obvious one in that electric car users like the security provided by public chargers, but the reality, there not a viable business model for those. The users will say, "Put in more chargers." But then the site owners say, "They do not pay for themselves." So we need to figure out how to work out that chicken and egg problem. I think is going on all across the Country. For example, a Level 3 public charger cost a considerable amount. Let us just say for conversation's sake it is $50,000. That capital is very difficult to recover from the site owner's perspective, yet the user may think I would love to have one there, I may never use it, but it makes me feel comfortable to drive that far out of the island and to drive back. It is a little bit of a conundrum, but that is exactly why we have the user group. It is part of the conversation and then one of the things we want to do as well is really actively engage site owners and try to figure out, how do bring those two interests together. Perhaps grant-funding or other ways and increase the infrastructure for electric vehicles. Councilmember Yukimura: There is a law that says that if you have more than...maybe I should make this another conversation. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I am going to take a 10 minute caption break too, if there are no further conversation, Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Alright, thank you. (Councilmember Hooser was noted as present.) Committee Chair Kaneshiro: BC, we will take a 10 minute caption break. There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 3:30 p.m. The Committee reconvened at 3:43 p.m., and proceeded as follows: Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. We are still on Office of Economic Development and we are going through our grant list. We just finished up "energy." If we have further questions on energy? No? Oh, Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: What is the retro commissioning of the Civic Center? That is in your budget. Mr. Sullivan: That is not in the forward-looking budget. That was listed as an accomplishment for this year Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Sullivan: We had a consultant look at both the existing chiller plant and also at measures that we could take throughout the Civic Center to reduce energy. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, and you did actually give projected energy savings as I recall, somewhere. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 55 Mr. Sullivan: That is correct. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Then what is your Consultant Services? Maybe this is a question for George or Nalani. $30,000? Is that the one that will go to your... Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura,which number are you looking at? Councilmember Yukimura: I am sorry. It is on page 71 of our budget. It is the second line item on page 71. Mr. Costa: Initially we were looking at bringing in consulting services for some of these projects, but that line item could be eliminated. Councilmember Yukimura: Could be eliminated? Mr. Costa: Well, not eliminated. But that is where some of the costs of the Motor pool could be used. Councilmember Yukimura: What are those costs for the Motor Pool? Mr. Sullivan: For the motor pool? Councilmember Yukimura: Well, this Consultant Services line item of $30,000, I just asked what the anticipated use was? George was saying maybe Motor Pool. Mr. Costa: Well we forget to put in $30,000 for the Motor Pool, but Nalani also reminded me that this is a line item for the sports marketing component of our budget. Councilmember Yukimura: That is not in your tourism? Mr. Costa: What is that? Councilmember Yukimura: It is not in your tourism. Mr. Costa: No. It is separate marketing entity. Councilmember Yukimura: What kind of sports marketing are we talking about? Mr. Costa: If you look at one of our slides, that is where Art Umezu, our Film Commissioner, is not going to be doing sports marketing in sister-cities. So, we are looking at needing some funding to look at that aspect. I had mentioned that earlier in the presentation about expanding the role of looking at our Japanese market, looking at the sports entities, and seeing if we can bring back some of the professional and April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 56 semiprofessional sporting teams, as well as on the cultural aspect, and how we can develop that market. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Page 31 of the PowerPoint. It was page 31. Mr. Costa: Of the sister-cities. Councilmember Yukimura: Is that something that would give us a good return on investment? Mr. Costa: We think so. There has been professional teams from Japan in the past, but nobody has really cultivated that market. They have come to visit. I know we had spring training for one of the professional baseball team. So, we are looking at that being another economic opportunity for Kaua`e especially with our relationship with Japan and we could also look at other Countries as well, Korea or China. Councilmember Yukimura: So has anybody put pen to paper, and shown how much we could generate? Mr. Costa: We have done some initial work on that with Art because he is familiar with the Japanese, looking at some goals and deliverables from that aspect. Councilmember Yukimura: I think the Managing Director wants to say something. Ms. Nakamura: Yes. Nadine Nakamura, Managing Director. You may recall a couple of years ago, we also did a feasibility study. Actually, it was a study looking at all of the different sporting events on this island and the potential for additional sporting events. This was done by I think, it was SSFM International Research. Councilmember Yukimura: Yes. Ms. Nakamura: One of the things that we wanted Art to do was because we have many cultural exchanges with our sister-cities, is when we are doing these exchanges, to really work at getting their youth groups to come to Kauai. We are thinking there are certain tournaments on this island where it would be great to have an international presence. Some of the youth baseball tournaments come to mind. They are very successful events and the idea would be to try to get the youth to come and when the youth come, their parents and grandparents come to the island. The idea is to identify several of these tournaments where we can involve our sister-cities to participate at both the cultural level but at the sporting level and to bring additional visitors to the island. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Going through the list,we are on workforce events and activities for $5,000, if anybody has questions on that. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 57 Councilmember Yukimura: Where? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We are still going through the grant list. I know we skipped back to the budget on the Consultant Services. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. I am sorry. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I am working through the grant list. Workforce events and activities was $5,000. If there are no questions on that, we will move to Sustainability. Any questions on Sustainability? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: You have an increase Leed Certified Buildings. Have we documented the energy savings from our Kaiakea Station? I think I asked that when the firemen were here and I was told, I thin, to ask it here. Mr. Sullivan: We provided information last year on the energy use at Kaiakea, I believe, as well as the photovoltaic system. We did not go into near as much detail this year in our presentation, but if you would like, we could provide that information again. Councilmember Yukimura: But there was a dramatic drop in use of energy from a leed Building versus if it had not been a building? Mr. Sullivan: No. I believe that we are visiting a conversation that we had again, last year. Obviously, that station uses more energy than other stations and there is a lot of reasons for that. In that case, the leed certification of the building did not directly indicate substantially less energy use because again, the building types are very different as opposed to had we had 2 building on the same site, then we would have an apt comparison, but we did not have that. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, if you want to increase leed certified Buildings, what is the end goal here? I am thinking at least they would save energy or something positive that would make us want to increase leed buildings. Mr. Sullivan: Certainly that is one of the things that you often get as a result of leed certified buildings, but the leed certification system for buildings is on a point basis. So, where you get points is what you drive you to saving. For example, if you do focus on energy and environment, which is the category that lead to energy savings, then yes. I believe that the savings would follow substantially. There are obviously a whole host of other areas within leed certified buildings that provide benefit as well. They are not necessarily tied to energy. I am not sure if I am answering your question, but I am trying to. Councilmember Yukimura: If this is one of our goals, again,what is the return on investment? I was assuming by promoting leed certified buildings, we are lessening our energy use, decreasing our solid waste generation, so forth and so forth. But if it is not really getting those results because I heard of 2 other leed buildings on this island were the electric costs are sky-high, the why make it a goal? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 58 Mr. Sullivan: Personally, I would definitely advocate for more leed buildings and believe, in fact, you do realize significant savings in general. It is very difficult to make a full and complete analysis when you have one or two examples. There are certainly studies that show that leed buildings deliver significant energy savings over other comparable buildings, but that gets into a sample size that is large enough to really be representative whereas in this case, I think what we are discussing is a fire station and perhaps another building. I am not familiar with which one you are referring to. Councilmember Yukimura: Alright. On the Kekaha Methane Development, we have completes Phase I of the feasibility study? Mr. Sullivan: That is same study I indicated previously. We provided you with an estimate of 3 to 6 weeks to give you the final. Councilmember Yukimura: I thought that was the Lihu`e Wastewater Facility Anaerobic Digestion. That is the same study? Mr. Sullivan: That is the same study because they are interrelated. Councilmember Yukimura: Excuse me. Okay. Thank you. It makes sense to make it part of one study. Thank you. Mr. Sullivan: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions regarding the sustainability category? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: In your community energy planning, what is the end result? What is the outcome or the product? Mr. Sullivan: Can you tell me which slide you are referring to? Councilmember Yukimura: I am looking at your page 15 of your budget submittal. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This is the budget submittal we received. Mr. Costa: Oh, the narrative. Committee Chair Kaneshiro; The budget narrative, March 27th. We are on page 15. Councilmember Yukimura: Under Community Energy Planning. Mr. Sullivan: There has been a number of items that have been really important in here, but slow moving one of which is mentioned in in Objective 8.4, and April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 59 that is the on-bill financing mechanism, which we are very excited about, but has taken a lot of time to develop with the Hawaii PUC. So that program, once it comes out, we hope KIUC would adopt it and we would be working with KIUC on that. That would really provide funding and help people to implement a lot of efficiencies. So that is one. Councilmember Yukimura: Do you remember that I said the Hawaii Environmental Report said that on-bill finance willing not apply to solar water heaters? Mr. Sullivan: I did read the article you referred to the last time and that was referring to the (Inaudible) Program, which is a component of on-bill financing, but the complete program has not been rolled out yet. So, there is really 2 separate components. I do not want to get into a lot of detail on it right now. One is more regulated and one is more based on State funding and capital. I believe that the initial rollout will be fairly limited and maybe that is what they were referring to because it is a very complex program, but the intent is to broaden it. It would not be limited to only, I think you were saying photo voltaic systems or are you only saying hot water systems? I am not sure. Councilmember Yukimura: Only non-profits? That is just for the first few months' rollout. Councilmember Yukimura: So we do not have to wait another two years for another on-bill financing program like we have been waiting for the last five years? Mr. Sullivan: We may. I am not sure what leverage we have to accelerate the process. That is with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and they are the ones who are leading that effort and it involves the utilities as well. Certainly, we are pushing for it and advocating for it, but we are not in a position to dictate when that program will be applicable. Councilmember Yukimura: So you will not be able to do anything until you see what the frame work for is, right? So you may not have anything to do this year if they are not going to release or issue their guidelines for doing it? Mr. Sullivan: That is possible that it would slow us down, yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Does everybody know what on-bill financing is? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Not really and I was thinking it is not an item in the budget per se, right? It is just an objective of the Department. We could have the discussion another time also, on the on-bill financing program. Councilmember Yukimura: Can you make that a note so we can actually have a discussion? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for the Sustainability? If not we will move on to Promotion Materials/Commercial Support. Any questions regarding April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 60 Commercial Support Section? Economic Plan Implementation for KEDB? Any questions on that item? Councilmember Yukimura: What is that? You mean, the business plan competition? Mr. Costa: It is part of it. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: $50,000. Mr. Costa: Part of it, one of the many programs that Susan will be engaged in. Councilmember Yukimura: Economic Plan Implementation, can somebody explain that? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: On page 29 of our PowerPoint presentation, it has a list of things that are included in that. Mr. Costa: What this is, the funds here go to KEDB, and they are our partner in the implication of the CEDS. So, any of the CEDS projects like the Creative Technology Center, like the Commercial Kitchen Business Incubator, and like the Business Plan Competition, these are funds that go to KEDB to help implement these projects. The actual grants that we have for the projects like the Creative Technology Center, goes straight to the consultant. KEDB does not take any administration fee for those projects. Councilmember Yukimura: There has been no mention of the Arts Center work and that is ongoing. I do not think there is anything in the budget. I mean Alan Tang said 120 people showed up at the north shore meeting and he had a wonderful meeting in `Ele`ele the other day as well. I am going to ask for a progress report on that and is that not part of economic plan implementation? Mr. Costa: Well,for this budget cycle,when we spoke to Alan, we wanted to know where we are with this plan and it is still information-gathering. So, we decided to not fund it this budget go-around, but we will get the details of what he has come up with once the grant is completed and then look at how we move forward during the next budget cycle. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. That is fine. It is just I think it should be included as a list of projects that is ongoing. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry. Are talking about the technology center? Councilmember Yukimura: No. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, okay. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 61 Councilmember Yukimura: It is another project that we funded last year and he is working with a group of artists to see how they can generate economic growth or businesses from the arts industry. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i, you had a follow-up question? Councilmember Kuali`i: It is a jump-back question. Councilmember Yukimura, do you have any more questions regarding KEDB $50,000 line item? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I am sorry. The line item that is "Emerging Industry Support,"the slide shows a whole bunch of events and activities and you highlighted the Hawaiian on the hill showcasing our Kaua`i products with the chamber. Are those items that were funded by the County this past year? Mr. Costa: Right under that line item. Councilmember Kuali`i: Under that line item. So $15,000 is not a lot of money, but what is available to who and how? Mr. Costa: Basically again, the Emerging Industries, $15,000 is there. Like when we were going through the budget process now, anybody that has come forward ahead of time, we have put in our budget. During the course of the fiscal year, sometimes there is a group that might come forward and say, "We need help with our project or event" and these are funds that we use to help them achieve that. They do apply through our County grant application process, we review it, we look at their budget, we look at the intent of the program or the event and then if it meets our approval, then we fund it. Councilmember Kuali`i: Do you have one grant application process for the Office of Economic Development? Mr. Costa: For the County grants, we do. Councilmember Kuali`i: For County grants? Mr. Costa: Yes, we have a County form. Nalani, through HTA, has an HTA process. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay. Like I was asking earlier, it would be interesting to see it all listed out, and maybe see a couple of years of information of what has been available, who it has been given to, what we have gotten in return, and what is available in the New Year. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: We will move forward. Any questions on the CEDS line items? Councilmember Kuali`i. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 62 Councilmember Kuali`i: I just had a quick one on this Business Plan Competition. I know I was in it myself many years ago with my two sisters. We were in the entrepreneurial class. Was this something that died and nobody funded it and so the County decided to revive it? Is that why we are putting up $15,000? Mr. Costa: Yes, actually we were part of it again with our partner, Kauai Economic Development Board. It did, for lack of a better term, it did the when Susan left KEDB and now she is back is interested in spearheading that again. Councilmember Kuali`i: I actually would like to see and hope and I bet Susan will make it happen going forward, that we find partners again like the Chamber and KCC itself, other than just making the place available. I do not know, and maybe business sponsors and non-profit sponsors. This is not a lot of money, but I do not believe we should pay for it all. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I believe Kauai Coffee was a large sponsor on that. Mr. Costa: Yes. The County was a minority sponsor actually. Kaua`i Coffee and a lot of the businesses did come forward and funded that event. Councilmember Kuali`i: When you figure that all out, let us know so we can see our line item go down and their donations go up. Mr. Costa: Alright. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on the CEDS? Other questions on Keiki to Career? What is that? Mr. Costa: The Keiki to Career is a program that Diane Zachary with Kaua`i Planning & Action Alliance started several years ago. As I mentioned, it looked at the development of a child from birth until when they go into their working career. It is a very worthy event and like the Workforce Investment Board, involves many organizations within our community. From County's perspective, we want to support Diane and her initiatives in the Keiki to Career program. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I guess for me, it is $50,000. When you say, "birth to career," I am thinking are going to need to fund this thing? Are we watching a child all the way through? What are the deliverables of the project, I guess, and how long will we continue to need to fund it? Mr. Costa: Do you want to go ahead? Ms. Brun: Per Diane Zachary, she says they are in year 3 of a navigation plan. They have a navigation plan and so this would be the final year for what April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 63 they are doing now which is monitoring through their programs. They have managed to leverage and get $98,000 in addition to the money that was given to them. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They are going to be presenting some type of document to us as far as what the results are? Ms. Brun: Yes, they have a youth report. The youth report comes out each year they do it and they keep updating it as they go through the three year period. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. When did we start funding and how much have we... Mr. Brun: 2012 was when it started and then they started a 3 year navigation plan after that. Council Chair Rapozo: It is $50,000, $50,000, and $50,000? Is this the third? Ms. Brun: This is the third. Council Chair Rapozo: $50,000? So, we have $150,000 invested? Ms. Brun: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: What was the deliverable? Ms. Brun: Each year they do a youth report to let us know how children and youth are making it from keiki to actually getting to career. So, they are looking at almost longitudinal of children on Kauai and how they are progressing towards careers versus not careers, I guess. Council Chair Rapozo: How is that information derived? Mr. Costa: Part of this group that Diane has put together, committee or task force,is comprised as I mentioned the best example would be the Workforce Investment Board where you have the Department of Education and different service organizations that work with youth. They meet and they look at all of the indicators throughout a child's life. They are developing a report and a program that hopefully can be used by the community to improve the situation with our youth. Council Chair Rapozo: Does the State not do something similar? Mr. Costa: I know the State is involved with this program. I am not sure if there is a separate program. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 64 Council Chair Rapozo: You said they were able to leverage some moneys? Mr. Costa: Additional funds from other organizations. Council Chair Rapozo: How much for this project? Mr. Costa: I am not too sure what the other organizations have... Ms. Brun: It is $98,000 which was reported in the last grant cycle. Council Chair Rapozo: For last year? Ms. Brun: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: So, she raised $98,000. So, this project cost $148,000. Ms. Brun: $150,000. Last year she had $98,000 and I do not have the numbers for the years from before that. Council Chair Rapozo: Who gets this report and who uses this report? Does the County use this report at all? Mr. Costa: No. We get the report. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, I have plenty in my office that never sees the light of day. I am just trying to figure out if there is a return on investment, I guess, is what I am trying to figure out. It just seems that this data, that there may be other agencies that provide the same service. I am not sure, same study. I do not know. Ms. Brun: Part of your workforce gang, they have a young services program or committee that is part of Ka`eo's overview, who she watches over. I know that they synergistically work together. So, the report comes out and they are all kind of sharing the information and all the different programs. Ka`eo's part will be actually to work with the employers after that and then Diane's part is more working with parents, schools, and Parent, Teacher, Student Associations (PTSAs). She is trying to work from that level and then Ka`eo in the workforce area, is trying to prep it for what is coming up the pipe. So, it is just part of a very large process to help our keiki get further in life. Mr. Costa: Also involved is Theresa Koki with Life's Choices and the carious organizations because some of the youth end up in correctional facilities. So, again, it is looking at that facet of a child's life and making recommendations. Council Chair Rapozo: Well, I guess for me, I just want to see where the return on investment for the County is. Are we doing work that the State is doing or April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 65 somebody else is doing? Is the product benefiting someone else? The County is funding it. Is there a duplication of efforts? That is kind of what I see. I do not know. I probably got a copy of the report, but I do not know if in fact, County is using that because we have Life's Choices. We have an array of programs that look at the same type of information. The DOE and the State does a study with the kids. I mean, I am assuming there are many. I just want to make sure as we go in and try to refine this budget, that we are not spending money that we do not need to spend. That is just one that I do not see the value for the County. That just me that is just my opinion. I do not see that report being used. $50,000 is a lot of money when we are tight. I just want to make sure that we are getting a return. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think I have the same concerns. What do we do with this? We are paying all of this money for this report and once we have the report, what do we do with the report? Are we going to have to fund more money to do what the report says? I am not sure where it goes or if it is really our responsibility to follow through with report and try to connect these kids with jobs. For me, it is a little hard to kind of understand where we are going with the report. Any further questions? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just had some similar concerns along the lines of...is this directly under Ka`eo in Workforce Development because she has a youth council. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Kuali`i: And the board. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Kuali`i: But it is not anything to do with that? Mr. Costa: They are a part of Keiki to Career, but this does not fall under workforce development. Councilmember Kuali`i: Does the Mayor's Office also have a Youth Advisory Task Force or some youth group? Mr. Costa: Not that I am aware of, but Theresa Koki, like Ka`eo is part of Keiki to Career. But this is not her program. Ms. Brun: Basically the funds pay for KPAA to go out and kind of gather the bodies. All of these different people working on these different issues to do with youth, they need to be brought together to have an actual cohesive plan. That is pretty much what she is doing. She is trying to come up with those 26 youth indicators. And actually, they do the print of the report so that all of these groups she has gathered together has something to work from so everybody is kind of on the same page. Councilmember Kuali`i: If it is along the lines of youth development, prevention, and whatever all of these different pieces, is it really something that the County April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 66 has to fund or can we support a group that goes out for funding for that work because is there not funding available for that whether it be Federal funding or State funding? Ms. Brun: I am sure there is. There is always grant funding out there. Councilmember Kuali`i: I think Theresa would know about some of what is available. In some ways one of my confusion is too, is that it seems the whole Keiki to Career thing maybe should be under Life's Choices and not the Office of Economic Development. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: This whole conversation in the context of economic development and cutting agriculture and other programs like that, it is hard to understand when the choice was made to cut things, why some of these other programs were not either marginally reduced to retain the agricultures rather than cut a major element of our economic development in the County. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? Council Chair Rapozo: Just one. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: It involves this funding, but more than that, all of the rest. When we have a report back from these agencies of how the money was spent, do we get a report back from whoever runs the grants that we give out of how they spent the money? Ms. Brun: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: We do? Ms. Brun: A final report, yes, line itemed all the way down. Council Chair Rapozo: I that would help. I guess Mr. Kuali`i has asked for some information and if that could be added on, I would appreciate that. If you could just submit the final grant report so we see if it is salaries or lunches. I do not know. I do not know what it gets us. Mr. Costa: Part of the grant application process and requirements is that when the grant is approved, they receive funds to get the project or activity started and then in order for them to receive final payment, then the deliverables are required like a report and a financial statement. Once we receive that, then they get the final payment. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 67 Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. I guess I would like to see out of$50,000, what went where and pretty much for all the big grants that we provide. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I apologize for going backwards. This is not to pick on KPAA, but I have question on the Visitor Industry Plan Monitoring. It is $24,000 to KPAA and is this a yearly thing that they do? Ms. Brun: The plan that we are working on right now, we should be finished by June. The one thing we have learned is that if you do not monitor a plan, it just kind of is that little dusty thing on the shelf. What we are doing, which she is very good at, is she just keeps looking at those goals that we have set for the visitor industry and see how close we are getting to it. Besides that, she has to keep convening us over and over to make sure that one of us is assigned to one of projects and that we get it done. So, that is basically what the monitoring is. It is helping us make sure that we implement what our goals and strategies are and get to the end of the project. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This was the plan that the County already developed and it is just following through? Ms. Brun: We are developing it now. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, this is to develop it? Ms. Brun: Actually, we are updating the Visitor Industry Plan, which ran from 2006-2015. Now we are just right now doing an update. We did not do a whole brand-new plan because things have not changed all that much. We are only doing it for three years. So the monitoring will take place the next three years. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This is the first year of monitoring? Ms. Brun: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Again, I guess my question, what is the deliverable? This may be something we may need a presentation on later, but with this information, what does to do? How does it help us? How does it steer us in a direction and what is it going to cost Lis in the future? It says we need to spend more money on advertising, then obviously it is going to affect us. We just spent money on a plan that tells to us spend more money on something. Nadine. Ms. Nakamura: Nadine Nakamura, Managing Director. All really good points, Chair. The plan was initially done by Hawaii Tourism Authority and it was funded actually, when I was on the Hawaii Tourism Authority because it is interesting that the major industry on our island and yet there is no roadmap for how to improve upon it, fix the problems that we have, and try to make it a more desirable visitor destination. The plan was developed. The problem is that if you do not bring all of the stakeholders together who normally do not talk to each other, then you do not work together to try to solve these problems. So that is what this convening of all the different stakeholders from County, State, April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 68 and the public-private sector to address what is in the plan. I think it would be a good idea at the appropriate time to convene and brief the Council probably in a Committee Meeting, on what has been done and what the improvements that have been made. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I guess my question is, is this money necessary? Is it necessary to continue this or are we able to step back a year and say, "We are trying to tighten our budget and maybe this money does not need to be spent this year and maybe continue on with it next year?" Ms. Brun: I would say that the first year after a plan is probably the most important year because we have finally got it, it is fresh, and we know exactly what we are doing. When you walk away from it, which is kind of what happened with the old plan. After one year, everything has changed and you have moved so far in the wrong directions sometimes that you cannot come back to the start. If anything, I think the first year is probably the most important year of monitoring. Mr. Costa: Some of the components that you are looking at is infrastructure, vacation rentals, Bed & Breakfast (B&B), and everything that relates to the visitor industry is what is being looked at again and seeing how we can the industry can hopefully address some of those problems as we move along. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think we may need an update on the plan because it seems like it goes together with a lot of things we have already been meeting on as far as transportation. We have the Planning Department going through their whole planning maps. I do not know. If we are already working on these and this plan comes out later and it says something different, than I do not know what we do. Ms. Brun: We do have Planning members on the Tourism Strategic Planning Committee. Tourism can be a hot issue, especially when it comes to agricultural tourism or B&Bs and Transient Vacation Rentals (TVRs). So it is all part of the mix. We are making sure we are in touch with everybody that is involved. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions on this item? Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: The report, the deliverable for this, and we are going back to the Keiki to Career, is this the Kaua`i youth report, is that what the deliverable is? I am just on their website... Ms. Brun: The Tourism Strategic Plan? Council Chair Rapozo: I do not know. I am just looking at this. It says "Keiki to Career Kauai 2014 Report, Indicators of Achievement, Health, and Well-Being? Ms. Brun: Oh, yes. That is the KPAA... April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 69 Council Chair Rapozo: That is the deliverable? That is what we pay $50,000 for? Ms. Brun: Well, there is the hard copy and things that we have. Council Chair Rapozo: But this is it? Ms. Brun: That is the youth report. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. I do not know if you folks have read this, but I am reading it right now. It is just a compilation of data that comes from the State, which is what I suspected. But I never did look at report. I encourage everybody to look at this because that is what it does. It just basically takes the data from the DOE or the State School Readiness Assessment and then it just compiles it. I guess my point is, I will do this for $40,000. I think you get my point. Ms. Brun: I get your point. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? We are almost done with CEDS and then we have the YWCA, which we spoke about briefly before lunch. Do we have any questions for YWCA? If not, we will go back to open it up for questions on the financials or if there is anything that we may have missed, I would like to get through it today. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Just a basic position question. I may have missed it earlier. Position No. 9219, Economic Development Accountant. It says 56% after it. Does that mean 56% is paid out of General Fund and 44% is paid out of some grant? Mr. Costa: Grants, HTA and Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Councilmember Kuali`i: HTA and? Mr. Costa: The WIA Workforce Investment Act. Councilmember Kuali`i: In both cases the likelihood of the continuation of the grant is super high? Mr. Costa: So far. Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Kuali`i: Okay, that is the only position question I had. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 70 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the members? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: On your Kaua`i EBT program $50,000, what exactly have we done with that this year? Mr. Costa: Well, for the EBT program helps to pay most of it for the monitor, the person that goes into the EBT program, plus the tokens that are manufactured, and also the education that they do with the farmers and EBT recipients, mileage, traveling to the various Sunshine Markets. Councilmember Yukimura: It pays for one position to make sure that at the Sunshine Markets, people can use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to purchase fresh produce? Mr. Costa: Actually there are 5 positions. The Director, you have more than one EBT monitor because some days they cover 2 markets. Obviously, they are all paid on a casual part-time basis, but we are talking about 5 individuals. Councilmember Yukimura: And they handle cash then? Mr. Costa: No. They have their EBT machines and that is one of the things that took so long when we first implemented the program to wait for the USDA to provide them with those machines. A SNAP recipient will come to the market with their card, they will swipe the card like a credit card machine, it registers a dollar amount, say $20 or $40, they get plastic tokens, and that is what they use to purchase their produce. Then at the end of the market, the farmers go and redeem the tokens with a check. Councilmember Yukimura: This is definitely, I think, something that we want to keep providing. I do recall that last year we had no program for a year, but now we have got the certification. So, we are covering 5 markets? Mr. Costa: Right, 5 markets. Let us see... Councilmember Yukimura: And there is a report that will be filed with us? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: When are these reports due? Ms. Brun: The end of the year, June. We are switching to a regular fiscal year schedule. Before, the agricultural grants were kind of going off at different time. So, what we are trying to do as parts of our reorganization is getting the grants to start in July and to end in June so that way we can end things and know when it start again. This year, Malama Kaua`i will finish up in June and since they got a start-date, what they are going to do is they are going use that extra money to pilot into some of the other markets that we know by the census has EBT users in the vicinity. So were we want to get them into some April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 71 of those markets like Kekaha and try see if there is use there. If there is, then we want to start blasting them into those markets next fiscal. We are not at all of the markets. They are not in all of the markets right now. Councilmember Yukimura: What is the $50,000 being used for? Is there a breakdown of what the $50,000 is used for? Ms. Brun: Yes. Mr. Costa: The 5 markets are Koloa, Kapa`a, Hanapepe, Illauea, and Lihu`e. Councilmember Yukimura: What is the $50,000 being used for? I mean, it there a breakdown of what the $50,000 is... Mr. Costa: Yes. Ms. Brun: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. There is going to be leftover money this year? Ms. Brun: Basically they started later, I think, November of last year. So we lost a couple of months. So what we are having them do with the money is try to pump into the markets that we have not tried over the last couple of months. So up through June, they are starting now and will do that through June and then we will start up again once we have all of the information about where the users are because we know there were not a lot of users in Koloa, but we know there are probably a lot of users in Kekaha. So we need them to shift now. They are getting extra bodies on board and they are just going to hit all of the markets and see if they can get some good data on where the users are. Councilmember Yukimura: They are not going to run out of money at the end of the year? Ms. Brun: Not this year. Councilmember Yukimura: No, I mean next year? Ms. Brun: We are kind of doing EBT on steroids right now trying to find every nook and cranny of where it might be since we have that little bit of extra money, and then they will go back to normal starting in July because then they will know where to go. Right now, they are just testing around. But since we have this extra money, we are going to push hard to find out why where exactly those users are. Councilmember Yukimura: These are just Sunshine Markets or are they supporting a lot of private markets? April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 72 Mr. Costa: No. Right now, they are just in the County's Sunshine Markets, but they have been approached to go into other markets, which they would contract separately. It would not be part of this County program. Councilmember Yukimura: The private non-County markets would be required to do their own support for EBT programs? Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So, the report for this fiscal year will be available shortly after June? Ms. Brun: Shortly after June. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the members on anything else? Council Chair Rapozo: What time is it? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: 4:30 p.m. Council Chair Rapozo: That is what I thought. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: The Na Pali Moku Project determine stewards for the Na Pali Moku, what is that? Ms. Brun: That might be a misprint. We already know who our Na Pali Moku stewards are. We have a group who is out there that takes care take of Nualolokai and now they are working in Honoku for restoration efforts. Councilmember Yukimura: That is (inaudible) folks. Ms. Brun: Yes. I am sorry. It is a mistake. Councilmember Yukimura: But we are funding some of that? Ms. Brun: Yes. We have open communications with them. So, when they have something that they need...I think for example, the Hokulea went out there one day. So, we helped them with the hosting of the Hokule`a because they wanted to do a cleanup effort at that point. So, we helped them with funding for that. Councilmember Yukimura: And that would come out of your... April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 73 Ms. Brun: The moku funds. Councilmember Yukimura: $40,000 Kauai Nui Kuapapa Place Name Signage? Ms. Brun: No. It would come out of $50,000, Tourism and Cultural Natural Resources. Councilmember Yukimura: I see, okay. That makes sense. Councilmember Kuali`i: It is called Hawaiian Cultural Projects. Councilmember Yukimura: HC, Other Projects? Ms. Brun: Yes, Hawaiian culture. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. I think that is it. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: My plan is that we are not going to do Call-Backs. We are going to try to get through all the questions today. I know it is 4:30 p.m. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just have this quick one here. There was a slide on the Mayor's Crime Task Force and Live Video Testimony Bill, Hawaii 24/7. Why would the Crime Task Force Bill be in here and was there other lobbying efforts like maybe for more HTA funding, for agrotourism support, or things like that? Mr. Costa: Well, as I mentioned, OED is basically the catch-all. So we do feral cat studies. (Council Chair Rapozo was noted at not present.) Mr. Costa: We do...you name it. The business community approached me back in 2009 because of the crime that was happening and the Mayor asked me to put together a crime task force. So, we have meeting since 2009. A lot of work we do with the Police Department, with Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, with all of the main business associations, and the Chambers and Filipino Chamber... Councilmember Kuali`i: Actually, I can stop you. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: I figured it out. Tourists. Our tourists are victims, they are traveling, and they do not have to come back. Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura: I have a follow-up. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 74 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Since we are not going to have Call-Backs, I just wanted to know more about the Hanapepe Salt Pond convening of stakeholders and so forth. I know you folks have been talking about the homeless and the impacts there. Has there been discussion on drainage and any other water related issues to the impact of the actual ponds? Mr. Costa: Actually, the Mayor and I have met. We are trying to meet with the various family members over the last 3 years. Former Council Chair Furfaro wanted to do a hydrology study and the Mayor sees that as important. But before we do anything, we wanted to get permission from the families. So, we have been meeting with the families only to find out there is some division and the hope is to have a meeting, bring everybody together because what we want to do is help with those issues, with the drainage, with the four wheel drives driving through the swale area, and looking at the Humane Society building as maybe a cultural center where we do not have to take people through the salt ponds. They could do an interactive thing in the building. So yes, to answer your question. We are looking at all of these items. I think we are at the point now where we can bring the families together and not say that we want to take over the area. We just want to help with their efforts and educate the rest of the community. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Hooser. Councilmember Hooser: Back to Councilmember Kuali`i's question about you supporting the Bill regarding tourism in the court system. Were you able to testify or support on any agricultural bills? I know there were several dealing with Kaua`i specific issues. Mr. Costa: There was the Kilauea/Moloa`a well was one that was made aware of and then with the east Kaua`i water users, again, going in for funds to help with the irrigation systems here on Kauai. Councilmember Hooser: Did you offer testimony on both of those? Mr. Costa: What is that? Councilmember Hooser: Did you offer testimony in support of both of those? Mr. Costa: No I did not. Councilmember Hooser: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 75 Councilmember Yukimura: Live Video Testimony Bill, is that still alive? Mr. Costa: No, it died. This was our second go-around and Amy Esaki was the County attorney working with the Prosecuting Office that helped us. Even our legislators told us that we just need to pursue like the Lifeguard Liability Bill. It took several tries to get that through the legislature. So, we are looking at our lobbying efforts again next year. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just want to go last. No. The one thing I did see and I wanted to bring to the right person's attention is that I realize that the islandwide agricultural park program that it is only $50,000, it is probably all going to Kilauea Agricultural Park this next year. But you are looking at Koolau, Puna, Kona, and the other areas as well. Under Koolau,you listed Anahola, Hawaiian homes, and the Anahola Farmers and Ranchers Association. I just want to put together the former Anahola Hawaiian lands fund is an association under Auntie Audrey Lu,has reformed as a (Inaudible) Farmers Hui and that they would be an appropriate group to include because it is not just the ranchers, but it is the actual farmers. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Your slide numberl0, page 10 on your workforce initiative you said that you are garnering a lot of Federal support. What does that mean? Mr. Costa: Meaning that we do get Federal moneys that come through the State Department of Labor. What we have done in the past year is actually working with the Federal regional office in San Francisco, Carol (Inaudible). There was a move by the State Department of Labor to do away with the local webs and keep everything on Oahu and Workforce Investment Boards. So, in working with the Federal agency where the funds come from, we have been able to get their support to influence the State Department of Labor to keep the Workforce Investment Boards at the County levels. Councilmember Yukimura: And the Workforce Investment Board is doing what? Mr. Costa: In each County, they are the agencies that help our Workforce Development Coordinator in looking at the various programs, to help in the adult and displaced workers and the youth programs, and they provide assistance and guidance. Within the Workforce Investment Board, there is at least 30 members that are April 13, 2015 Office of Economic Development (aa) Page 76 comprised of Department of Education, the unions, and financial institutions. They are all involved in looking at our workforce on the island and provide guidance and assistance. Councilmember Yukimura: There is a report on what they have accomplished? Mr. Costa: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Can you summarize? Mr. Costa: Basically, during the course of the year, they look at various projects working with Kaua`i Community College, working with the high schools, and students that have dropped out of school, they try to go back into an educational system with one of the providers that we have that work with the youth. For the adults displaced from their jobs, working with Kaua`i Community College on training programs to get them looking at another career. A good example was the solar farm in Anahola where the Workforce Investment Board was very instrumental working with KCC in a training program that trained, I believe, 40 individuals here locally to work on that job site. The trained them in photovoltaic technology. So, that is one example. If you wish, I can provide you with a list of various projects that they have been involved with. Councilmember Yukimura: That would be good. Mr. Costa: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura: It is impressive that there was training for that particular project need and that enabled local workers to get jobs and new skills. Mr. Costa: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions from the members? I guess I get to talk last because I get to recess the meeting. I want to thank you for being here. I know we had a lot of items, a lot of questions, and a lot of information to go over. I appreciate you folks being patient and answering all of our questions. I want to thank the members, as always, for coming with great questions. With that, I would like to recess the Departmental Budget Reviews. We will reconvene at 9:00 a.m. where we will hear from the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Transportation Agency, Office of the County Auditor, and the Agency on Elderly Affairs. There being no objections, the Committee recessed at 4:42 p.m.