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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/14/2019 Special Council minutes SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MAY 14, 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 Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 8:30 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Felicia Cowden Honorable Luke A. Evslin Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Excused: Honorable Arthur Brun Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Councilmember Cowden moved for approval of the agenda, as circulated, seconded by Councilmember Chock. 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, are there any questions or discussion? The motion for approval of the agenda, as circulated, was then put, and carried by a vote of 4:0:3 (Councilmembers Brun, Kagawa, and Kuali`i were excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Next item. COMMUNICATION: C 2019-110 Communication (05/08/2019) from the Mayor, submitting his Supplemental Budget Communication for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 and Proposed Amendments to the Budget Bills, pursuant to Section 19.02A of the Kaua`i County Charter. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 2 MAY 14, 2019 JADE K. FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA, County Clerk: Council Chair Kaneshiro, we do have one (1) registered speaker. Councilmember Chock moved to schedule public hearing for May 22, 2019 at 8:30 a.m., and referred to the May 29, 2018 Council Meeting, seconded by Councilmember Cowden. Council Chair Kaneshiro: With that, I will suspend the rules. There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. MICHELLE GIBSON: Good morning. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Good morning. You will have three (3) minutes. The light will turn green, it will turn yellow when you have thirty (30) seconds, and red when your time is up. State your name for the record and again, this is regarding the Supplemental Budget submitted by the Mayor. Ms. Gibson: Yes. Councilmember Cowden: You can get three (3) more minutes afterwards if you are not done. Ms. Gibson: Michelle Gibson. Good morning. First of all, I would like to thank all of you. I have seen some of you in my classroom. I am a teacher at Kapa'a High School and I am teaching American problems and humanities. I have been teaching for twenty-one (21) years. This is my twenty-second (22nd). I have seen a lot of things from our students. I am teaching high school seniors. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this class is being able to go ahead and communicate with all of you. Thank you for taking their E-mails, for communicating with them, for coming to speak with them, and giving them inspiration. It means a lot to me because I want to go ahead and inspire them to be involved. I want to inspire them to be part of a solution and not a problem. I do not want them to be complainers and I do not want them to go ahead and take on the story of, "well, they did not do this or they did not do that." I want them to talk to you and be able to go ahead and connect with you. I think that is what is the most important about aloha, connections. I want to thank you all of you for your leadership. I also want to inspire and encourage you with regards to the budget. I see these students struggling. I have fed them. My first year here, in the first four (4) months here, I had a student actually eat Christmas dinner with me because she had no place to go. I see the reality of struggles that some of you may have forgotten because it has been a while you have been in the classroom. I choose to stay in the classroom because I like their energy; they are positive and I try to give them hope. Someone gave me hope as a kid and so I am trying to go ahead and pay that forward. I am asking you with your leadership to go ahead and pay it forward for them. Their futures are dependent upon your decisions. Their parents voted for you, I voted for you, and we voted for the Mayor with regards to the leadership for this island. There are so many beautiful things here, so many wonderful things, and so much potential for this island. We need to go ahead and reinvest. The budget that we have right now is amazing. Our students SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 3 MAY 14, 2019 have looked at the things that you have planned. The things we have planned are amazing and progressive. The things that we have planned from the State money that we are getting is amazing, but we need to invest for the next ten (10) years, twenty (20) years, and not just the next two (2) years. You need to go ahead and look forward because those kids are going to go ahead and want to have families. The natural increase of population growth is phenomenal on this island and it is projected in the next ten (10) years to increase by another ten thousand (10,000) and that is aside from tourism that decide to go ahead and become residents here. The students have researched the homeless rate that has gone up fifty-one percent (51%) in one (1) year. They have researched the jobless rate that has gone up in the past year. They know that affordable housing is not affordable on this island. I got them involved with Habitat for Humanity. We have actually taken two (2) trips to Habitat for Humanity and actually invested their time and sweat equity helping two (2) families out there. Council Chair Kaneshiro: That is your first three (3) minutes. Wade, are you planning to testify? Okay. You can have your last three (3) minutes and then that is all the public testimony we will be able to take. Ms. Gibson: I understand. I am hoping that I do not cry. Sustainability, that is what this is budget should be about; sustainability for the future. Investing, because the current budget that you have is already allocated. The money that we got from the State and the money in your budget is already allocated for 2021. I am not opposed to raises. I understand that some of you voted against the raises. I am not opposed to it because quality of life is quality of life, even for your leadership. We depend on you to make the decisions for us. I cannot be in your position and I know all of the things because you have come to my classroom and shared some of those things. We have researched things on this island. I know that you are trying to balance a giant plate with a bunch of different things. Please inspire your minds to remember why you got into leadership, why you wanted to go ahead and lead for this island, and why you wanted to represent these people and these children and kids that are hungry that I feed in my classroom. I buy big boxes of things at Costco and feed these kids because they do not have any food. I have kids working two (2)jobs to help their parents be able to go ahead and afford the struggle in Kapa`a. This is real and I see it every day in the classroom, and that is why I am glad that you came to my classroom to see them, too. Please do not forget why you got into leadership. Please reinvest in the future of sustainability and that concept of reminding yourself that this is what we are doing now, but this is also what we need to do for the future, please. Thank you. Council Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Anyone else? 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 Chair Kaneshiro: Are there any questions or final discussion? Councilmember Cowden. SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 4 MAY 14, 2019 Councilmember Cowden: I just want to say that I appreciate all of the work that has gone into it, the effort, and everyone involved. I want to thank our public testimony today, we are on page with you. The motion to schedule public hearing for May 22, 2019 at 8:30 a.m., and referred to the May 29, 2019 Council Meeting was then put, and carried by a vote of 4:0:3 (Councilmembers Brun, Kagawa, and Kuali`i were excused). Council Chair Kaneshiro: Motion carried. Seeing no further business and hearing no objections, this Special Council Meeting is now adjourned. Have a safe trip to the Western Interstate Region (WIR) conference. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the Special Council Meeting adjourned at 8:37 a.m. Respectfully submitted, 1CUjs.--------- JADE . FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA County Clerk :aa