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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/10/2019 Council minutes COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 10, 2019 The Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by Council Chair Arryl Kaneshiro at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at 8:50 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Arthur Brun Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Felicia Cowden Honorable Luke A. Evslin Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Excused: Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i JADE K. FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA, County Clerk: Councilmember Kuali`i is excused today. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, Councilmember Kuali`i is under the weather today and excused. Next item is the approval of the agenda. APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Councilmember Chock moved for approval of the agenda, as circulated, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on the agenda? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any discussion? The motion for approval of the agenda, as circulated, was then put, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: The motion is carried. Next item, please. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The next item is the Consent Calendar. COUNCIL MEETING 2 APRIL 10, 2019 CONSENT CALENDAR: C 2019-69 Communication (03/14/2019) from the Housing Director, transmitting for Council consideration, a Resolution Authorizing The Filing Of The Kaua`i County 2019 Action Plan (Community Development Block Grant) With The Department Of Housing And Urban Development, United States Of America, For A Grant Under Title I Of The Housing And Community Development Act Of 1974 And 1987 (Public Laws 93-383 And 100-242), As Amended. C 2019-70 Communication (03/15/2019) from the Housing Director, transmitting for Council consideration, a Resolution Authorizing The Filing Of The Kaua`i County 2019 Action Plan (HOME Investment Partnership Program) With The Department Of Housing And Urban Development, United States Of America, For A Grant Under Title II Of The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (Public Law 101-625), As Amended. C 2019-71 Communication (03/21/2019) from Council Chair Kaneshiro, providing written disclosure of a possible conflict of interest and recusal relating to Bill No. 2738, the Mayor's Proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 regarding the appropriation to Kaua`i Soil Conservation in the Department of Public Works — Grant-In-Aid, as he is a Director for the East Kaua`i Soil & Water Conservation District. C 2019-72 Communication (03/21/2019) from Council Chair Kaneshiro, providing written disclosure of a possible conflict of interest and recusal relating to Bill No. 2738, the Mayor's Proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 regarding the appropriation to Grove Farm (Puhi Metals Recycling) General Liability account in the Department of Finance — Administration and 800 MHz Radio Site Lease: Grove Farm appropriation in the Emergency Management Agency, as he is a Project Manager employed by Grove Farm Company, Inc. C 2019-73 Communication (03/21/2019) from Councilmember Kuali`i, providing written disclosure of a possible conflict of interest and recusal relating to Bill No. 2738, the Mayor's Proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 regarding the appropriation to Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Community Program in the Office of Economic Development — Administration, as he is the Director of Operations for the YWCA. C 2019-74 Communication (03/29/2019) from Councilmember Evslin, transmitting for Council consideration, a Resolution Supporting The Governor's Efforts In Urging The Bank Of America To Return To Hawai`i To Meet With Na Po`e Kokua And The Hawai`i Fair Lending Coalition To Reach A Settlement Agreement Relating To A $150,000,000 Loan Commitment For Native Hawaiians On Hawaiian Home Lands. COUNCIL MEETING 3 APRIL 10, 2019 C 2019-75 Communication (04/03/2019) from Councilmember Kuali`i, providing written disclosure of a possible conflict of interest and recusal relating to the YWCA of Kaua`i Disaster Preparedness Improvement Project in the Kaua`i County 2019 Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, as he is employed at by the YWCA of Kaua`i. Councilmember Chock moved to receive C 2019-69, C 2019-70, C 2019-71, C 2019-72, C 2019-73, C 2019-74, and C 2019-75 for the record, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on the Consent Calendar? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any discussion from the members? The motion to receive C 2019-69, C 2019-70, C 2019-71, C 2019-72, C 2019-73, C 2019-74, and C 2019-75 for the record was then put, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item. COMMUNICATIONS: C 2019-65 Communication (03/11/2019) from the Salary Commission, transmitting for the Council's information and consideration, the Salary Commission's Resolution No. 2019-1, Relating to the Salaries of Certain Officers and Employees of the County of Kaua`i, which was adopted by the Salary Commission at its March 7, 2019 meeting. • Salary Commission Resolution No. 2019-1 Council Chair Kaneshiro: May I have a motion? Any motion to get this on the floor. Councilmember Kagawa moved to reject C 2019-65 in whole, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Let me just say if anyone wants to testify on this, we will take testimony in the beginning. If you sign up, it will make it a lot more orderly. Right now, we have a member out, Councilmember Kuali`i. At the last meeting, Councilmember Brun was out and he could not make it to the meeting. COUNCIL MEETING 4 APRIL 10, 2019 Again, this is an issue where a minority vote wins. It is an issue where, I think, depending on where Councilmember Brun stands, we are going to be in a deadlock again. We are not going to be able to move the salary resolution anywhere without four (4) votes in any direction, so it would have to get deferred again. We have one more meeting to defer to and at that meeting, if there is no decision, then our time to decide on it will lapse, and the resolution will pass as-is. Do we have any questions from the members? We will take public testimony. There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: The first registered speaker is Michael Contrades. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Mr. Contrades, you know the rules. You have three (3) minutes. If you need more time, we are going to go through everyone, one round, and then you can have a second round of three (3) minutes. MICHAEL M. CONTRADES, Acting Chief of Police: I timed it just to make sure, so it is going to be under five (5) minutes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, you might have to stop at three (3) minutes and then come back. Mr. Contrades: Okay, just let me know when to stop. Council Chair Kaneshiro: The light will return red. Mr. Contrades: Good morning, Honorable Council Chair Kaneshiro and Honorable Members of the County Council. For the record, Michael Contrades, Acting Chief of Police for the Kaua`i Police Department. I am here to testify in support of the Department Head pay raises and more specifically, a pay raise for the Chief of Police. However, before doing so, I want to make it clear to you and to the community that my efforts today are not self-serving. A year ago, I decided to retire from the Police Department when I made twenty-five (25) years of service. It was a decision that I have toiled with for quite some time. After serious consideration and consultation with my family, I intend to retire effective July 1, 2019. Knowing this, I did not apply for the position of Chief of Police, something I have aspired to for many years. There are many reasons for the decision, taking a reduction in pay for greater amount of responsibility was a factor, albeit small. As the Acting Chief of Police for the past year and the Deputy Chief of Police for the previous six (6) years, I am in a unique position to provide testimony and perspective on the matter of inversion and how it affects those that hold the position. In 2011, I was asked by now retired Chief Darryl Perry to be the Deputy Chief of Police. I accepted the position knowing I would have to take a reduction in pay when COUNCIL MEETING 5 APRIL 10, 2019 you include overtime and premium pay that I would have received had I remained a Captain. My reason for doing so was altruistic in nature, as I wanted to help move our Department forward and affect positive change to the organization and service to the people of Kaua`i. During the first three (3) years as Deputy Chief of Police, we estimated that I gave up approximately one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) plus in pay. Both Chief Perry and I worked long hours and weekends without compensation. While initially it did not matter, over time it became difficult to accept the amount of responsibility and stress that came with the job, and the fact that subordinates were making a great deal more with less responsibility. Arguments have been made that Department Heads should feel privileged to serve, and I fully agree. It is truly an honor and privilege to serve the people of Kaua`i, but that argument does not negate the fact that there is a great deal more responsibility placed on Department Heads compared to subordinates and that the buck stops with the Department Head, or in our case, the Chief of Police. In yesterday's Garden Island newspaper article, "Raises sound wrong, but they are right;" the author Allan Parachini stated, "The Honolulu Police Chief makes one hundred ninety-eight thousand eight hundred forty dollars ($198,840) and the Maui Chief makes one hundred fifty-five thousand seven hundred thirty-six dollars ($155,736)." The proposal for the Kaua`i Police Chief is one hundred thirty-seven thousand two dollars ($137,002). Some may argue that there are more officers to supervise and more calls and people to service, means the other island Chiefs should be paid more. I believe that thought process is flawed. Having been in the Chiefs Office for the last seven (7) years, I can tell you that the Kaua`i Police Chief does a great deal of work because of the lack of support staff we have that the other islands enjoy. At the very least, the Kaua`i Chief of Police should be paid similarly to the other islands. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Mr. Contrades, that is your first three (3) minutes. Mr. Contrades: Okay. Council Chair Kaneshiro: We will take more testimony and then you can come back. Mr. Contrades: Thank you. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Mauna Kea Trask. MAUNA KEA TRASK: Aloha, Honorable Chair and County Councilmembers. For the record, citizen Mauna Kea Trask. Thank you for this opportunity today. I just want to speak as you know...like Acting Chief Contrades said, Mr. Parachini wrote an excellent article about inversion and salary comparables to the other counties and positions under consideration of the Salary Commission. Mayor Kawakami wrote I think in today's paper that he has a conservative executive COUNCIL MEETING 6 APRIL 10, 2019 plan regarding implementation of the raises. He is not going to give them immediately. He is going to have people fulfill a year of service and they have to comply with certain benchmarks or whatever he more articulately said than me, which is what to expect. Everyone is always saying, "Run the County like a business;" it is being run like a business. I know you are getting pushback and I know you are concerned. You do not want to look politically like you are giving away a lot of money, but what the public needs to understand, and I am speaking from experience, is that these raises are necessary. It is very hard to recruit for people to come to Kauai. It is extremely hard to retain. If you do not give these raises, you are not allowing the Executive Branch the necessary salary cap space to get, recruit, incentivize, and retain the right people. Councilmember Kagawa and I worked together in the County for nine and one half(9%) years. Every single one of those years the issue has always been landfill. Why is it still there? Why is it still getting bigger? Why have we not come up with a solution? It is frankly because, and now I can say it, you have the same people doing the same thing for the same amount of money. The County is not bad. The County of Kaua`i government is not bad. It is not a question of how come the County is so terrible. The actual question is, how is it actually so good in spite of everything? This organization should be way worse. I have seen it firsthand for nine and one half(9%) years. I do not know how this County has served as well as it has because it should not be. If you look at what society deems valuable, you have baseball players making twice as much as this County's budget annually. How do we incentivize that? I have all of these kids behind me, I do not know why they are here, and I am glad they are here. I will tell you one half(%) of them want to be Instagram influencers. They do not want to be sitting there. They do not want to be Engineers, they do not want to get a Master's Degree. I see that I am running out of time. All I can say is do not be "penny wise and pound foolish." With someone creative, they can figure out these solutions for pennies on the dollar because change orders cost more than bodies. Finally, you cannot deny your County Clerk and Deputy salary raises. I am sorry, but in all honesty and you know this, this whole Legislative Branch breaks down, and these are the best that you have ever had. Thank you very much. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar. JUSTIN F. KOLLAR, Prosecuting Attorney: Hi, good morning, aloha. For the record, Justin Kollar, Prosecuting Attorney. I am here to testify in support of this Resolution and in support of all three (3) parts of this Resolution, in fact. I can attest from my perspective and my experience as an executive running the largest law firm in the County of Kaua`i, that recruiting and retaining talent at a professional-level is something that any employer will tell you is difficult in this County. So when I look at how I get sixteen (16) topnotch attorneys to come work here on this island, to go into court every day, and to do the work of protecting our community; we have to recruit and retain the very best talent. When those graduates are coming out of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law and are looking at where they want go and where they want to get their couple years of experience in COUNCIL MEETING 7 APRIL 10, 2019 the courtroom, they can look at a couple of things. One of the things that they look at is, where am I going to be able to afford to live? If they look at Kaua`i and they say, "I can make one hundred nine thousand dollars ($109,000) or I could go to Hawai`i County and make one hundred thirty thousand dollars ($130,000)," these are people that are paying one thousand dollars ($1,000) a month in student loan interest. They have paid for three (3) years of education and training at their own expense that they are going to paying for, for the next twenty (20) to thirty (30) years. I know that my colleague Mr. Bracken shares the same issues in his Department. None of these employees are getting rich or living high off the hog. We are all driving the same old cars and we are all eating at Jack in the Box. We just want to come here, protect the community, and work for the people of this County. For me to be able to put that topnotch talent in the courtroom to support the fine work that Chief Contrades and his people do, and everyone else does to help protect the community, we need to be able to compete for that talent. If we do not compete, we will be left in the dust. That is all I have to say about that. On another note, I do believe that because this motion would take...you need five (5) votes to reject this motion, any motion to approve that gets three (3) votes, I think you can move this today. That is my perspective on that. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Aloha. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: There are no further registered speakers. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to speak? Yes, Mr. Castillo. ALFRED B. CASTILLO: Thank you. Councilmember Chock: There is a new system now. Mr. Castillo: Yes, I know. Thank you very much. Good morning, Council Chair, Council Vice Chair, and Councilmembers. For those out there in community, my name is Alfred Castillo. Why is my testimony relevant for today's Salary Commission item? I am sorry, but I have to quote Council Chair, "What do most of us want at the end of the day?" I agree, I see myself as a regular everyday Kaua`i resident who works hard and wants the best for his family. I have a lot of experience working at the State Legislature with former Mayor Tony Kunimura, Richard Kawakami; working with Councilmembers like Jimmy Tehada, and Jesse Fukushima. I was a Deputy Prosecutor for five (5) years, First Deputy Prosecutor for ten (10) years; and I worked well with the Police Department. I was involved with the Kaua`i community throughout my career being your County Attorney for five and one half(5%) years. I come from a perspective unlike the others before me that have come to testify today. If you look at the Salary Commission's report, they are great people like Kenneth Rainforth, Robert Crowell, Trinette Kaui, and Jo Ann Shimamoto; they have a vast experience in this community. If you read all the items...I know you have read all of the items, but I am here specifically to COUNCIL MEETING 8 APRIL 10, 2019 testify in favor of the pay raises for the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. If you do a comparison and when I look at the fact that for the Kaua`i Police Department, the assistant chief's gross pay is close to two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), police sergeant is one hundred ninety-one thousand dollars ($191,000), assistant chief is one hundred eighty thousand dollars ($180,000), police captain is one hundred seventy-three thousand dollars ($173,000), and the police lieutenant is one hundred seventy-two thousand dollars ($172,000). What the Prosecuting Attorney is asking for pales with this amount. The police and prosecutor go hand in hand. Justin Kollar has done a great job in getting career prosecutors. Yellow means what, thirty (30) seconds? Councilmember Cowden: Yes, but you can come back. Mr. Castillo: Okay, I will come back and testify to complete my testimony. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to testify? RICHARD JOSE: Good morning, Chair and Councilmembers. I am here to testify on the Resolution for the Salary Commission. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Mr. Jose, you need to state your name for the record. Mr. Jose: I am sorry, I am kind of nervous today. My name is Richard Jose, private citizen. I would like to testify on the Resolution for the Salary Commission, specifically for the County of Kaua`i Director of Human Resources position. I believe at the end of the day, we work hard. I am not sure exactly on everyones salaries, but I would like to testify that the Director of Human Resources is a very important position. I would like to see if we can approve that. I am so nervous today, but that is all I have to say. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: You do not have to be nervous, you know all of us. Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to testify for the first time? Okay, if not, Mr. Contrades, you can come back up for another three (3) minutes. Mr. Contrades: Thank you. For the record, Michael Contrades, Acting Chief of Police. The requested one hundred thirty-seven thousand two dollars ($137,002) should be the beginning of future increases that should eventually right the inversion for the Chief of Police. In a recent article from the website Governing the States and Localities, Bill Brilhante, Director of Hawai`i Counties Human Resources (HR) Department said it best, "You want to have your best and brightest people at the top making high-level managerial decisions, but COUNCIL MEETING 9 APRIL 10, 2019 inversion creates and artificial barrier because the best and brightest do not want to take on additional responsibility and a cut in pay." While the County has some of the best and brightest in their Department Heads as well as their employees, that is certainly true for our new incoming Chief of Police. Over time, the inversion will weigh on them and they may seek opportunities elsewhere. In the case of Chief of Police and responsibility, I respectfully ask the Council to understand that the Chief of Police is responsible for a large part of public safety for the island of Kaua`i and can directly affect the safety of the community through his or her actions or inactions. The Chief has oversight of employees who have the power to take away a person's freedom and the Chief is on standby twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, and is not compensated for such. If the concern for not supporting the raises is a matter of funding, we are prepared to sacrifice ten thousand dollars ($10,000) from a line item in our budget in order for our Chief to receive a level of pay commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position of Chief of Police. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to testify. I humbly ask that you look favorably upon the requested raises for Department Heads, especially that of the Chief of Police. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Anyone else? Mauna Kea did you want... Mr. Trask: Mahalo. Mauna Kea Trask, for the record. I am going to speak more from an emotional level because I think that is what this is. The facts and figures bear out and they are clear, but for the public's edification and in order to provide you the necessary cover that you need, again I cannot stress how important this is. I think you know that over time, society has changed. I was watching an old movie the other night, and people used to like police officers. People used to like the white hat, there were good folks and bad folks, people aspired to be politicians, and they aspired to be leaders. I just finished reading The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, and I do not know if it was the McCarthy hearings, Vietnam, or whatever happened, but Sinicism is rampant. Acting Chief Contrades talks about inversion, but the society is inverted right now. We incentivize and reward mediocrity, and it needs to be said. When I was the county attorney, in the beginning for the first two (2) years, I could not afford rent. I was in and out of my in-laws house about two (2) or three (3) times in a year. I was living on Kolo Road, a couple of lots up from Koloa Missionary Church, and I was paying about two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in rent. The people in Pa'anau Village were living there for free and were closer to the beach and bike path than me. It is weird. I was at my in-laws house and I would walk from Oma`o Road, by the park of Oma`o Road, down Upa Road, across the old damn, up to...before 7-11 opened...I forget the store, anyway it was good, but I would walk there every morning to catch the bus. I never took the job for money, it was never the money. I did not take it for power and I was never into that. It was service, that is what it was. You cannot stay in there forever because it does not matter how good you are, there has to be turnover. You need new blood, you need knew perspective, that is what it is. My time was done and I left on good COUNCIL MEETING 10 APRIL 10, 2019 terms; I love you all. No one should hit you for doing this. There should be no letters to the editor saying, "Councilmember Kagawa voted for these." There should be no letter to the editors saying, "Why did Councilmember Brun do that or why Councilmember Evslin wrote that on his E-mails?" The point being in all seriousness, no one in the public should hit our leaders for making this call. It is a necessary call. We need the best and the brightest; not in ironic terms, we really do. We are a small island and we have very limited resources. Agriculture is coming to heads with conservation. Everything is competing and we need creativity. You need new perspective and you need to keep the good old perspective, too. Everyone needs to work together and everyone needs to eat and pay their bills. We should incentivize the kids to work hard and get their own houses and not sit in place and inherit grandma's, essentially. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak a second time? Yes, come on up Mr. Castillo. Mr. Castillo: Thank you. For the record, Alfred Castillo. Three (3) minutes goes by fast, and as an Attorney, we can talk forever. Let me put this into perspective. My intention here is as a former Prosecutor working for the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney from 1979 to 1996, that is more than fifteen (15) years. I was assigned to the Police. I went and visited Calvin Fujita and Kenny Robinson on a daily basis and I developed a good relationship. What I want to say is that the police and the prosecutor go hand in hand. The analogy that I want to make is, if you want to build a house, you have to do the framework first. The police, they do the framework; and the prosecutor completes the house. That is how they go hand in hand. In closing, let me put it in perspective as far as where I am coming from as a citizen of Kaua`i. Where some of you have said, "Putting people first," some of you have said, "For our people and for our islands." Well in closing, my years of experience as being a citizen of this County, how many drivers have you seen speeding through the yellow light? Now, you see drivers speeding through a red light. How many of you now need to lock your front doors? How many of you have to buy security cameras? How many of you cannot have your shipment come to your front door because someone will steal it? That is why I am here today. Times have changed. The police and prosecutor are very important in our community. I am not saying that the other departments are not important. When we look at the safety, health, and welfare of our citizens, this is for the people of Kaua`i. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wishing to testify for a second time? Seeing none, I will call this meeting back to order. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: COUNCIL MEETING 11 APRIL 10, 2019 Councilmember Chock: Is there a motion? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Right now, the motion is to reject. Again, I think...we should poll the members and if it ends up being 3:3, it will have to get deferred again, no matter what. We cannot move anything with a 3:3 vote. Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: Thank you. I was not here for the last meeting. My reason why I am going to reject this, because I am going to reject all; but, if we would take out the police, prosecuting attorney, and the county attorney, I would support that. I will not support everyone else. As a whole, I will reject it. As a whole, for everyone getting a raise; no, I will not support that. I will only support the attorneys, chief of police, and the prosecuting attorney. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Do we have our five (5) minutes now? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, we can make our comments now. Ultimately, I do not think we can make many amendments. We would need four (4) votes on the amendments. I think we are going to have a difficult time moving this either way without everyone here. Again, if we get to the next meeting and there is no decision, then it will pass as-is. That is the difficulty in the Salary Resolution. That is why it was made the way it is, so that we had less power in making the decision. That is just the way it goes. It takes a minority vote to pass. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you, Chair. Let us talk about struggling salaries. I can speak because I am a teacher. The teachers are the poorest paid government workers in the State of Hawai`i. The starting teacher pay is forty-two thousand dollars ($42,000) a year. WalletHub lists us at forty-ninth (49th) in the Nation in pay. I thank the teachers here who are teaching and dedicating their lives to the children. Those are the people who are suffering. Our County Department Heads are not forty-ninth (49th) in the Nation. There is no emergency there. Mayor Kawakami had no problem filling his Administrative team. We have had some delays in hiring the police chief. We got a great one from Las Vegas, and I have heard remarkable things about this Chief. I am sure he was not hired saying, "You will get a ten thousand dollar ($10,000) raise as soon as you get here." He came knowing what the pay was, he took the job, and we have a great chief coming in. I am excited, really excited. The fire chief, we had applicants that applied for the fire chief position and they were denied for some reason or another. We have no problem filling...there are no vacancies, there is no emergency. This County is not going to fall apart. Two (2) years ago, we increased all of the pay. I did COUNCIL MEETING 12 APRIL 10, 2019 not vote for it, but with a minority vote, 3:4, it passed. Our salaries became comparable to the other islands, this was two (2) years ago. What happened in the last two (2) years is the other counties increased their pay, so they leapfrogged even higher than the County of Kaua`i and now we have this again. Is this the time? Are we going to play leapfrog every two (2) years? We are not giving small teacher raises of one hundred dollars ($100) a month. We are talking about raises of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) plus per year, every two (2) years. The County just cannot afford it. Salary inversion has been in this County forever. When my dad was county engineer in 1972, he was getting paid about thirteen thousand dollars ($13,000) to twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) less than his highest EM Engineer. Did he take the job because of the pay, because it was the highest paid? No, he took the job to try to do something good for this County as a local and third generation citizen. He took a pay cut from Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) to be a county engineer. That is how it works, that is really how it works. You take less pay, but you will be the leader; or in sports, you will be the coach. You will be the person that makes the calls and tries to improve the team. I think Mayor Kawakami has done a great job in getting his team together. Did the people of Kaua`i know that when Mayor Kawakami got in, he was going to ask for a ten thousand dollar ($10,000) raise for all of his employees or have the latitude to give him that? No. If we really want to give our pay raises to attract the best and brightest people, let us wait for Mayor Kawakami's term to come up, let us wait for Justin Kollar's term to come up, let us wait for the Councilmembers term to come up, and let us give pay raises then. It should come into effect at that time when the new team comes in. This team now is set. They have accepted the pay as-is, they are ready to do their work, we do not need to have Santa Claus here giving them an early Christmas present. This is serious business. I have a worksheet. Can we put it up? It will show the current leadership of the police and fire. This is the Fire Department's spiking cost. This is the excessive spiking, which means in the last three (3) years before they retired, there was excess overtime given to high-ranking employees that were ready to retire. The 2018 tab, which I attribute to mismanagement, is two million two hundred thousand dollars ($2,200,000). The Fire Department was able to find that amount after they told us during the budget that they had no fat in their budget. They could find two million two hundred forty-eight thousand dollars ($2,248,000) in their budget to pay for this excessive spiking. I find that very troublesome and embarrassing for this County to deal with. There is also a cost that is attributed with police, and I am going to have that during my budget presentation. I am going to have the whole shebang. The public needs to be aware of what is happening. There are some serious problems within our public safety. Thank you. (Councilmember Brun was noted as not present.) Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Did you want to speak? COUNCIL MEETING 13 APRIL 10, 2019 Councilmember Cowden: I can. I wanted to ask if the Attorney can really explain it to us about this minority vote, but I will speak on my own thing. I do support giving raises especially to tier 2, the second group. What we have seen in the budget and what we have seen over time is when we have extraordinary performances like what we just saw this morning, our Planning Department got number 2 in the Nation. We have done some really extraordinary things and people are working hard with not quite enough. As I said at the last Council Meeting, a lot of our Department Heads now are the younger ones and the more experience ones are in the number 2 position because they get more pay. (Councilmember Brun was noted as present.) Councilmember Cowden: I appreciate our new young leaders, but we lose people as soon as they get really good; especially in engineering, planning, and attorneys. People come in and it is like going to graduate school. They do not get enough money, they get really good experience, and then they get picked off as soon as they are really ready to perform. They leave to what becomes the competitors of the County for understanding how to use the land. We are competing against our own attorneys that we raised up and educated. When looking at how we are spending money, there are some elements that are good investments. When we are looking at the budget, when we are going to be putting in a good computer system, when we are going to have good leadership, well compensated leadership is how we keep our overall moral. When people can do a good job, there is a lot more than just money. There is something about being happy, feeling like you are being honored for what you do. I respect what Councilmember Kagawa is talking about with his dad, I am not doing this job for the money. For some people, when they are coming in with huge student loans and cannot afford their house, they can only do it for so long. I think it is bad business to not compensate your leaders. They are still not going to be compensated as well as their underlinings. They are still going to have an amount of inversion...or their subordinates and their team. We have better morale and better leadership when they are recognized for what they do and that they are compensated appropriately. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Thank you to everyone who came to speak today, for the testimony we have received at the last meeting, and the minutes of the Salary Commission's Hearings. They are all very useful for us in trying to make this hard decision. For me, I would be more than happy to vote against this, stand for saving money, and stand for fiscal conservatism, but rejecting adequate pay for our Department Heads does not save money. I do not believe it is fiscally responsible; and that is from my experience as a private business owner for ten (10) years. You have to invest in your people. If we do not, we lose money directly in the form of lawsuits. As Councilmember Kagawa said, "Spiking is a management issue." We COUNCIL MEETING 14 APRIL 10, 2019 lose money in the form of potentially mismanagement and possibly overtime. We lose money in the form of loss efficiency, and the people of Kaua`i lose money in the form of less service. This comes with a big cost for all of us. I just want to clarify that this is a citizen Salary Commission who make these recommendations. They have to pass recommendations to us by March 15, 2019. This is not the Council or the Administration coming up with this. This is a commission of citizens saying this is what the County has to do to be competitive to hire and retain Department Heads. If I could read a quick quote from the Salary Commission from their memorandum to us that says, "Retention is a huge issue and the number of department heads and deputy level incumbents leaving their positions show this is not just isolated to a couple of departments. The low pay is perpetuating a `Greener Pasture' syndrome where your high performers are seeking a better work environment. That psyche has an inverse effect in morale, as supervisors may value less their responsibilities and work environment and reflect that perspective on their employees, who in turn are less enthusiastic. There is no successful company in the world that would institute prolonged pay freezes and offer no performance bonuses for highly publicized jobs, yet at the same time, expect those supervisors to work long hours, manage subordinates that get paid more, and continue to be positive about the future of government for a lengthy period of time like seven (7) years." What our pay has done is it has resulted in us not having a County Engineer for seven (7) years. I believe we had one (1) internal candidate for the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD), who we have heard did not have the qualifications. We had one (1) internal candidate for the Kaua`i Fire Department (KFD), who did not have the qualifications. Now, that process is being restarted because we did not have enough people trying to get that job. We do not have a Director of Human Resources (HR). This comes with huge cost and the reason this is happening is because of salary inversion. The Fire Department has twenty-eight (28) people making more than the Chief and KPD has twenty-one (21) people making more than the Chief, so we cannot recruit internally. We cannot recruit around the rest of the State because our pay is not comparable or even close to the other islands. We cannot recruit retirees because they will lose their pension if they take the job. We have nowhere to turn for these positions. We keep saying, "Hey, Kauai is a smaller County and we should have lower pay." I buy that argument to a point. Even with us taking this leap, we are still significantly behind everyone else. With these cost of living increases, it still puts us way behind everyone else. Just to say that the responsibility of these jobs is not less than the other islands as we have heard I believe from Acting Chief Contrades, we do not have layers of management to handle these responsibilities. As we have heard from the Director of Finance yesterday, we do not have a Treasurer right now, and so she is taking on that job of being a treasurer. How long can we hold onto our Director of Finance who is doing two (2) jobs? I have deep appreciation for her willingness to do that and I hope we do not lose her anytime soon. I have to say that I am uncomfortable obviously giving raises after four (4) months here, and it is why for me the selling point was the Administration saying COUNCIL MEETING 15 APRIL 10, 2019 they will not even consider a raise for one year, and those raises will be strictly based on performance. No one is guaranteed the raise, you get the raise if you do a good job. That is what we do in private business. The Administration is urging that the Salary Commission does the same thing for positions that Mayor Kawakami does not have direct responsibility for. As I said the last time, I support parts 1 and 2 of this Resolution. I will not support raises for the County Council. I think we are compensated for the job we do here. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Chair. First, I would like to thank the Salary Commission. I think they have done a really exemplary job particularly in segmenting these three (3) parts for us to consider this year. I also agree wholeheartedly with Vice Chair Kagawa that spiking is certainly an issue. It is an issue that we need to address. I also believe what we are really talking about here as it relates to what the Salary Commission is presenting to us, is not just about spiking. It is really about the retention of talent; the people that we have in these positions who are doing the job. We are talking about keeping these positions filled so that they do not go somewhere else and we do not lose our ability to run this government properly. We are talking about, as people have said, being responsible and running a business and we are talking about inversions, and the dynamics of inversions. What I really have appreciated this year, is that one, Mayor Kawakami has come forth and said that with the thirteen (13) departments he oversees, that he will not be just giving these raises, but that they will be going through a process. I have said from the very beginning that part 2, which includes all of the speakers that have been represented here today; the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Office of the County Attorney, the County Engineer's Office, which by the way we have not been able to fill successfully, these are the positions that we cannot get people into today is what we need to support. Part 2 is really where we need to focus if anywhere. I have said from the beginning and at the last meeting, that is where I will support. The question is when talking to our...you can kind have tell where everyone is at. Some people want the whole Resolution outside of part 3, which is the Council's salary, they want that passed. I think we can all agree that we can move on that today, if we wanted to. It is about part 1 or 2. Some of us want part 1 and 2, and I think on this side of the table as I have spoken to Councilmember Brun, he is interested in part 2 as well. Now, there is only one position in part 2 which is part of the Office of the Mayor, and that is the Managing Director. There is a way that we could indeed today get a vote passed with four (4) votes for part 2, minus the Managing Director. I would entertain that in order to move something forward today, we consider that vote. That is pragmatic as I can be on what we have in front of us today. For the remaining salaries that are not being considered at least in part 1, I would say that we have a year. We will be doing performance evaluations on our side as well, we should take that lead. We will be having that opportunity for us to come COUNCIL MEETING 16 APRIL 10, 2019 back within a year to have that conversation about how we have done so that we can vote on that part 1 and move it forward. That is where I am at, Council Chair. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I will state my piece and if anyone wants to make a motion to reject in part or in whole, we can entertain those at that time. As far as I go, I will not be supporting any increases at this time. I mentioned in the last meeting, timing is an issue for me. We hear a lot about vacancies, rampant vacancies, and keeping people in their positions. The fact of the matter is, we only have three (3) vacancies for department heads. All of the department heads that are in office now, have accepted their position at the pay that they have. Why do we need to increase the pay right now? They have only been in office for four (4) months. If we are not going to increase the pay within the year, then why not wait on the Salary Resolution and have it come again next year and make the decision then? As far as I go, I was one of the only votes that voted on it in 2017, so timing is not an issue for me. Whether we are running for politics next year and no one wants to vote, it is not an issue for me. I voted on it in 2017 and I saw the disparity. As Councilmember Kagawa said, in 2017 we made a jump, and in 2018 all the other Counties made a jump; so yes, it looks like we have a gap. We just increased the salaries in 2017. I hear a lot about inversion, but when you look at inversion, inversion is really only happening in two (2) departments. You need to ask, "Why is this inversion happening?" Just because there is inversion does not mean you go and increase someone's salary to be higher than the person who has the highest salary in your department. Why is inversion happening? Inversion is happening because some of those departments have people that have been in that position for over thirty (30) years. Are you telling me that someone who has worked for the County for thirty (30) years should get paid less than a department head who just came in this year? They worked. Their salary has increased over the years and that is why there is some inversion. The other inversion is overtime. If you look at the sheets, some of their overtime is fifty percent (50%) of their salaries. If they are getting paid one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), their overtime is fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), and their pay is one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). Of course there is going to be inversion. Do we give raises because of that inversion? No, maybe we need to look at overtime. Overtime should be looked at and monitored to keep the overtime low so there is no inversion. Those arguments do not sit well with me. As far as I go, again, I will not be supporting any increases at this time. If we support any increases now, it is going to affect the Supplemental Budget that comes in, which means, any increases that happen now, there is going to have to be cuts somewhere in the current budget that we have. Someone is going to lose services and programs may get cut; where is that money going to come from, I do not know. I think that the Administration said that it is going to come from internal departments. I do not know how many attorneys there are in the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. If you multiply that number by the increase, does the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney have one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) laying around? I would hope not. Where are they going to get the money for their increases? That is where I am at, I COUNCIL MEETING 17 APRIL 10, 2019 have supported the increases in the past, and I will look at it every year. The Salary Commission did a great job. If we were to just take the Salary Commission's request and automatically approve it, then there would be no need for a Council vote. The Charter should be written saying that whatever the Salary Commission says goes. The Salary Commission's job is to send it for us to look at every year. Our job is to decide whether we would want to do the increase now or not. If we are at a 3:3 standstill, this is not going to get anywhere. I am willing to entertain whatever direction we want to head in and if we are able to put this to rest today, I would love to put it to rest today if there are four (4) votes in any way. If not, we are going to have to defer. The next meeting will be our final meeting. If there is no decision at that meeting, then the Salary Commission's recommendation will pass. This Resolution will pass as-is. I will entertain any information from the members and how we would like to proceed. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, just for myself, I will be following the Salary Commission's recommendation and I will be voting for all or nothing. I will not be voting for any amendments or any chopped up version. I will let the chips fall where they may based on the Salary Commission's recommendation, but I will not be amending it and making it the Council's salary resolution. It will be the Salary Commission's Resolution up or down and I will be sticking with that. For the children out there, I praise your teachers. I will give you a true story, when I saw my third grade teacher at a Bon Dance last year, I have not seen her for years. I told her "hi" and the only thing she had to say to me because she was kind of old, almost ninety (90), I think. She said, "You were the most humbug student I have ever had in my life." That is why I appreciate teachers out there, because I know you had to put up with people like me. Councilmember Chock: Nothing has changed. Council Chair Kaneshiro: You are the most humbug Councilmember I have ever had to deal with also. I am just joking. What is the desire of the Council? Are there any ideas of which direction we would like to head? Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: Can I make a motion to reject part 3? Council Chair Kaneshiro: We are going to have to get rid of our motion. Let me take a quick recess and see how this process is going to go. Are we going to start rejecting each portion in part and then we will take a vote on each portion? If so, it is almost like we are voting on each individual portion. Let me take a ten (10) minute caption break and we will figure out how we are going to run this process. There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 9:41 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 9:54 a.m., and proceeded as follows: COUNCIL MEETING 18 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, welcome back. Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: Thank you, Chair. As far as voting today, I want Councilmember Kuali`i to be here. I will be making a motion to defer until April 24th. We need to really look at our opinions because there is some...I know we have talked about number 2, but there are some positions in there that I do not want. There are some that I want to take out. There is some that I want to take out from number 1 and put that into number 2. I need to look at that so I will be making a motion to defer. I am not ready to vote on this today. Council Chair Kaneshiro: If that is the case, I am going to ask if any of the members have ideas on what they want to reject in part or in whole, or however they want to break it up, that they please see the staff and do it ahead of time. I can tell you it is going to get messy. I do not know if everyone is going to be able to agree on every single position or where it is. We need to have this prepared on the frontend, and if it gets deferred...if there are no votes to move anything forward, then we may as well defer anyways. That last meeting day is the final day. If we cannot come up with a decision, whatever is left on the floor is going to pass. That is why it is the way it is. A three (3) minority vote does not mean that it passes. A three (3) minority vote means that there is no decision on the Resolution and it is going to lapse. This is why the time date is there and will pass if we cannot come to a decision. Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: If the motion to reject is then retracted before we make the motion to defer, could we reject part 3? Can we at least make the motion to reject part 3 because it seems like there might be consensus there? Council Chair Kaneshiro: I think I would rather do it all as one. The motion to defer will override any other motion. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Well, just in agreement with Councilmember Evslin, I feel like by having number 3 in there, the County Council raises, that is our raises, it sort of leverages us... Council Chair Kaneshiro: Let me correct the statement. It is not our raises. Councilmember Cowden: County... Council Chair Kaneshiro: That raise is going to come into effect in the next term. Whoever wins the County Council race in the next term, that is who is going to get the raise. Councilmember Cowden: That is correct. COUNCIL MEETING 19 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: We cannot increase our raise today, tomorrow, or any day. Councilmember Cowden: Okay, I will acknowledge that but it could have an influence on us. By tying this position's raise in there, it is basically heavy leverage to simply say "no." I do not think there is a single one of us sitting at the table that would vote thumbs up and give raises for the County Council positions. When we tie them altogether, it causes us to not support these other critical positions that really need to have a true analysis done. I feel like forcing them altogether is not an authentic way to look at it. Council Chair Kaneshiro: My intent is to put everything on the table at the next meeting. If they want to reject just the Council salaries, we will have everyone vote on just rejecting the Council salaries. If we are going to start breaking up parts, we will break up parts in that meeting. This is so that everyone can get a big overview of what they would want to do. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: As you said, in order to vote individually, we would have to have approval to vote ad seriatim, right? That would need four (4) votes. Yes, it is really messed up. This should go back to the Charter Review Commission. I have never seen any important vote win by a minority decision. That is so undemocratic. I mean, it just baffles me as far as how this was setup where the minority vote wins. It is like some "Third World Country." Council Chair Kaneshiro: I think the way the salaries are setup it is one step away from not giving the Council the decision on voting for it. As you know, the salaries do affect the budget. I think the intent of the Charter was to make it difficult for the Council to start changing things and making it difficult for us to reject. I think that is why the minority vote and deadline is there. If we cannot come to a decision then it will automatically pass. Yes, that is how the Charter was written. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, but then in response, if that was the intent of the Charter, why are we even allowed to chop it up? It should be all or nothing. It is like saying that we can chop it up, but we will lose with a minority vote, it totally does not make sense. You would think that if you can win with a minority vote, then it should not even be chopped up. It is already funky as it is. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: This was on the ballot, it was just on the ballot. I think that people are a little bit misinformed about the complexity of it. I hope that this discussion overflows back to the Charter in a way because it is about the details that we need to take into consideration and how it relates to our role on COUNCIL MEETING 20 APRIL 10, 2019 this. It is definitely an issue, but I do not know if it was presented as such, as specifically on the ballot for people to make an informed decision. As we saw, the people want us to be part of that process. I do not think that they understand what that truly means. Perhaps, it requires more discussion at the Charter Review Commission. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, when you have a minority vote it is very important to have all the members here. Unfortunately, Councilmember Kuali`i came down with the flu today. I do not think we want him sitting here with the chills and fever, and being sick next to us. That is just the way it goes. I think we have one more day to decide on this and whatever comes out of that meeting is what is going to happen. If we cannot come to a decision, the Salary Commission Resolution is going to pass as-is; however we cut it up, or however we do it. I guess you can say that is our "fish or cut bait" day, it is what it is. If we only have four (4) members here, there is going to be no vote on it, that is able to pass anything, and it is just going to pass anyways. That is probably where we are at on it. I do not know. Councilmember Chock moved to defer C 2019-65, seconded by Councilmember Kagawa, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Chair, next item is on page 3. C 2019-76 Communication(03/14/2019) from the Deputy Fire Chief, requesting Council approval, to accept a donation from the Kaua`i Lifeguard Association (KLA) of one (1) 2019 Yamaha Jet Ski and Trailer, valued at $18,523.89, which will benefit the Ocean Safety Bureau's lifeguard operation at the Hanalei Pavilion Tower. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Can I get a motion? Councilmember Cowden moved to approve C 2019-76 with a thank-you letter to follow. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Actually, I have been asked to defer this. Dr. Downs wanted to be here. Councilmember Cowden: Yes, okay. Council Chair Kaneshiro: He unfortunately could not be here today. Councilmember Cowden: He was here. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I am going to ask that we defer it because they are giving us free equipment. I do not think time is an issue or that is going to lapse COUNCIL MEETING 21 APRIL 10, 2019 or anything. I do not think time is something that we need to be worried about. I would ask that we defer to allow Dr. Downs to be here. Councilmember Chock moved to defer C 2019-76, seconded by Councilmember Cowden, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item, please. C 2019-77 Communication (03/29/2019) from Councilmember Evslin and Councilmember Chock, transmitting for Council consideration, six (6) proposals that, combined, provides an incentive for property owners to build an Additional Rental Unit (ARU): Councilmember Chock moved to receive C 2019-77 for the record, seconded by Councilmember Kagawa. Council Chair Kaneshiro: This is the Communication and I think in the future when the bills come up, the motion is going to be to send it to the Planning Commission. I would ask that if we have any questions or if we would want any discussion on it now, we would do it right now while we have the six (6) proposals in the Communication. Councilmember Evslin has a presentation, if we want, or we can just send it to the Planning Commission with no questions and then deal with it when it comes back to us. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I would like the presentation. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, myself as well. They had the ability to have this printed out in the Garden Island newspaper, so I am sure the public is wanting to know a little more details about it. When we want to get something in the paper, we do not get anything, but these folks have some pull over there, I guess. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. With that, I will suspend the rules. Councilmember Evslin, do you have a PowerPoint or a... Councilmember Evslin: Yes, it is a PowerPoint and Scott has it. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Yes, just in preparation, thank you for this presentation. As all of us know, the Additional Rental Unit (ARU)was passed last year. Along with passing that, the discussion about how to actually effectuate or bring in more ARU's has always been the discussion. Fast forward to present time, we have been able to look at what those leverage points are with these six (6) Bills. We know that it does need help and we hope that through these six (6) that we are looking at, it will actually increase the numbers. We are happy that this is going to go to the Planning Commission and that you folks entertain each one of these Bills. Councilmember Evslin: I am just going to run through this pretty quick. I think it is relatively straightforward. As Councilmember Chock said, the COUNCIL MEETING 22 APRIL 10, 2019 overall purpose is to eliminate permitting fees for any ARU that is classified as "affordable." The final bill in there would allow for ARU's to be built within the Lihu`e Town Core area where they are currently not allowed. Just a quick overview, I am not going to run through them all, but you folks can see that it is an approximation of the permitting cost right now. For a home not on sewer, it could be in the range of one thousand dollars ($1,000). For any home on a sewer, even if it is a conversion of an existing....if you have a four (4) bedroom house and you are converting two (2) of those bedrooms to a rental unit, you are going to pay the sewer capacity fee of three thousand nine hundred dollars ($3,900) along with all these other fees. I recently went through the process and it was five thousand six hundred dollars ($5,600) for me to get the permit. If you are going to build an ARU, that would be new construction. Therefore, if it is not a conversion of an existing home to a rental unit. If you are building something either attached or detached from your house, then you would have to pay what sounds like a reduced facilities reserve charge (FRC) to the Department of Water. I think they are still possibly reviewing their rules, but five thousand one hundred forty-five dollars ($5,145) is what we had heard. For new construction on a sewer line, it would be at least ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to permit the ARU. What we heard from the Planning Commission is that they are getting a lot of calls from people looking to build them and very few are actually going through the process. Our Kaua`i General Plan says we need nine thousand (9,000) more units by year 2035. It sites as the cause of our housing crisis: slow inventory growth, regulatory barriers, and predominantly single-family residential construction. The recommended actions within the General Plan is that the General Plan has a focus on infill development. Here are the recommendations in regards to infill, which is: streamlining permit approvals, incentivizing infill, and update zoning within our town cores to allow for more infill which is what the intent of these Bills are. The Lihu`e Community Plan mirrors that pretty well, it increases the supply of rental housing within Lihu`e; incentivizing infill development...still you folks can see from there; encourage a greater mix of housing types to accommodate a variety of income levels. What we have heard is that the Kaua`i Board of Realtors has said that the most in demand rental units or the most lacking units on the market is smaller units for single individuals or small families. I believe these proposals are well within the recommendations of the Lihu`e Community Plan and the General Plan. Just to run through them, the first one is the most comprehensive here and the rest are pretty simple. The first one would give the Housing Agency the authority to establish what the definition is of an affordable ARU. They would do that through the Hawai`i Administrative Rules. While it is not specified in the bill, what we have talked about was that there would be three (3) ways to comply. The first way would be if you are committing to comply with rates currently set by the Long-Term Affordable Rental Program, that is Real Property Tax sets rates every year as long as someone is committing to abide by those rates for three (3)years, then the Housing Agency would certify them as affordable. The other two (2) would be somewhere along the lines of ensuring that you have a family member in there for either low rent or no rent and/or having a low-income tenant. They have yet to work out exactly how that would work. Once the Housing Agency certifies a unit as affordable, they will notify Planning, Public Works, Wastewater Division, and the Building Division that it is affordable and that they should have a waiver of their fees. The first bill would waive the zoning permit filing and processing fee and it would establish a subsidy for COUNCIL MEETING 23 APRIL 10, 2019 the FRC from the current Affordable Housing Fund. We would create a sub-account within the Affordable Housing Fund, which would go towards the FRC. The County has the authority to waive all of our fees. We cannot tell the Department of Water what they should do with their fees. They have already said a conversion of a home would be zero dollars ($0) FRC, but new construction would be a FRC of five thousand one hundred forty-five dollars ($5,145). This would establish a subaccount within Housing to subsidize that FRC for an affordable unit. The fund would be appropriated annually by the County Council; it would be granted on a first-come, first-served basis; and it would also allow the Housing Agency to recover funds if a unit falls out of affordability within that three (3) year period. The rest of them are much simpler. As you can see, we would waive the environmental impact assessment fee and change the definition or extend the definition of the Housing Development Fund to allow it to be used to subsidize the FRC. It would waive the wastewater treatment capacity fee, which again is three thousand nine hundred dollars ($3,900). It will allow for that assessment to be recovered if an area falls out of compliance. When we are talking about wastewater treatment capacity, it is anticipated that most of these will be conversions of existing homes, so the intent of the wastewater treatment capacity fee is for cost associated with an increase in demand. But if you are converting a four (4) bedroom house, you are converting two (2) of those bedrooms into a rental unit. In theory, there is no increase in demand. If we can waive this treatment of capacity fee and you get more units online, then you would get a second unit in a house on a sewer bill, you will then have two (2) people paying a sewer bill. In the long-run for wastewater, this helps them recover fees. Instead of people doing an illegal unit and not paying any monthly fee, now they are paying a monthly sewer bill. In the long-run it would waive building permit fees. It would allow ARU's to be built within Special Planning District "D" (SPA-D). Lastly, the Director of Finance has an analysis in our agenda packet, which I believe is included in its entirety. They are saying there would be a net gain for every ARU. This is including all of the costs of the fee waivers that there would be a net gain over twenty (20) years between six thousand dollars ($6,000) and seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000) per ARU, which is a net positive for the County to encourage these to be built. Just to put that into perspective, if we get one hundred fifty (150) of them built over twenty (20) years, that is one million dollars ($1,000,000) to two million five hundred dollars ($2,500,000) in increased funds for the County. This is including the cost of the fee waivers. Those are the bills in a nutshell. I do not know if you want to ask questions now or as we get into them. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes. If we have questions we can ask them now. Obviously, if we are sending it to the Planning Commission, they are going to look at it, and then the bills will come back to us. It is going to go through the same process that all of our other bills go through, which is, first reading, public hearing, Committee, and Council. At that time, we will have time to discuss the bills. If we have questions now, we can ask them. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: I guess one of the questions that I had, and this is...around and around the hamster wheel we go...every time we talk about this ARU's, I will always come back to the question, "What is our policy towards the illegals?" The illegals that are in Puhi, Hanama'ulu, Kapahi, Hanapepe Heights, COUNCIL MEETING 24 APRIL 10, 2019 right next to my mom's house there is a monster home that is coming up; unbelievable. What are we going to do? We spend so much time on the "legal"ARUs. We have six (6) bills to try and make the legal ARUs affordable, but we have illegals all over. There are four (4) or five (5) rentals in some houses. If you compare that to my wife and I's sewer to the one in Hanama'ulu with twenty (20) people inside of that house, we all have the same sewer bill. I mean, I really want to find...we spend so much time on the legal ARUs, when are we going to spend some time on the illegals and to get them to comply after-the-fact? To me, something needs to be done because how you are able to spend so much time on the legal ARUs when you are able to just do it illegally, and you are able to get away with it? For me, it is always going to be the troubling point. I do not get it. We know which ones are out there. You do not need to be a rocket scientist. If you drive past and look at how many cars are outside of some of the houses, it takes no rocket scientist to know. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I want to follow-up on what Councilmember Kagawa said and when I look at Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2742), where it is looking at using the Housing Development Fund, I think it might be a good way to be adding more money. It is not just for the facilities reserve charge, which means having a water meter, but to actually be able to amortize loans to fix these, what he is calling "illegals" or what are illegals, where they can switch from a cesspool to a septic system. Instead of it being pallets and tarps that are coming off the house, with big power strips in a wet environment, that we can make them safe with the Electric Code, and put a safe bathroom on there. Many people cannot afford to fix it, but how they can fix it the right way. I liked how in this bill, it talked about when it is the family members, because a lot of these houses are family compounds. If it is family members that are essentially not paying rent or just contributing to the collective, with having these amortized loans or grants, we are able to limit it so it stays in the affordable pool. To be able to take those houses and make it be more...I am sure the repair that Councilmember Evslin is talking about will probably cost approximately thirty thousand dollars ($30,000). It costs something to fix these houses, but if we fix-up houses in different locations, many people do not want to live in a whole housing project. They really want to live next to their parents or with their friends, out in these small communities that are never going to probably ever be public housing, at least not in the next ten (10) to twenty (20) years. This is a way that we can create the affordable housing units. I am open to having it looked at, but that would be something I would like to see added into it. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I have some quick questions and if we do not have answers now, that is fine. As far as the Housing Agency goes and determining affordability for the ARU, why would we not just stick with the Long-Term Affordable Rental Program? If we start putting in family members, but they rent the house high to the family member or even with a low-income tenant, I am not understanding. I COUNCIL MEETING 25 APRIL 10, 2019 think the whole thing with the Long-Term Affordable Rental Program is to ensure that the rent stays within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required amount. People can grumble whether that is too high, but that is the standard that we use. I think when you a have low-income tenant, would they not be paying in the range of the long-term affordable rental anyway? I do not know if sticking to one statement rather than having them all together is better. It is just a question for consideration. Councilmember Evslin: My quick response is that when we were first looking into it, that was what I thought initially, too—"We have this program, comply with it, and then you are in." What we had heard was that a lot of people doing rental units do not like to comply with the program and if that the Housing Agency wanted to broaden it up to people who did not want to do the annual certification through the long-term program and had other ways that the Housing Agency could verify...maybe we can hear from Steve Franco on what the rationale is and what they would anticipate doing through their rules, because that is not actually specified in the bill. That would be done through their own rules. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. STEVE FRANCO, Acting Housing Director: Good morning. Steve Franco, Acting Housing Director. As Councilmember Evslin mentioned, at the Housing Agency when we were taking a look and discussing these different options, we wanted to include additional avenues to verify the long-term affordability. As Councilmember Evslin mentioned, there are people who do not want to participate. We wanted to make sure administratively, that we can use other resources or other ways of verifying that. Council Chair Kaneshiro: If they have to show that they have a family member there or it is a low-income tenant, then why not just fill out the long-term affordable rental form? Mr. Franco: Right. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I mean... Mr. Franco: I understand. Council Chair Kaneshiro: It does not matter, they are going to have to do something to show it. Yes, I do not know, it is just something to consider. Mr. Franco: Yes, right. COUNCIL MEETING 26 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: If we are going to give a subsidy, then yes, you have to fill it out, you have to show that the unit is going to be rented for three (3) years at this rate or a lower rate. I do not know why we would go away from it. It is just my opinion. Mr. Franco: Okay. Council Chair Kaneshiro: As far as the subsidy, how does that money work and where would it go? We would be giving General Fund money the Housing Agency and if someone builds a unit and is going to rent it long-term affordable, then we will subsidize; will we use that money to pay them back on just the permit fees? Councilmember Evslin: I could answer or... Mr. Franco: You can answer. Councilmember Evslin: For the actual Affordable Housing Revolving Fund, the money that is in there would not change. We would just setup a subaccount within the fund. If there was something like three million dollars ($3,000,000) in the fund, we would setup a subaccount, which we would appropriate every year. I believe the bill says... Councilmember Chock: One hundred fourteen thousand dollars ($114,000). Councilmember Evslin: One hundred fourteen thousand dollars ($114,000), but that would be up to our discretion annually. That would go only towards the FRC. For most homes that are doing a home conversion, there is no FRC charge. Again, the FRC is to charge the Department of Water, so that would be a check, which they would determine exactly how to implement and pay; whether the Housing Agency is writing a check to the Department of Water or giving it to the landowner to give it to the Department of Water. Again, it would only apply basically for new construction, which the Department of Water requires the FRC. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, so is it just water? I saw exemptions, but then I was getting confused whether it was an exemption or a subsidy on fee waiving and if we were going to be paying into it or not. Councilmember Evslin: Yes, the only subsidy would be FRC, the rest would be straight waivers. Mr. Franco: That is correct. COUNCIL MEETING 27 APRIL 10, 2019 Councilmember Chock: Which would bring us to the one hundred fourteen thousand dollars ($114,000) that is currently outlined under twenty (20) houses, that would be eligible for the initial program unless we changed it. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Do you have a follow-up or a question? Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: Did you check with the Department of Water if they are willing to work with you on this? Councilmember Evslin: I met with the Department of Water and it sounds like they are still reviewing their rules regarding the FRC for an ARU. When I first applied for my ARU permit, and I know of others that have applied too, we all have been told that it would be the full FRC for the ARU. I think they are still in flux on how they are actually going to deal with them. The latest we have heard is that it would be zero dollars ($0) for conversion in five thousand one hundred forty-five dollars ($5,145), which is reduction. The normal FRC charge is fourteen thousand dollars ($14,000) for a single home. The reason for this is because the FRC is supposed to be based on an increase in demand to the system, which is based on their rules. Therefore, a home conversion is no increase in demand, because it is the same house that you are carving off a portion for the rental. Councilmember Brun: Yes. Councilmember Evslin: This is why they have said, "Okay zero dollars ($0) for a home conversion," in theory, and the reason for the reduction from my understanding for the ARU, is because it is so much smaller. An eight hundred (800) square foot unit, in theory, is less of an increase in demand than a full-size home would be. That is why they are reducing it. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I want to ask for clarification on Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745), which is regarding the Lihu`e Town Core Urban District to allow additional rental units to be built within that district. I believe that the reason they were withheld from that is because last summer, it went from a density of R-4 to R-40. It went up a lot. Pardon me? Councilmember Brun: R-20 to R-40. Councilmember Cowden: R-20 to R-40. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, it doubled. COUNCIL MEETING 28 APRIL 10, 2019 Councilmember Cowden: If there were additional rental units, that would really allow it to be R-80. I do not think they are really looking at the individual home. Maybe there is some way that it could be adapted so that individual homes could have it, but I think on those parcels that are R-40, if it was R-80, it would be a really high-rise building. Councilmember Evslin: Maybe we could hear from the Planning Director on this, but my quick response is it does not change the height requirements or the lot size requirements. Councilmember Cowden: Would it be smaller? Councilmember Evslin: You are doubling the units within the same building. KAAINA S. HULL, Planning Director: Aloha, Chair and members of the Council, Ka`aina Hull, on behalf of the Planning Department. What was the question? Council Chair Kaneshiro: The question was when we set our policy last year on Rice Street, we doubled the density from R-20 to R-40, and in our minds, we specifically excluded ARU's, because if ARU's were there, then we would have essentially quadrupled the density on Rice Street to R-80. The question I think Councilmember Cowden is asking is, is that the intent to quadruple the density? When we set the policy last year, we looked at it and said, "No, we are comfortable doubling it, but not allowing ARU's, which would quadruple it." Now, this bill comes through and it is asking to allow ARU's to be built in that zone, which would quadruple the density. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I was suggesting and trying to understand what his intent is or what I believe his intention on this part to allow ARU's to be built in this special area district near Rice Street. Do we have a provision R-20 or R-40 that does not have the additional rental unit? (Councilmember Brun was noted as not present.) Councilmember Cowden: A normal R-1, R-2, or R-6 could have it, but we could limit that so the small house could have it without having it applied to these R-40 density properties. We could make that change, right? Mr. Hull: You could. I do not think that the Department would object to that change per se, but at the same time, I do not think that the Department views Rice Street as an area that we would really want to be channeling single-family dwelling construction. This is, arguably, our most intense area for the COUNCIL MEETING 29 APRIL 10, 2019 entire island. We would like, quite honestly, more multi-family or mix-used construction occurring in this area to accommodate for our housing crisis, essentially. Councilmember Cowden: If we had additional rental units on R-40, would that then be eighty (80) units on that piece of property? Would that change the height and the shape or would that ARU have to be half (%) of what would normally be allocated for it, so they would be essentially micro-units? Mr. Hull: Yes. It would essentially turn the R-40 to have the potential of having forty (40) units and forty (40) additional rental units. It could have the potential of going into an R-80 or defacto R-80, if you will. It would in no way, shape, or form increase the height allotment. The height allotment will still be fifty (50) feet. Trying to construct within the fifty (50) foot envelope...and if a developer or a landowner wanted to take advantage of this ARU potential, it would essentially require them to have more micro-units, which I think Councilmember Evslin was getting into. We had those discussions with the Board of Realtors. It is the micro-units that they have. They are seeing long queues of people, single individuals, small families, and elderly individuals that want studios or one-bedroom, and there is virtually no inventory on Kaua`i for that market. Councilmember Evslin: Can I respond? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: The intent of adding that within this package was to say, "If we are incentivizing the construction of ARU's, it is important that we incentivize and allow for them within the Lihu`e's Town Core." Within the place that we want or the General Plan and our Lihu`e Community Plan calls for the (inaudible) construction. Otherwise, we are incentivizing them on the rest of the island. Another thing about ARU's is that they allow you to go from a fifty percent (50%) to sixty percent (60%) lot coverage. There is a lot coverage bonus in there that is important to apply to Rice Street. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, I know, it was a valid question. Even for me, I am still in a quandary on whether I am okay with it or not. We had a lot of conversations about parking. I am sure if you make an R-80, they are going to have to limit the tenants or owners to one (1) car, no cars, or whatever it is. When we are looking at doubling the density on Rice Street, we are looking at infrastructure. Do we have the capacity for sewer and for water? If we are increasing to R-80, that is a whole other question as far as capacity goes. It is just things to consider as this bill moves through. Any other questions from the members? If there are no more questions from members, we will take public testimony. Do we have anyone registered to speak? COUNCIL MEETING 30 APRIL 10, 2019 Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: There is no one registered to speak. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone wishing to speak on this? (Councilmember Brun was noted as present.) MARY HAYES: Aloha, Councilmembers. My name is Mary Hayes and I live in Waimea. First, I would like to ask Councilmember Kagawa, have you spoken with any of the "illegals" as far as additional dwelling units (ADUs) go, as to why they are illegal? Council Chair Kaneshiro: We are not going to be able to respond but... Ms. Hayes: Oh, okay. Council Chair Kaneshiro: If you would like to address the question to the Council... Ms. Hayes: Yes, sir, okay. Councilmember Kagawa: Why are "illegals" illegal right, is what you want... Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa, let us...let her have her testimony. Ms. Hayes: No, he was... Councilmember Kagawa: No. I will answer it after. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, I do not want... Councilmember Kagawa: I will answer her in my discussion later. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, I do not want to waste... Councilmember Kagawa: On why I think "illegals" are illegal. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, I do not want you to waste your time waiting for an answer or anything. Ms. Hayes: Okay, yes, sir. I got it. When he brought it up that we were discussing the legal aspect of ARUs, he was concerned with the illegal aspect of ARUs. I have a situation with an illegal ARU. I have two (2) lots and one of them has apparently been zoned for a duplex. I have no children, I am COUNCIL MEETING 31 APRIL 10, 2019 going to die here on this island, and I am going to put my property in trust in perpetuity for either low-income or subsidized income, welfare. My situation out there and with the people that I have met, I have become very engaged with them. I have joined the aloha movement. I would like to build, but I cannot with the cost of all those fees. I do not know if I could get a loan for that. I might be able to get a loan for the two (2) units, but I do not know about the rest of it. That is all I wanted to say. Councilmember Kagawa: Can I ask a question? Ms. Hayes: Sure. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Do you have two (2) lots? Ms. Hayes: Yes. When I purchased it, it was nine thousand eight hundred (9,800) square feet and the house was only on five thousand (5,000). The other lot was empty. Councilmember Kagawa: Are you looking at adding two (2) more units? Ms. Hayes: Pardon me? Councilmember Kagawa: Your ideal would... Ms. Hayes: Yes, I would be looking at two (2) more units. Councilmember Kagawa: Two (2) more units, thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Ms. Hayes: I would have the trust pay one (1) mortgage. Yes, ma'am. Councilmember Cowden: The community that you are working with, are you looking for them to pay rent? Are you assisting or are you looking for paying rent or basically to be able to be available for HUD housing? Ms. Hayes: I do not think I understand what she said. Councilmember Cowden: It is alright. Council Chair Kaneshiro: It is alright. Okay, thank you. COUNCIL MEETING 32 APRIL 10, 2019 Ms. Hayes: Aloha. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Mr. Hart. BRUCE HART: For the record, Bruce Hart. I want to echo first what Vice Chair Kagawa said. This issue has come up last year and whenever this issue came before the Council, in setting aside the fact that we are all aware that we have a housing problem, you have a parking problem, you have noise problem, and you have what I have turned this social fabric of a neighborhood. It is not just Transient Vacation Rentals (TVRs), it is not just illegals, it is people who are hurting that are living two (2), three (3), and four (4) families to one (1) single-family residence. It is making victims out of people who are trying to cope with this in the neighborhood that they determined to live in for the rest of their life. I have a long-term lease, I do not want to move, there are no other units to move to, and I am dealing with this. I am asking you once again, just as I did a year ago, will you please...I know it is a hot button issue, but the noise, the coming and going of people when you have that many cars with that many people who are employed in one (1) house. I am not a person who is not compassionate and do not feel for the homeless. I do not think I have ever really said here out in public, but I was homeless for twelve (12) years. I understand what it is and I appreciate all of the help that I have received from all of the different agencies of the government. Please, when you increase density, realize the collateral damage it is going to do. You have to address parking. Do not put it all on the KPD. Do not put it all on the police because they do not have adequate tools to deal with it. They do not know what to do. They will go into a neighborhood and there are cars everywhere. If they started ticketing, oh my goodness, the commotion that would happen. All of this is happening and this is part of the discussion. Please, all I am asking is to make it part of the discussion. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to testify? Does anyone want a second time? If not, I will call this meeting back to order. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there any final discussion? Again, the motion is to receive this Communication. Do we have the bills coming up later in the meeting? Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, first of all I would like to thank Councilmember Chock and Councilmember Evslin for bringing and opening this discussion for out of the box ideas to try and cope with our affordable housing crisis. The crisis is so bad that it might take these out of the box ideas in order to try and COUNCIL MEETING 33 APRIL 10, 2019 speed up more units to be open to our local residents. When I talk about the illegals, I am meaning those that have unpermitted rentals in their current houses. Those who did not apply for...or their building plans do not show the kind of house that it actually is; where they have actual units with privacy, restrooms, and with kitchen units. The reason why we would know about those is a lot of times their neighbors complain. I guess once we go in and look, they will take out a refrigerator, and put it back the next day when we are gone. It is a cat and mouse game, there are a lot of them out there. It has been well documented back when Eddie Sarita was sitting on this Council. Back in the early 1970's, we had issues with Puhi and Hanamd'ulu. There are hundreds if not thousands of them spread out amongst this island. What I had hope was that when we address some of these ARU issues, is that somehow we could either crack down on the illegals that are adversely impacting their neighbors and community, or try and get them after-the-fact permits to get them legal to get them to comply and hook up separate meters to pay the cost, if necessary. Obviously, they have made a lot of money renting it out over all of these years. Like I said, to have one (1) water or sewer hook up when you have five (5) families renting different quarters, it is very difficult to compare with the regular normal single-family house. Where is the fairness? As we proceed with these types of issues, my question is, what are we going to do about the illegals? Even though you give some of these breaks, it is still cheaper in some ways to...if you are not planning on selling the house, it is cheaper for you to do it illegally rather than going and getting a permit. I had hoped that we could holistically solve this problem and make Kaua`i better by addressing the illegals as well as the future illegals. Instead of ignoring the problem as we have been since the 1970's, we basically ignored it. We have ignored our illegal problem, a lot of them are our local friends and neighbors. People are doing what they have to do to make money, but it does not mean that it is right. It does not mean that not doing it legally is right, it is not fair. It is not fair to...if one (1) person can do it illegally and we shut the blind eye; then everyone should be able to do it illegally and shut the blind eye. Then, we are in a "Third World" country with just shacks and (inaudible) all over the place. Do we want that for Kaua`i? I do not think so. Again, that is my holistic approach to try and bring fairness, equity, and of course support these out of the box ideas and try to see if we can really make a difference. We have seen the ARU Bill pass. We have tried from ten thousand (10,000) square foot lot, you can get a five thousand (5,000) square lot, and have an additional dwelling unit. That is a big change, but what happened in that time? There was only one (1) person that built in two (2) years or the one (1) year that we have passed it. That means the incentive of lot size shrinking where you could have that additional unit did not help because of the cost; like the ma'am just said. The building cost, permit cost, water hook up cost, and then you are not even paying the cost for all the material and your labor costs. We need to help somehow. This is a way that we could possibly help and we would have to do more due diligence. You need to look at the consequences with out of the box solutions. When you go out of the box, what is going to be the adverse consequences now? We will take our time. Thank you, Chair. COUNCIL MEETING 34 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Let me just say my intent is that we use our discussion now while we have the Communication with all six (6)proposals. I said resolution, but I meant bill, I would rather we just go through it, take the motion, and pass it instead of talking on each individual bill. That is the intent. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I want to thank both of our Councilmembers for bringing up the out of the box solution and for both of our testifiers. I have heard from both of them individually, and I have gone to both of their places, driven down your street, and they are both bringing up really important issues and both being at the impact of the overcrowding. Being at the capacity of incredible amount of compassion and helping with solutions that are just stridently needed in our community, I appreciate what you are having to say, Councilmember Kagawa, it is very complicated. We can have all kinds of unintended consequences and we have a crazy amount of people houselessness. In general, I am happy to have this go before the Planning Commission because that is what they are there for, to really have the vibrant discussion and to find out where it could be okay to do and where not. As the Additional Rental Unit did pass, I think especially because of the septic, the cesspools, and those type of issues, it did not really manifest. We continue to have less than safe or less than Department of Health standard housing, and still with the overcrowding, we did not get the best of either world. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. I am going to support moving this forward to the Planning Commission. I am looking forward to actually strengthening the Bills to whatever degree is possible on that level as is it returns back, hopefully it does return back. I wanted to kind of touch upon a couple of the issues that I think are coming up and I certainly agree with all of the speakers and all of our Councilmembers who have voiced their concerns. One concern was the TVR issues. My response to that is that I hear that our Planning Department is moving in a direction of trying to actually get a handle on it. The platform compliance initiatives that they are putting into play within this budget is something that we should be looking at and supporting. Also, increasing the enforcement officers and those enforcement capabilities is something that we are requesting and wanting to put into play. That is something that we should be looking at and addressing that end of the noncompliance issues that are coming up. The noncompliance issues were brought up in the context of how we can use our Housing Revolving Fund. I love the idea of being able to bring people into compliance that are suffering and need a little help. I would also say that one of the bills that we have here was specifically for how we put that subcategory of funding for this in particular. I am not clear if the Affordable Housing Revolving Fund is actually the right vehicle for what it is we are talking about, Councilmember Cowden. However, we also know there is an Enforcement Planning Fund, where we take fees that are from illegals or illegal activity, where we COUNCIL MEETING 35 APRIL 10, 2019 could create a program that might be able to address it. I am not sure, but I think it is a separate bill. I think it needs to be looked at separately. The idea of...I agree, why would we want to go from R-40 to R-80, all of it in one (1) swoop? I would say that particular initiative was spot-zone, therefore when we talk about Rice Street, there is more area there. When we talk about Rice Street and the future of Rice Street, we are talking about the use of Form-Based Code and mixed-use. While there are certain areas that have this R-40 now entitlement, not all of it does. We should be trying to include as much growth, equality, and fairness here for those on Rice Street that can build above commercial spaces. If there is room for open discussion to occur, where we are able to single out some of these issues, I am happy to do that. The street parking is certainly an issue. The ARU's require one (1) off-street parking. I think it is something that we will have to continue to come into compliance with. I think the Planning Department has some levers as it relates to continued building or increasing some of the density and how to address that. They have the opportunity; they have said that they could address it in their arena. I do not know what else? I think the bottom line is balance that we are talking about. I am happy to say that while it is more of a proactive sort of out of the box idea, we have to think about the challenges of the illegal aspect or the enforcement needs in it. Really what we are trying to provide here ultimately is a way to make it legal for people to do the right thing. Until we engage the community and provide the avenue for them to that, we will continue to see illegal activity. That is why I am supporting this. Thank you, Council Chair. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Brun. Councilmember Brun: Thank you, Chair. Yes, I will be supporting to move it to the Planning Commission. What I had issues with was Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745), relating to ARUs on Rice Street. I will be waiting to see what the Administrative Rules are on this, waiting to hear from Ka`aina and Steve, personally, on what they support, and what we are able to move forward. Yes, I will be supporting this moving forward and hopefully it gets back from the Planning Commission with more answers that we need to move forward. Yes, I kind of had an issue with Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745), but I will still support it moving forward. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: I really appreciate everyone's comments. I think everyone is on the right track and I look forward to the bills being strengthened. I think there is so much here and it really does need all of our input to make these bills better. I think Councilmember Kagawa is right in focusing on the number of illegal units. I have always thought we had sort of an unofficial Affordable Housing Policy based on illegal units. Friends that I have who are able to find affordable housing, they are illegal. For me, one of the reasons to try and put this together was COUNCIL MEETING 36 APRIL 10, 2019 to figure out how we make those people fold into legality. As Councilmember Kagawa said, when they are illegal, especially with the sewer issue, if you have three (3)rental units in one (1) house on one (1) sewer bill, that is coming at the cost of a single person on a fixed income who is paying the exact same sewer bill. In doing this and by allowing them to come into compliance with minimal or no fees, we are ensuring that that sewer bill is at least charged equitably. I think when it comes to property taxes, allowing this is the reason that we see this being a net positive. When you have an illegal rental that the County does not know about, you could be getting"Homestead" for your house, but you could be renting out lots of portions of it. That is unfair for the person who has the legal rental and is paying Commercial use for that house. To be in compliance with the Long-term Affordable Rental Program, they have to keep the person in there affordably forever or they have to pay Commercial Use tax; which is fair for the rest of the island. I think those were all good comments and I look forward to hopefully hearing the feedback from the Planning Commission later on. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone else? Yes, I know, I think there is going to be a robust conversation on this. There is going to be conversation with the Planning Commission. When it comes back to us, it is going to go through our entire process and we are going to hear this probably at least four (4) more times. We will be able to fine-tune or get any things that people are uncomfortable with and really look at any unintended consequences. At the end of the day, we will probably find that we are trying to make the building process of these ARUs a little easier. That is what we tried to do with adding the density. We tried to give more incentive for someone to actually build a unit, because if we make it so difficult for anyone to build a unit, we get zero (0) units, and that does not help anyone. Increasing the density and trying to do the ARU are little things that we are trying to push and see if this is going to be the incentive that is going to get people to start building another unit or renting out another unit. Yes it is hard, you do not want to do too big of a push where it would cause a landslide of everything, and then we start getting complaints about parking or infrastructure. I think these are little moves to kind of push it to see how we can address our housing crisis right now. I will be interested to see what will come back. With that, the motion on the floor is to receive the Communication. The motion to receive C 2019-77 for the record was then put, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item, please. SCOTT K. SATO, Deputy County Clerk: We are in the middle of page 3. COUNCIL MEETING 37 APRIL 10, 2019 CLAIMS: C 2019-78 Communication (03/15/2019) from the County Clerk, transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kaua`i by Bernadette A. D'Amore, for damages to her personal property, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of Kauai. C 2019-79 Communication (03/20/2019) from the County Clerk, transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kaua`i by Normandie Yadao, for damages to his vehicle, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of Kaua`i. Councilmember Kagawa moved to refer C 2019-78 and C 2019-79 to the Office of the County Attorney for disposition and/or report back to the Council, seconded by Councilmember Chock. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in audience wishing to testify on this? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any discussion from the members? The motion to refer C 2019-78 and C 2019-79 to the Office of the County Attorney for disposition and/or report back to the Council was then put, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item, please. COMMITTEE REPORTS: COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE: A report (No. CR-COW 2019-08) submitted by the Committee of the Whole, recommending that the following be Approved on second and final reading: "Bill No. 2736 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2, ORDINANCE NO. 891, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND REFUNDING CERTAIN BONDS OF THE COUNTY; FIXING OR AUTHORIZING THE FIXING OF THE FORM, DENOMINATIONS, AND CERTAIN OTHER DETAILS OF SUCH BONDS AND PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF SUCH BONDS TO THE PUBLIC," A report (No. CR-COW 2019-09) submitted by the Committee of the Whole, recommending that the following be Approved on second and final reading: COUNCIL MEETING 38 APRIL 10, 2019 "Bill No. 2737 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2, ORDINANCE NO. 1019, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS; FIXING OR AUTHORIZING THE FIXING OF THE FORM, DENOMINATIONS, AND CERTAIN OTHER DETAILS OF SUCH BONDS AND PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF SUCH BONDS TO THE PUBLIC;AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF BOND ANTICIPATION NOTES; AND PROVIDING FOR OTHER MATTERS AND ACTIONS PERTAINING TO THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF THE BONDS," Councilmember Chock moved for approval of the reports, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any discussion from the members? The motion for approval of the reports was then put, and carried by a vote of 6:0:1 (Councilmember Kuali`i was excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item. RESOLUTIONS: Resolution No. 2019-29 — RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF THE KAUAI COUNTY 2019 ACTION PLAN (COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT) WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FOR A GRANT UNDER TITLE I OF THE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1974 AND 1987 (PUBLIC LAWS 93-383 AND 100-242), AS AMENDED: Councilmember Kagawa moved for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-29, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Do we have any questions on this Resolution from the members? No questions. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this Resolution? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. : ,. COUNCIL MEETING 39 APRIL 10, 2019 There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any discussion from the members? If not, roll call vote. The motion for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-29 was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR ADOPTION: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL — 6, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL — 0, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1. Mr. Sato: Seven (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Next item. Resolution No. 2019-30 — RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF THE KAUAI COUNTY 2019 ACTION PLAN (HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM) WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FOR A GRANT UNDER TITLE II OF THE CRANSTON-GONZALEZ NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT (PUBLIC LAW 101-625), AS AMENDED: Councilmember Chock moved for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-30, seconded by Councilmember Brun. The motion for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-30 was then put, and carried by the following vote: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any questions on this Resolution? Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: No questions. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I will suspend the rules. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. Councilmember Chock: Sorry. Is that a question? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Do you have a question? Councilmember Chock: Actually no, no question, it was for discussion. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry, Steve, no question. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this? COUNCIL MEETING 40 APRIL 10, 2019 There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, any final discussion from the members? Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: I just want to thank Councilmember Cowden for putting this forward and I did submit testimony in regards to it. I am not sure of its status and I am happy to see if there is anything else. I think this came through an E-mail from one of the constituents who is here, Allan Parachini, I am hoping if any of this one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) is out there and can be... Council Chair Kaneshiro: I am sorry, we are on the Resolution relating to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds. Councilmember Chock: Are we on the second one? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, second resolution. Councilmember Chock: I thought we took the both of them'? Council Chair Kaneshiro: No, we only took one. Councilmember Chock: Yes, I jumped around and I was gone already. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I was like, "Hey, I did not see Councilmember Cowden's name on it." Councilmember Chock: I am sorry, Steve, no wonder you said that. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, I want to congratulate Steve Franco for being named Housing Director and I wish you well. I have always appreciated your answers here and I think you will do a great job. I want to thank former Housing Director Kanani Fu, she is my cousin, but I want to thank her for her past services as housing director and I think she has done some wonderful things. I think they have a great successor. Steve, good luck. This Council is open to work on our most difficult thing to solve, which is affordable housing. We are here to help and you have a team here that is willing to work with you. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I want to second that. I look forward to learning more about these grants and I am eager to be learning and working with you because we have a lot of places that can use the help. Thank you so much. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone else? If not, roll call vote. COUNCIL MEETING 41 APRIL 10, 2019 The motion for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-30 was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR ADOPTION: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL — 6, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Mr. Sato: Seven (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Next item, please. Resolution No. 2019-31 — SUPPORTING THE GOVERNOR'S EFFORTS IN URGING THE BANK OF AMERICA TO RETURN TO HAWAII TO MEET WITH NA POT KOKUA AND THE HAWAII FAIR LENDING COALITION TO REACH A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT RELATING TO A $150,000,000 LOAN COMMITMENT FOR NATIVE HAWAIIANS ON HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS: Councilmember Chock moved for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-31, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any questions on this? Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: First of all, I want to acknowledge the Kapa'a High School history class who is watching this right now, this is an important resolution for them. They are going to be looking at this resolution and I do not know if we are going to work through it at all or we are just going too... Council Chair Kaneshiro: We all see the resolution. If we have questions on the resolution, it was brought up by Councilmember Evslin, so we can ask him questions on the resolution. Councilmember Cowden: It is a... Council Chair Kaneshiro: We will have discussion on it, but do you have any questions on the resolution itself? I have a question, I have never heard of this and I do not know where it came from. I know it started in like the `90s, and I was probably high school still. Can you give me a rough overview on this? Of course, it is a resolution and it is identifying that there may have been something in the past, and we are bringing it back up. It does not push or urge...it is just to identify that, "Hey, maybe we are not getting our fair shake at this." Councilmember Evslin: Yes. Just a quick overview, this Resolution was taken basically in its entirety from what the State Senate, I believe, has passed onto the House...I do not know if the House has passed it yet. Maui County has COUNCIL MEETING 42 APRIL 10, 2019 passed something nearly identical last year and Allan Parachini, who is out in the audience, had covered it for Civil Beat a couple of weeks ago. The quick overview as I understand is that Bank of America was found to have been discriminating in their mortgage practices against Native Hawaiians on Homestead land. As part of an acquisition agreement for purchasing a Liberty Bank, the Federal Reserve mandated that they provide one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) in low-interest loans to families on Hawaiian Homelands and an additional thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) on top of that to post-Iniki Kaua`i. Low-interest loans targeted to low-income individuals. That never happened, and Bank of America packed out and left Hawai`i, basically. There is some communication in here regarding our former housing director saying, "These loans were never made to the people of Hawai`i and urging the Federal Reserve not to approve the acquisition of this company." All it is saying is, "Hey, let us revive this and support the Governor's efforts in holding Bank of America accountable." Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: If I could also add, I think it is first iteration from the Governor did not include Kaua`i, which is like a "why not," especially as it relates to `Iniki. I am glad that this was brought to our attention in order for it to be addressed and to also include us in this Resolution because I think it stands stronger to say, "Kaua`i really needs to be a part of this and to see what we can get." Thank you for introducing it. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Evslin. Councilmember Evslin: I think it is important to highlight the impact that practices like this has had on Native Hawaiian communities. Redlining is a practice that happens on you know...it is prevalent on the mainland in the '40s and '50s, where they would not give loans to African American communities. This sets up a...when you do not have access to capital, it is much harder to build wealth. This has done untold damage to the Native Hawaiian community in Hawai`i. I think we can do everything possible to begin to rectify that and this is one small step. Council Chair Kaneshiro: I have a general question. What is the likelihood of us getting anything out of this? Councilmember Evslin: I have no idea. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: My crystal ball says it is like trying to hit the mega bucks, but anyways, people do hit it sometimes. COUNCIL MEETING 43 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I think it also makes a statement of us as a Council, as a government entity, recognizing a social injustice that happened and that we do not stand for what did happen or that we practice through ignoring it. While it is just a resolution, it is a resolution that I would easily support. I think it is important for us to be able to show where there has been inequity and that is not what we want to tolerate in the future. Hopefully, there is some consequence to Bank of America because they have been a part of doing a number of things that have not been good for the Country, but certainly for the Hawaiian community. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, are there any other questions? If not, I will suspend the rules. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify? Mr. Hart. There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. Mr. Hart: For the record, Bruce Hart. When I saw this on the agenda, anytime I see the name "Bank of America," I pay attention. I have a little story for you to kind of tell you how I feel about Bank of America. Back before the crash in 2007, I had an account with Bank of America. For me, I had a considerable sum of money in a money market account with Bank of America. The reason I bought into it was because it had fixed almost seven percent (7%). I thought this is pretty good, I cannot lose money on this one. I put some funds in there and there was a clause in there that I could not take any money out. If I took any money out, then I would lose that high yield. I let the money sit there. I was praying one day and I felt the Lord say to me, "I want you take that money out of there." I said, "Lord, it is making almost seven percent (7%)," and I had realized the Lord already knew that. He said to me, "Well,just take a little out as you need it and then the rest of it will make a little bit of money." I started doing that but then it got to a point where he said, "Take it out." About three (3) months later it crashed, Bank of America went down, and I would have been one of those people holding out my hand. I think I answer as Vice Chair Kagawa did. What is the chance of getting this back? Well, I read all the documentation and the letter from Bank of America to the Housing Agency. You are not going to get any money, not in my opinion. I do agree with Councilmember Cowden—hold them accountable, make it public, this is the kind of attitude that they have and do not bank with Bank of America. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to testify on this? Seeing none, I will call this meeting back to order. There were no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there any final discussion from the COUNCIL MEETING 44 APRIL 10, 2019 members? If not, roll call vote. The motion for adoption of Resolution No. 2019-31 was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR ADOPTION: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL— 6, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL— 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Mr. Sato: Six (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: As far as Bills for First Reading, if the members are okay, I would like to just take them all in one vote. The motion would be to refer to the Planning Commission. Are we okay with that? Councilmember Evslin: Yes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Kagawa: So move. Mr. Sato: These are Bills for First Reading. BILLS FOR FIRST READING: Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2740) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO ADDITIONAL RENTAL UNITS Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2741) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 11A KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON LAND DEVELOPMENT Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2742) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6, ARTICLE 9, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2743) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 25, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT CAPACITY ASSESSMENT COUNCIL MEETING 45 APRIL 10, 2019 Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2744) —A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 12, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO BUILDING PERMIT FEES Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 10, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE LIHU`E TOWN CORE URBAN DESIGN DISTRICT Councilmember Chock moved to refer Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2740), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2741), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2742), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2743), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2744), and Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745) to the Planning Commission, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on any of these Bills? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, is there any final discussion from the members? If not, roll call vote. The motion to refer Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2740), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2741), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2742), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2743), and Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2744), Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2745) to the Planning Commission was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR MOTION: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL— 6, AGAINST MOTION: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL— 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Mr. Sato: Seven (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Next item, please. BILLS FOR SECOND READING: Bill No. 2736 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2, ORDINANCE NO. 891, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND REFUNDING CERTAIN COUNCIL MEETING 46 APRIL 10, 2019 BONDS OF THE COUNTY; FIXING OR AUTHORIZING THE FIXING OF THE FORM, DENOMINATIONS, AND CERTAIN OTHER DETAILS OF SUCH BONDS AND PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF SUCH BONDS TO THE PUBLIC Councilmember Kagawa moved to approve Bill No. 2736, on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Any questions or discussion from the members? If not, roll call vote. The motion to approve Bill No. 2736, on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR APPROVAL: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL— 6, AGAINST APPROVAL: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL— 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Seven (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Next item. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: On page six (6). Bill No. 2737 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 2, ORDINANCE NO. 1019, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OF THE COUNTY OF KAUAI FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS; FIXING OR AUTHORIZING THE FIXING OF THE FORM, DENOMINATIONS, AND CERTAIN OTHER DETAILS OF SUCH BONDS AND PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF SUCH BONDS TO THE PUBLIC; AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF BOND ANTICIPATION NOTES; AND PROVIDING FOR OTHER MATTERS AND ACTIONS PERTAINING TO THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF THE BONDS Councilmember Kagawa moved to approve Bill No. 2737, on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval, seconded by Councilmember Brun. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any questions from the members? Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this? COUNCIL MEETING 47 APRIL 10, 2019 There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, any final discussion? If not, roll call vote. The motion to approve Bill No. 2737, on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR APPROVAL: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL— 6, AGAINST APPROVAL: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL— 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Seven (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Next item. EXECUTIVE SESSION: ES-988 Pursuant to Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) Sections 92-4 and 92-5(a)(4), and Kaua`i County Charter Section 3.07(E), the Office of the County Attorney requests an Executive Session with the Council, to provide a briefing and request for settlement authority in EEOC No. 486-2018-00540 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), a complaint by a County employee alleging gender-based discrimination against the Kaua`i Police Department. This briefing and consultation involves consideration of the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and/or liabilities of the Council and the County as they relate to this agenda item. ES-989 Pursuant to Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) Sections 92-4 and 92-5(a)(3), and Kaua`i County Charter Section 3.07(E), the Office of the County Attorney requests an Executive Session with the Council to discuss the acquisition of several large parcels of land for community- based needs including affordable housing, park facilities, and the expansion of public utilities. This briefing and consultation involves consideration of the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and/or liabilities of the Council and the County as they relate to this agenda item. ES-990 Pursuant to Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) Sections 92-4 and 92-5(a)(2), (4), and (8), the purpose of this Executive Session is to consider matters that require confidentiality under state law, to wit, the hiring of a County Auditor, including interviewing any candidates, and terms and conditions of employment. The further purpose of this Executive Session is to meet with the Council's legal counsel on questions and issues relating to the Council's powers, duties, privileges, COUNCIL MEETING 48 APRIL 10, 2019 immunities, liabilities, claims, and/or potential claims, as such powers, duties, privileges, immunities, liabilities, claims, and/or potential claims relate to the foregoing item, and to take such action as the Council deems appropriate. Councilmember Kagawa moved to convene in Executive Session for ES-988, ES-989, and ES-990, seconded by Councilmember Chock. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify on these? There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Kaneshiro: Seeing none, roll call vote. Councilmember Kagawa: I have a question. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Can I ask the County Attorney a question regarding item two, ES-989? Council Chair Kaneshiro: Sure, and he is able to let us know if he wants to answer it here or if it needs to be in the Executive Session. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes, for me, when we bought the Black Pot parcel from the Sheehan family, the public knew what was going on. I am just wondering if we are allowed to disclose at least what area these large parcels are. I have heard it many of times that, "Wow, why does the westside not get anything?" I am just wondering if we are able to say where these parcels are. MATTHEW M. BRACKEN, County Attorney: We should be able to very soon, I mean still... Councilmember Kagawa: We still cannot do it today? Mr. Bracken: At this point, I would say no. It is still very early in the negotiation stages and we are kind of going back and forth. Councilmember Kagawa: I gave a hint though; is that okay? COUNCIL MEETING 49 APRIL 10, 2019 Council Chair Kaneshiro: Okay, let us cut his microphone; before he says anymore. Any other questions from the members? If not, roll call vote to go into Executive Session. There being no objections, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: The motion to convene in Executive Session for ES-988, ES-989, and ES-990 was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION: Brun, Chock, Cowden, Evslin, Kagawa, Kaneshiro TOTAL — 6, AGAINST EXECUTIVE SESSION: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Kuali`i TOTAL — 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Six (6) ayes. Council Chair Kaneshiro: That concludes the business on our agenda for today. I am not seeing or hearing any objections, this meeting is now adjourned. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the Council Meeting adjourned at 11:09 a.m. Respectfully submitted, JADE . FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA County Clerk :ks