HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/10/2020 Special Council minutes (C-2020-158) SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
JUNE 10, 2020
The Special 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, June 10, 2020 at 8.36 a.m., after which the
following Members answered the call of the roll.
Honorable Mason K. Chock
Honorable Felicia Cowden
Honorable Luke A Evslin (via remote technology)
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i
Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro
Excused Honorable Arthur Brun*
Council Chair Kaneshiro Please note that we will run today's meeting
pursuant to the Governor's Supplementary Emergency Proclamation dated
March 16, 2020, Sixth Supplementary Emergency Proclamation dated April 25, 2020,
and Seventh Supplementary Emergency Proclamation dated May 5, 2020
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Council Chair Kaneshiro The first item is the approval of the agenda
Councilmember Chock moved for approval of the agenda, as circulated,
seconded by Councilmember Kuali`i
(No written testimony was received and no registered speakers requested to
testify regarding this agenda item.)
Council Chair Kaneshiro Any discussion on the agenda from the
members?
The motion for approval of the agenda, as circulated, was then put, and carried
by a vote of 6.0.1*.
Council Chair Kaneshiro. The motion is carried Next item please
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 2 JUNE 10, 2020
COMMUNICATION
C 2020-158 Communication (06/03/2020) from the Managing Director,
requesting Council approval to receive and expend a Federal funds subaward of
$28,715,551 00, from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Act received by the State of Hawaii, to be used for expenditures centered around
direct assistance, economic and supply chain resilience, and response and
preparation for COVID-19-related health emergencies for the period of March 1, 2020
through December 30, 2020
Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve C 2020-158, seconded by
Councilmember Kagawa
Council Chair Kaneshiro We did receive one (1) piece of written
testimony and we have two (2) recorded testimonies that we will play right now
There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony
YOSHITO L'HOTE (via voicemail message). Hi, this is Yoshito L'Hote
I am the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for `Aina Ho`okupu o Kilauea I was
wondering if we can still make telephone testimonies, regarding today's discussion
about the COVID-19 funds We at 'Alma Ho`okupu o Kilauea just wanted to thank
the Council for all the work that they do and also the support that they have offered.
We are very happy to say, that this long-shot bet of allowing us to come and develop
this agricultural center has, I believe, paid off We are now in the process of bringing
in one million dollars ($1,000,000) into the economy and we have tripled our staff
We want to double our internship program and we are really looking for the ability
to keep doing good things for Kaua`i and distributing food around the island I just
wanted to make that testimony and I am not sure how it works, so thank you, very
much
GREGG PACILIO (via voicemail message). Good morning, my name
is Gregg Pacilio, my phone number is 346-5972, and my E-mail is gpacilio@hhc org
I will try to be quick I do have a lot of points and I would love it if you gave me a call
to discuss more of them after this brief recording I want to speak in support of the
CARES Act funding for communities that are outdoor and wellness-based for our
population at this time We have a population that have been indoors for three (3)
months and needs to get out and do things that can be socially-distanced Let me
introduce myself. I am the Rehabilitation Director for the Hawaii Health Systems
Corporation (HHSC) — Kaua`i which are two (2) hospitals that are State-owned and
run and I have been a physical therapist here for seventeen (17) years. My wife
Michelle has been a physical therapist for the same amount of time here on Kaua`i,
and our two (2) kids go to Kalaheo Elementary School and Chiefess Kamakahelei
Middle School. We are homeowners in Kalaheo as well To specifically support a
skate park here on Kaua`i, I want to say that it is healthy, mentally and
physically...the sense of community grows and it is a very diversely-attended sport
You see moms with strollers and siblings It does not discriminate based on gender,
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 3 JUNE 10, 2020
race, or ethnicity, even abilities We have people of all abilities and kupuna
watching. I have seen that personally at many skate parks across the island, even
here on Kaua`i with the small examples we have had through the years
Skateboarding is a large part of our community already but we do not have a facility
like they have at the City & County of Honolulu, Maui, and Hawai`i Island The kaki
safety events at Wilcox Elementary School, Kalaheo Elementary School,
Kamehameha Schools, Kekaha Elementary School, et cetera...many events with a lot
of community support There were a lot of people at the Planning Department's event
last September at Waimea Theater...I want to say there were over one hundred (100)
people supporting skate parks I brought in three hundred (300) additional
signatures, including emergency room (ER) doctors, other physicians, orthopedic
surgeons, school principals, you name it Everybody seems to be supporting skate
parks and I know that many of you do as well. Thank you for your thoughtful
direction, stewarding, and helping this to become a reality for Kaua`i people We have
childhood obesity, loneliness, depression, suicide, and we have COVID-19 related
deconditioning This is an opportunity again to be outdoors, active, and an activity
that can be socially-distanced Sorry if I am losing track or being slow I think I hit
most of my points...the widespread community park support, the diverse,
multigenerational gender inclusivity, and the healthcare proactive wellness aspect of
skateboarding. To finish up, I want to say, "Yes, it has economic benefits and there
is a large economy within developing the park as well as the community that it builds
and the skate culture that occurs around it " Local businesses already combined with
the Kaua`i Skate `Ohana to build events that would promote business the clothing
of today is very much inspired by skateboarding and it all works together when you
have a quality facility. As a local homeowner with kids and a wife, I want to let you
folks know that we do have local nonprofits here on Kaua`i that are ready to hire local
people for supplies and labor. The Kaua`i Skate `Ghana is ready for this and we have
been preparing for many years Again, I would like to thank-you for your time If
you have any further questions or would like to discuss anything relating to this,
Gregg Pacilio, 346-5972 Thank you for accepting this testimony to the Kaua`i County
Council, today on June 10th, aloha.
Council Chair Kaneshiro• That is all the testimony we have received on
this item While the rules are suspended, I will let Mike take it away If you want to
give us an overview, Mike We are not able to hear you, Mike
MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, Managing Director. Council Chair Kaneshiro
and Councilmembers, Mike Dahilig, Managing Director, for the record. First, I would
like to thank the Council for convening a Special Council Meeting for this item. I
know that many of the items relating to COVID-19 have been on the fly. One of the
things we have been doing last Wednesday while the Council Meeting was going on
was having this correspondence forwarded to you of the Governor requiring a pretty
quick turnaround We appreciate your flexibility and taking the time out of your
schedule to convene the Special Council Meeting to meet the Governor's
requirements
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 4 JUNE 10, 2020
We are requesting for action, by the Council, a request to receive and expend
funds for the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
and we would be the subaward grantee of approximately twenty-eight million seven
hundred thousand dollars ($28,700,000) As part of the requirements by Governor
David Y. Ige that needs to be submitted by June 12th or this Friday is a planned
budget of expenditures for these moneys. Over the past few weeks, we appreciated
the informal dialogue that we have had with you as we are also required to track
potential spending of CARES Act money as asked by the Senate Ways and Means
Committee and the House Finance Committee of the Legislature who appropriated
these funds At this time, I do not have an actual Session Law number, so we are
referring to this as Bill No 75, HD1, as the requirements we are currently following
to "tee up" expenditures of these moneys What is included in this meeting today is
the consultation that is required with the legislative body for conditional receiving of
these funds pursuant to Bill No 75, HD1 We expect that to be signed by the
Governor and I will be able to forward you folks the actual Session Law number
shortly. As mentioned in the memorandum, the proposed strategy for expending
these funds revolves around three (3) State areas, one is direct assistance, which is
assistance that will be given to predominantly nonprofits or the community at-large
in the form of grants We would look at the second area as economic and supply-chain
resiliency This is looking at predominantly hardening our food supply and other
areas of agriculture, that is something that has been an issue over time due to things
like Young Brothers, the potential drawdown of services, and other ancillary issues
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Mike, I am going to stop you real quickly If
you could stand a little bit further back...
Mr. Dahilig. Let me see if I can drawdown the sensitivity
of the microphone. Is my microphone volume better this time?
Council Chair Kaneshiro Yes
Mr Dahilig Okay, I will try to talk softer and slow
Council Chair Kaneshiro Yes, probably softer and slower
Mr. Dahing• The third area is related to response and
preparation features related to COVID-19 emergencies. We know that the emergency
period...are you still getting the feedback?
Councilmember Kagawa You are good
Council Chair Kaneshiro• No, it is working
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 5 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr Dahilig These are expenses directly related to the
County's response What we are concerned about is that we know COVID-19 is still
being circulating in the community We need to be able to have funds available going
into December 30th to be able to sustain a potential second wave or those types of
support systems Again, if an incidence of disease were to come back to the islands,
those would be items related to those areas The initial memorandum that I sent
over to you folks included the philosophy that we tried to equally distribute the
twenty-eight million seven hundred thousand dollars ($28,700,000) in these areas.
However, as we still solicited feedback with our Economic Development team, as well
as some of our community support functions here at the County, we tried to push the
money to direct assistance and the economic and supply chain resiliency At this
time, what you will see is approximately eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) or
sixty percent (60%) of the budget is specifically for direct access In addition, we have
additional moneys that is specifically going for houseless types of initiatives and the
overall administrative costs that the County we will be needing when it comes to
labor will only be five percent (5%) of the overall budget, therefore, we are trying to
keep that as low as possible We circulated via E-mail Monday afternoon a draft
budget for you folks to view in the system. It is a proposal that the County
Administration is sending over for your review and we are available for any questions
regarding this budget or any function as to how the CARES Act agreement or sub-
agreement with the Governor is going to work. I am available for any questions,
Chair
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Are there any questions from the
members Councilmember Chock.
Councilmember Chock Thank you, Mike, for this updated
budget I just see some changes to the previous draft, so I wanted to get a little bit of
clarity on them It looks like we moved, for instance, agriculture infrastructure
towards agricultural grants, which I am supportive of and pleased to see There are
other areas with grants and I am wondering if you could just explain how you folks
intend to process the grants? What size of grants you are looking to disburse and
when?
Mr. Dahing. The large premise of this is that we are
concerned with the very short turnaround at the end of disbursement and complete
expenditure In reviewing the guidance from the Department of Treasury at the
Federal-level, along with the guidance document given by the State, "the handbook"
it is pretty clear that construction activities need to be completed by December 30th.
On top of that, there is a requirement for us to follow some type of procurement
process, so that really trumps the performance period when you are looking at a hard
deadline on December 30th That is why we have looked at grants as a means of
pushing money out towards the private sector, as a way to have money being injected,
rather than the County running procured items specifically on our end That is why
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 6 JUNE 10, 2020
you see the example he showed on the one with agricultural assistance we moved to
more of a grant model...that is something that would be initiated by the County for
construction The way we were looking at trying to disburse the money is through
competitive means There is a requirement in the sub-grant agreement that the
moneys are guaranteed to be disbursed free of conflict of interest, so the best way that
we can see, at least being able to insulate a liability for the County, is to at least run
all these grant approvals through an request for proposal (RFP) process, even though
it is short. We are currently developing an RFP process, that should the Council
approve the receipt and expenditure of the funds, we would be immediately pushing
out proposals to the nonprofit community to ask what we can do to support these
general initiatives I do not believe that at this time we are looking at specifically a
hard limitation on grant amounts, but that may vary by different initiatives that are
in the different budget line items That is something that we are open to come back
for What we are attempting to do is to try to get the RFP process grant
sub-agreements with the County through legal review and disbursements so that the
actual expenditure of the funds by the nonprofits can be initiated on July 16th That
would largely give the private sector and the economic community approximately four
and a half(4 5) months of performance time before we start running up the December
period One other thing, and the reason why we try to expand the performance period
as much as possible, is that there is a requirement by the State that on
December 11th, we do not anticipate moneys to be expended by any of the means we
are deploying We need to certify the amount that is remaining and return those
funds to the State of Hawai`i. That is why we are increasingly concerned about the
durability of the nonprofits being able to spend down this money, so we do not end up
in a situation where we have to return money back to the State, which they have to
return back to the Federal government. I hope that answers your question,
Councilmember.
Councilmember Chock. Yes, so again, I think I heard you say that at
this point there is not any range of the grant funding and that it could be based on
project and need, so you folks are going to open it up to whatever proposals are in
each grant line item, and from there, mitigate it, is that correct?
Mr. Dahilig. That is correct
Councilmember Chock Okay, thank you
Council Chair Kaneshiro Follow-up, Councilmember Cowden
Councilmember Cowden I have follow-up questions regarding the
agriculture elements and the grants I pay a lot of attention, in particular, to a certain
area in Kilauea because I live right there Some of the goals that I have seen proposed
are enduring—that will last long beyond this COVID-19 time—I like that, so this
December 30th deadline is very important.
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 7 JUNE 10, 2020
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present.)
Councilmember Cowden- When I look here on, 1 12 on page 7 of this
document that you gave us—the Hawai`i State Handbook—under termination of
agreement—makes me a little nervous—it says, "Governor may, at its sole discretion,
terminate this grant agreement without recourse, liability, or penalty against the
Governor upon written notice to guarantee " It looks like it does not even need to
have cause, so when I look at page 13, under 5 3, it says, "The discretionary right of
the Governor to terminate convenience under Section 1 13 notwithstanding Governor
shall have the right to terminate the Grant Agreement and to recapture, and be
reimbursed for any payments by the Governor " Can you help me understand that?
Am I reading this right9 Is this saying, if they did not like a project they can stop it
or if it was not finished, say if something was being constructed, they would have to
pay all that money back9
Mr. Dahilig• That could be the interpretation based on the
way you are reading it, Councilmember That is why we are looking at the method of
expenditure as a means of testing whether the funds can actually be spent out that
quickly. So you are correct in the way that you are reading it, that if the Governor's
Office sees that either we are not spending the funds in a method consistent with the
CARES Act objectives that is laid out by the Congress, or we choose a project that is
not meant to have the full amount of money spent out, that is where the recapturing
that you were highlighting comes into play
Councilmember Cowden When I see something that we could call a
"resilience element" of this, like there is a pig farm that is closing on the south side
of the island that would maybe be relocated to the north side...that takes permitting,
I mean, there is more than just building—all of this stuff can be built to move inside
the window of time, but my experience is getting the State Department of Health
permits or building permits that could take a long time Is there any acceleration of
the permitting that is allowed in this COVID-19 time9
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as present)
Mr Dahilig• That is a good question, Councilmember
There is acceleration of permitting at the County and State-level when it comes to
certain things these permits are able to be waived, they are not waived, per se
What is clear is that if it is anything that relates to Federal Clean Air Act or Federal
Water Pollution Act requirements—those cannot be waived For example, if there is
a project that is being done that could violate the non-resource distribution laws that
we are obligated to follow, that would be something that would concern us, as
something that is indicative of the inability to spend down by December 30th, so that
is how that would be analyzed
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 8 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Cowden For one of these grant applicants—I feel like
these ideas are really great—I am not sure if they are meeting directly with the
County. Is it something that they can be I would have to imagine that they are—
they would come in and they would be working step-by-step before they were given
that money, because it would be really catastrophic to get quite a ways moved along
and then stopped at ninety percent (90%) complete or even seventy-five
percent (75%).
Mr Dahing• Right That is where the voracity of the
proposals are going to have to be evaluated and we are looking at having separate
RFP committees as part of it. One of the ideas that we did have was actually inviting
Councilmembers to sit on the RFP committees for the various line items. One of the
groups we could look at would be...you have the ability or you can ask if you have the
ability to have permitting waived for your particular construction project. For
example, if there is a permitting element that is already covered for soil conservation,
because of a valid United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil conservation
plan, we would not have any concern about them having to obtain grading permits,
because that is consistent with those types of activities, so they would not need
additional permitting But if it is something that is about restoration or having to go
into streams or do those types of things that they do not have an National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit—doing those types of things that
would give us a little bit of cause for saying, "Are you able to meet the timeline for
completion of construction by December 30th9" So it really varies case-by-case based
on the number of proposals, but from an Administrative standpoint, if there are
County permits that need to be waived, it is something that we are already looking
and doing at various levels, because the Governor has waived Chapter 46, which
included a lot of permitting requirements under our Code, so we do have that capacity
to try and swift through some of these proposals if they are by County partners
Councilmember Cowden Okay, I would like to say that I appreciate the
thought of the Councilmembers being included, because I think it helps defray some
of the accountability/blame added to the workload and effort I am very much
interested in assisting with some that seems an appropriate match for me
Council Chair Kaneshiro Mike, I have a follow-up on the deadline How
difficult will it be—since we are submitting this budget to the State—for us to move
money around as we start to get closer to the deadline? Hopefully we do not get
another big outbreak, but a lot of this response and preparedness money for the next
wave may not be spent, so how difficult or what is the process for us to be able to say,
"I do not anticipate us being able to spend the money on this line item, so we want to
move it to something else"?
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 9 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr Dahing• There are three things we are looking at that
kind of controls of this: the first one is that the State is going to require a monthly
report, so the reconciliation of expenditures are going to have to be passed down to
the nonprofits, as well as our government entities internally that are going to be doing
the spend downs to give us the status on what money has been disbursed, what has
been spent, what has been encumbered, et cetera, so we will have that monthly
tracking process because it is required by rule The second thing that we are going
to be doing is looking at the actual timeline for performance. We do want to have the
ability to have enough time to rapidly pull back the money and push it out before
December 11th—that is the key date, so we are going to be building into the
performance timelines with everyone, whether it be nonprofit or internal government
expenditures to be able to scoop and push back, that is why you see in the proposed
CARES budget that there is an item C 10 for contingency, as well as consolidated
unspent funds for redistribution We only have one dollar ($1) in there right now, but
that is meant to be an opportunity for us to pull back funds incase people are not
performing or our departments are not performing and be able to rapidly push them
out again We do have the ability to push it to various areas of needs and areas like
food support or whatever, there still is the opportunity to push these out before
December 30th We need to be able to certify by December 11th, so we are building it
to that timehne; that is the second item The third thing that we are looking at is
that we do not intend to deviate from the current grant standard—when we give out
grants and aids—by only giving and fronting eighty percent (80%) of the moneys, so
we will still be holding on to the twenty percent (20%) of the moneys as a retention
and we do not intend to deviate from the current practice, because we think it is a
good practice to have some moneys held back. Those are the three items that we will
be looking at
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Okay, thanks. In regards to the CARES Act
money from the Federal government, is the State under the same type of timehne
and restrictions that we are under?
Mr Dahilig. Yes, they are, unless the Congress decides to
change the deadline, everyone is following that December 30th deadline.
Council Chair Kaneshiro. So, any money that goes unspent by us goes
straight back to the Federal government?
Mr. Dahilig. Well, it goes back to the State and then goes
back to the Federal government, unless the State can figure out how to spend the
money themselves in that short period of time We want to be able to spend every
dollar we can before the December deadline certify that we can spend all the
twenty-eight million seven hundred fifteen thousand five hundred fifty-one dollars
($28,715,551).
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 10 JUNE 10, 2020
Council Chair Kaneshiro Okay, Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i: Mike, so when we were talking about grants,
I am not sure if you had mentioned when or the date that the RFPs were going out
Mr Dahilig• We are aiming to try to get it out next week
The target for us would be to be able to do disbursement and notice to proceed by
September
Councilmember Kuali`i. Will there be different RFPs for all these
different grants?
Mr Dahilig. That is correct There is going to be one
master RFP, because approximately eighty percent (80%) to ninety percent (90%) of
the requirements are going to be the same across the board, along with the general
terms and conditions of the County, so really the only difference is going to be the
scoping elements for each of these different project areas that we are looking at, so it
will be one master RFP document with a menu of different grants that people can
apply for. We are looking at using the Kauaiforward.com portal as a way to have a
one-stop shop, one single source for intake and communication on all of these various
grant projects. We do not want the public to be confused as to who to go to or where
to go to, in terms of being able to get information, submit, and being able to keep track
of where the process is at any given time One other thing, too, is that we are looking
at the Kauaiforward com site—and again, this is to be consistent with the conflict of
interest measures that are in the CARES Act handbook, which is to utilize our
OpenGov platform that will show in real time where expenditures, encumbrances,
and the drawing out of various line items are going at any given time We are also
going to be using the OpenGov platform that we have to graphically show the public
where the money is going
Councilmember Kuali`r The one grant line item, the fourth one, under
direct assistance, small business loans and other business support grants, so how
does that five million dollar ($5,000,000) figure break up between those two amounts
and how are you facilitating those small business loans?
Mr Dahilig We are largely leaving that as an opportunity
to implement some of the directives or some of the recommendations in the Kaua`i
Economic Recovery Strategy Teams (KERST) report, that is still out for public review
It was more of a generic kind of range where we are just going to say we are going to
earmark five million dollars ($5,000,000) to business support elements that we see
are necessary out there In terms of the actual grant process for that, it would also
potentially be either a competitive process or something that we would work with the
Chamber of Commerce on in terms of targeting areas of need
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 11 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Kualfi Is that RFP part of the RFPs that are going
out next week9
Mr Dahilig Yes, that is to be the idea.
Councilmember Kuali`i Regarding the business support grants RFP
next week, the business loans' process is still developing?
Mr Dolling- Right, if you look at what the City and County
of Honolulu has been doing, they have engaged directly with a lot of their local credit
unions for disbursement We did partner once with the Kaua`i Government Federal
Credit Union (KGEFCU) on a loan program, what we are trying to do is work with
our private sector partners to look at the credit unions estimated to have these
moneys up to rapidly distribute to our small businesses
Councilmember Kuah'r The third item in the Economic and Supply
Chain Resiliency section, that grant is "Rise to Work - Non-Profit Grants (e g , Ag,
IT and Conservation Workers)." Originally, you were talking about the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) and about employing people—kind of right away—who
have lost their jobs so it would be grants to nonprofits to employ people even though
it is on a finite period, maybe for three (3) months or five (5) months, because it would
have to end on December 30th, right? The spending of that grant money would have
to end on December 30th
Mr Dahing That is correct.
Councilmember Kuali`i• That could be employees with benefits,
part-time employees, stipend employees-could it be all kinds of different options as
far as employing people
Mr. Dahilig. We leave it up to the nonprofits to figure out
how to harness the potential for human capital and be able to deploy in the best way
that fits their employee expenditure, so if it is via stipend for unemployment for
four (4) months, part-time to come in...I think our goal is to try to at least, for the
short period of time, get people working and build some capacity with our nonprofit
sectors for resilience, digital resilience, and environmental resilience
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 12 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Kuali`i• The last question is about the digital services
for public and digital equity efforts—those two (2) line items. How will that actually
be done9 Is it being done by the County9
Mr Dahilig• Yes, those are County items, specifically
What we are trying to do is harden our digital interfaces with business processes, so
things like the kiosk are an example of what we do need to have...those that are much
more robust when it comes to having the business processes being available to the
public at little to no charge. That is what we are trying to do with a lot of our payment
schemes. When it comes to digital equity efforts, what we are mainly concerned about
is that it adds employment rates maintained at high-levels...the capacity to pay
utility bills related to digital connectivity are going to mean that members of our
community may fall outside of access and maintain that our public members are all
able to get access to Internet and connectivity So what we are looking at with that
one is working with the Information Technology (IT) Division to build on the hotspots
that we already have around the whole island at community centers and seeing ways
that we can also enhance things, like for example, connectivity on the public transit
system, etcetera, and paying for those connectivity costs. That effort is going to be
led by partially our IT Division to provide more public access to connectivity and
maintain safety as well
Councilmember Kuali`I If a nonprofit or a community association has
a community facility where the public goes to and if either of those types of
organizations wanted to get a grant for improving their digital availability where
they would be able to provide a space for the public to come and use their internet
and have connection,...
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present)
Councilmember Kuall`I. ...which one of these grants would they apply
for?
Mr Dahilig• We would look at the Nonprofit Economic
Support Loss Grants section as one way of looking at it It is not exclusive to look at
the connectivity efforts to pour some money out as a grant item, so if that is
something, Councilmember, that you would like to see, specifically lined out, we can
certainly try to split that where we move sources around
Councilmember Kuali`I• It does seem like it is in the area of the
Economic and Supply Chain Resiliency section because then it becomes an
Investment in the future, right? I am not talking about direct assistance to
individuals, but to potential nonprofits or even community associations that, in turn,
by having that digital capacity would be another option for folks, right' If we had
digital capacity, more and more of it, all over the island, then we end up having more
of our citizens, perhaps, interfacing with our government that way and not having to
drive to Lihu`e; that is just what I was thinking about
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 13 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr Dahilig• We agree wholeheartedly and concur with
that policy and philosophy, Councilmember.
Councilmember Kuali`i• Okay, thank you
Council Chair Kaneshiro Councilmember Evslin.
Councilmember Evslin• A couple quick questions You mentioned to
Councilmember Kuah`i or Council Chair Kaneshiro regarding flexibility or hiring
that nonprofits could structure it however they wanted to, would that include the
ability to hire a contractor for a job?
Mr Dahilig As long as they are able to show in their
proposal that hiring process disbursement and their ability to follow the Federal Code
of Federal Regulations (CFR), as well as the grant agreements by the State and
Federal government, and have the work completed before December 30th, that is
really the kind of trifecta that we are willing to have with them
Councilmember Evslin• Even if the funds are then extended by
December 30th, say the contractor is paid to do the work, but the work is not completed
by December 30th, would that be a violation?
Mr Dahilig• We have asked that question many times. We
have tried to see whether or not the encumbrance process would be a way to call
something "expended " Rather than dealing with the potential risk of that, because
we have not received any clear definition of whether an encumbrance is an
expenditure, we will be focusing on things that can be completed and occupied by
December 30th That is why some of the initial items that we have been thinking
about regarding construction, particularly Countywide construction, because we have
to go through procurement, kind of fell through at the wayside, because with this
large amount of money, we were concerned about the risk it could play in case the
Federal or State government would ask for the money back and we may not have the
ability to pay them back.
Councilmember Evslin. Is there any requirement of RFPs for local
labor or a local contractor9
Mr. Dahilig We are going to make it clear that they have
to apply as a "Kaua`i entity " Therefore, whatever that means is what we are going
to be pushing out as a requirement. We do not want the funds going to a nonprofit
on O`ahu for O`ahu citizens, but we know that organizations such as Catholic
Charities and the Institute for Youth Services do work on all islands, so that is why
we are going to make it clear that this money is to be spent on Kaua`i specifically, for
Kaua`i's people
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 14 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Evslin- As far as the "labor"—the money will go to the
nonprofit and the nonprofit will hire a contractor to perform the work, can there be a
requirement that the contractor be a local contractor?
Mr. Dahilig. I can check on that specifically, but we are at
least going to go through the RFP to say that the work needs to be done on Kaua`i,
for Kaua`i people.
Councilmember Evslin Okay We just received the testimony
regarding the skate park Is there a possibility that a nonprofit could expend the
funds on a County facility doing that type of work?
Mr Dahilig- It is possible, however, if they are going to do
it on a County facility, we would have to go through the proper waivers of law, like
Chapter 343 Building Code, et cetera. We would also need to be in a scenario where
we would have to come back to the Council to get some type of acceptance of effort
and gratis Therefore, it is possible, however, how we would facilitate something like
that, we do not know how that would be done
Councilmember Evslin We have talked a few times about that, so my
hope is that we could not only make it possible, but also encourage...because we have
a lot of work on County facilities that could be done by nonprofits
Mr. Dahilig Sure
Councilmember Evslin. As far as the loan program that you
mentioned, I recognized that some of those are grants and some of those are loans;
the loan payback would occur over time, I would imagine, so are those funds limited
in how the County could re-expend that money?
Mr. Dahilig We do have existing small business loans out
there already, so that is where the loan function of this would be, more along the lines
of loan payback versus actual grants, because we cannot have moneys go out and then
be paid back over a five-year period, because the money from the CARES Act would
have to be given back to the Federal government We do not want to give the money
back as much as possible, so we are looking at businesses that may have proven debt
as a consequence of this private debt is not federally subsidized This will provide
us an opportunity to pay-down in a short amount of time, before December 30th
Again, these are just ideas and that is where the loan element would be. It would not
necessarily be for prolonged loan programs that go beyond December 30th.
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 15 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Evslin Okay My last comment is that as far as the
City and County of Honolulu, in looking at their grant program, it is limited only to
businesses that gross less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) per year. I think I
am looking at restaurants and others who have high rent and high labor costs, they
are grossing over one million dollars ($1,000,000), but they do not actually profit that
much money. I hope that we structure a grant program that would not be limited
like that, but that is where there would be some types of limitations as far as verifying
that they have taken a hit of revenue as such That is just a comment. Thank you
for coming today.
Mr Dahilig Thank you
Council Chair Kaneshiro• Councilmember Cowden
(Councdmember Kagawa was noted as not present.)
Councilmember Cowden. I have a follow-up to what Councilmember
Evslin has just asked It might have been answered, but I am just trying to make it
very, very clear for people who are listening
(Councilmember Chock was noted as not present)
Councilmember Cowden Who would qualify as a small business grant?
We are seeing so many small businesses struggling deeply, anything from building
websites to wedding photographers, there are so many small businesses that are
falhng apart and they feel like they are alone It is overwhelming when they are
already struggling What are the parameters of who can receive this small business
grant?
Mr Dahing• The larger focus is going to draw back to those
initiatives that does business support for items that are consistent with the KERST
report. That is where we are going to be looking at first, for direction on distribution
of the money, asking for RFPs...a business proposal would align with the efforts in
the KERST report.
Councilmember Cowden For the listeners, could you explain what
"KERST" stands for?
Mr Dahilig "Kaua`i Economic Recovery Strategy Teams "
Councilmember Cowden Okay, because people do not understand So,
the Kaua`i Economic Recovery Strategy Team that we have, they are going to be
looking for things that are going to be in there...
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 16 JUNE 10, 2020
(Counctlmember Chock was noted as present)
Councilmember Cowden: In the examples that I just gave, is web design
and photography in that Those are micro-businesses, so would micro-businesses fall
into that? People do not know
Mr. Dahilig. Micro-businesses could possibly fall into that,
but they are tourist-related If they fall in line with the wedding industry or that
type of activity, the support program grants under Item B.2 could also apply for the
scenario that you are raising. There are a lot of different ways different items could
fill in and that is why we are trying to set it up like a menu so that members of the
public have different options to look at for avenues of support But in the scenario
that you are raising, it could also be something where the scope is lined out to support
micro-businesses that are related to the terms of the industry or economic
diversification sector
Councilmember Cowden• The OpenGov platform is great, by the way,
and the financial picture that is available online, if they go down the left, it says,
"OpenGov," it shows our finances Would they be able to go into OpenGov and see
this list "A through Z" so they could determine where they qualify Those examples
I gave would be "B 2-Transforming Tourism and Economic Diversification." They
could fit into that somehow, right? Will they be able to look at it...I am just trying
to make sure that they go to the right place when we have so many people looking for
support Where do they go for the right answers?
Mr Dahilig Absolutely, we want to make sure that
everyone knows how this money is being divided up and being expended. OpenGov
could be an avenue We are also looking at pushing this on the Kauaiforward.com
website so that is a central place for everything COVID-related.
Councilmember Cowden. Okay.
Mr. Dahilig. This document—we want to get it out there as
much as possible because the turnaround time for the RFP is going to be short, like
the normal thirty (30) days that we provide for our normal grants.. because we are
trying to provide a window for spend out as much as possible
Councilmember Cowden I was reading yesterday, but I do not see it
here now.. maybe it was coming from a different funding source where people could
get real property tax assistance Am I reading that correctly? I do not see it in the
document right in front of me.
Councilmember Chock. That is in the KERST recommendation
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 17 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Cowden Okay, the KERST recommendation For the
viewers and for us, some people will not be able to pay their full amount of real
property tax because of this hardship that we have gone through Therefore, I was
really pleased to see that there was some consideration for being able to get some
funding, and to me, that is a win-win It keeps the County running, it keeps our
people employed, and it keeps our people being able to not need a lien on their
property if there is some supplement that can come in Can you explain that?
Mr Dahilig We know that there is going to be a gap in
paying real property taxes. As discussed at a previous meeting, the Department of
Finance is working on either a monthly payment option or a deferral option going
into this upcoming fiscal year In terms of actual grants, it is not outside the question
that a business support need is something a business asked for, for tax support as
part of their business costs That is not necessarily off the question, but to have a
blanket program done is something that we have looked at, but we were concerned
that we may not be able to identify who really needs it, as well as the cost of something
like that would be pretty exorbitant and eat the money.
Councilmember Cowden I get that. It would easily absorb all of
this Everyone could say, "This is a fund that we cannot afford," so they could ask for
that and that is where I had confusion I understand now that it might be in one (1)
particular businesses' panorama of where they need support, they might need a little
portion for that As far as you know, are there no other pockets of CARES Act fund
money at the State-level that is targeting that?
Mr Dahilig I am not aware of anything specifically at the
State-level They have put the majority of the CARES Act money that they have
received into the "rainy day" fund They are currently working on reopening the
Legislature on June 22nd to figure out how to disperse their remaining money that is
still left outstanding I could not provide you with an indication of where the State is
going to be targeting expenditures of their particular pieces of funding...I am also not
aware of any specific additional items outside of the CARES Act omnibus
budget.. nothing is coming to mind besides the local government funding that we are
talking about here, things that are coming through the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) or through the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) I think this is the most direct opportunity to look at
something like that, Councilmember
Councilmember Cowden. I appreciate that confirmation that this
twenty-eight million seven hundred thousand dollars ($28,700,000) is really directed
at our population, where the seven hundred million dollars ($700,000,000) sitting in
the"rainy day" fund might be where we find the money to backflow into our municipal
needs It is not at all from here, but it is from the other areas
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 18 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr. Dahilig Yes
Council Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock
Councilmember Chock. Mike, I am just trying to reconcile the
differences between the last iteration of the budget and this one under "Direct
Assistance." We see that we have dispersed some of the funds out of the mental
health...
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as present)
Councilmember Chock .. we have included food support, services,
and grants, and small business loans I am wondering how we are targeting these
amounts just so I can get a sense of what we are thinking about Do you have any
insight that you can share?
Mr Dahilig• The Food Support Services and Grants item is
based on the expenditures that we are running into with the Saturday food
distributions here around the island Every Saturday, those things costs
approximately twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). The sustained effort is largely
premised on using that experience of scaling the costs with what the potential County
program would look like That is where that comes from The initial proposal we had
was actually two million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($2,250,000), health and
the needy We got feedback that, in general, a number of nonprofit areas that are
social services related that we not fund through those columns to help backstop That
is why we wanted to be clear and broaden the range of that money, while keeping
some specific line item for Mental Health and Domestic Violence Prevention, because
we know those are the key types of manifestations of the loss of jobs or economic
stress For the Small Business and Business Support area, we initially were looking
at three million dollars ($3,000,000), but what had been the recommendation of
Nalani and her shop, as well as what was coming out of the KERST report is that we
needed more support in that area, which is why we bumped it to five million dollars
($5,000,000), and then the Summer Fun item would remain the same as-is One thing
that we did do is consolidate the CCC moneys. We had one element of CCC moneys
under Direct Assistance agriculture, one under Economic Supply, and each of those
were two million dollars ($2,000,000) a piece, so what we did was consolidated it
under one program and broaden it so that...environmental resiliency or conservation
work could also be include along with agriculture and IT
Councilmember Cowden Thank you, Mike You also mentioned when
we met that some of these grants will be managed and dispersed by various
departments and not singularly through the Kaua`i Emergency Management Agency
(KEMA) Is there a possibility for us to get insight into which departments will be
overseeing the areas of funding?
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 19 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr Dahilig We can certainly pass it along to Council once
the line items are set We have looked at two (2) models either the financial and
reporting elements will be centralized with one (1) department, or we take advantage
of the skillset spread across the various departments across the County Given the
timeline for expenditure, it suits us better to assign one (1) or two (2)project accounts
to departments across the County so that we can have people who are accountable
they have the capacity to deal with an additional contractor with financial processing,
procurement, or something finance-related Therefore, what we are going to try to do
is pair the skillset of each department to something that is a little more germane to
their mission, but it may not be that case in every scenario I know that is on the
line, but we are also going to be looking at getting (inaudible) shop something that
has nothing to do with legal, but maybe something to do with hiking types of things
It is an "all hands on deck" type of scenario We are trying to draw the fiscal
management (inaudible) of the County to meet those types of requirements by the
Feds and the State
Councilmember Chock Thank you. My last question is clarity on the
last pot of funding, "Response and Preparation for the Next Wave " I am trying to
figure out the jurisdiction as it relates to the State funding reserved for opening the
doors up for our visitors to return versus what happens when they get to Kaua`i and
they are now on our island Where does that jurisdiction line sit for us? When I look
at our budget here in terms of response, I see things like personal protective
equipment (PPE), safety supplies, some testing kits, but we are talking about the
potential for testing before they leave...is it our kuleana to be have to test them, and
also the quarantine aspect We are having difficulty overseeing that now. The need
for us to look at the means to monitor...that budget...is that something that the State
is going to be covering, or do we need to consider that in terms of this funding?
Mr Dahilig The philosophy behind this is we really need
to focus on the local law enforcement side of whatever temporary rules or restrictions
that are put in place, either at the local-level or at the gubernatorial-level. When it
comes to screening at the airports, that should be the responsibility of the State, not
us. That is why you see the checkpoint at more of a means to help local law
enforcement be able to actually enforce the quarantine that is in place. We want to
keep the separation of responsibility as clear as much as possible given our limited
amount of money that we have under the CARES Act We do not see necessarily the
cost of running an actual isolation facility as providence of our budget What we are
needing to look are PPE and safety supplies for our own first responders in case they
need to be rapidly tested in the event that they were exposed or be able to protect
them We believe continuing to stockpile those items is in our best interest to
protecting our Fire folks and that is where the predominant amount of the cost is
meant to be spent. We are not looking to supplant the efforts of the Department of
Health and we are not looking to control testing in and out of the airport—we believe
those efforts should be done at the State-level, and anything that goes beyond that
when it comes to actual law enforcement or emergency response is within our
kuleana.
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 20 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Chock- Have they verified that acceptance of that
kuleana or are we hoping that is what they are going to do?
Mr Dahllig- At this time, all I can confirm is that is our
opinion and notice I would not want to speculate...I would speculate that there are
things that citizens think we should pay for, but those are agreements or
disagreements that evolved
Councilmember Chock Just to confirm, contact tracing from your
perspective is part of the Department of Health's oversight?
Mr Dahilig Because of the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws, that has to fall within their department
Councilmember Chock. Thank you
Council Chair Kaneshiro- Councilmember Kuali`i
Councilmember Kuah'r With all the different grants, is there an
allowable administrative component or percentage?
Mr Dahllig- We understand that there is going to be the
overhead cost to each of the various nonprofit agencies that may be asking for
support We already included that as an acceptable cost when we do our normal
process, so that would be consistent with that perspective
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present)
Councilmember Kuali`i. Would it be five percent (5%)9
Mr Dahing It is what we are proposing here...I need to
get the exact benchmark for you, Councilmember, from Nalani, but I know that we
have a general amount that we looked at
Councilmember Kuali`i. And obviously it will be in the RFPs?
Mr. Dahilig. That is correct
Councilmember Kuali`i The line item on "Response and Preparedness
for the Next Wave," C 1, "Tiny Home Construction for Houseless Sheltering if
Another Wave"—is that completely managed by the Housing Agency?
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 21 JUNE 10, 2020
Mr Dahing• We are intending for that to be managed by
the Housing Agency. We feel confident that this can be done because we can purchase
plug-in blankets, so with the ability to put in sheltering across the island is not
unfounded since we are already working on one sample project, the Housing Agency
will likely manage that one
Councilmember Kuali`i In the Resolution on COVID-19, Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, we approved approximately two hundred
fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for the Housing Agency to get started, right?
Mr Dolling- Yes
Councilmember Kuali`i With this additional two million
dollars ($2,000,000) and this two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as present)
Councilmember Kuali`i. do you have an idea of how many locations
there might be around the island?
Mr. Dahilhg. I am sorry, I do not have that number I am
sure given that amount of money and units that are currently under plan with the
CDBG moneys, it does give the ability to stick these things around the island as much
as possible, but I do not have the answer as to other sites for this type of sheltering
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Councilmember Cowden
Councilmember Cowden I have a number of questions Thank you to
Councilmember Kuali`i for bringing up the tiny houses, because I think that is
important Where is the sample project going to be located9
Mr Dahilig We are currently looking at somewhere on the
west side as a place for it, but we still have to go through consultation and we are
waiting for that to be rolled out.
Councilmember Cowden When we are building these tiny houses, is it
something that we can make mobile? Will they fit on a big 18-wheeler9 Can we
move them if it does not seem to be in the right place9
Mr. Dahilig That is a good question We are trying to look
at this as mobile and as plug-and-play as possible so that it is more like equipment
than something that is fixed
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 22 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Cowden Would it be going with compostable toilets or
something, so that when we are needing to relocate them...a lot of times the
wastewater is a big element to what the challenge is, if they have portable bathrooms
that can be...at least when this is put in place somewhere?
Mr Dahilig. The idea with these shelters is that we would
try as much as possible require hardwiring so the idea that you are raising with
portable toilets, compostable toilets, or even portable stations would have to be
viewed as external and complimentary to these buildings than having something that
is put in as hard, spine infrastructure and does not work out later
Councilmember Cowden Because as you know, I have been putting a
lot of focus on the challenge on the lack of housing and I anticipate an increase of
"houselessness"...I think we all do..
(Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present)
Councilmember Cowden• as a result of the COVID-19 response even
more than the virus So when we are looking if this is another wave...well, the
COVID-19 first wave.. even if people did not get sick...it has really contributed to the
economic vulnerability Even if people did not get sick, people were already in
trouble, and then having one more hit...we will see that increase We are going to
need this quickly When we see the December 30th deadline to put in wiring and
waste water, that will push that out beyond that window of time As I talk to the
people in the encampments, they are really concerned about where they are going
Some of them hold jobs If someone lived in 'Anini and moved to the west side, they
could lose their job, and it just continues the cascade of challenges
Mr Dahilig. I agree, Councilmember, that the need is
isolated to one area. To Councilmember Kuali`i's previous inquiry, it is something
that we will have to take a look at distributing around the island as a locational
resource rather than consolidating it in one place
Councilmember Cowden. How can I, as the Committee Chair of the
Public Safety and Human Services.. I see this topic as equally under my kuleana as
much as Housing...how can I be accurately informed as to what the plan is? I would
like to know ahead of time As I go out to these places regularly, how do we get them
on the list? Salt Pond and Lydgate, especially those particular parks, are what I
would consider the core constituent group that the County is trying to address These
are not people who got here two (2) weeks ago, they got here twenty (20) years ago
Mr Dahilig What we can do is set up a time with you
and/or Committee Chair Kuali`i to sit down and have the Housing Agency on board
with this in the coming weeks to talk about strategy on this and to give you an update
on where we are currently with the demonstration project that can serve as a
template paid for by CDBG funds as an expenditure of these remaining moneys
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 23 JUNE 10, 2020
Councilmember Cowden That would be wonderful. Consider this a
formal request for that meeting Thank you
Mr. Dahilig. I will. Thank you.
Council Chair Kaneshiro• Any further questions from the members9
Councilmember Kuali`i.
Councilmember Kuali`i Mike, the last time I mentioned the
suggestion about weatherizing our pavilions and making it so that if need be, for
shelter, they could go from open, from day use, to closed That would obviously be a
County expenditure and not a grant to any nonprofit Has that been budgeted for or
where would that fit in9
Mr Dahilig We have looked at trying to budget something
to that effect What we are concerned about was that given the potential cost for
what that would be and how we would have to go through procurement, the
performance period may not run and be completed before December 30th. It was more
of a timing question that we were concerned about If encumbrance was a means of
us being able to meet the definition of"spent," then I think we would try to put more
of those types of projects in You will notice that we also took out the pipeline for a
homeless shelter that was initially in there It was again largely based on timing and
how we would have to notice, expend, and hire a contractor and have the contractor
complete the work by December 30th We were starting to get skittish about the
confidence of our ability to do that by December 30th
Councilmember Kuali`i• I understand Thank you for looking into it.
Mr. Dahilig. Okay
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Anyone else9 If not, thank you Mike
The meeting was called back to order and proceeded as follows-
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Any final discussion from the members9
Councilmember Chock
Councilmember Chock Thank you again, Mike, Mayor, and the entire
team, for putting this together I know it is a quick turnaround for time. It is an
opportunity for us to leverage these funds My hope is that the community can sink
their teeth into it and connect the pieces for us This may be all the support that we
will get at the County-level for the next six (6) months or until the Federal
government can figure out how and what they want to do Thank you for all of the
hard work
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 24 JUNE 10, 2020
Council Chair Kaneshiro• Councilmember Kuali`i
Councilmember Kuali`i Mike, I just wanted to say thank you to you
and the Mayor, and your entire team. This is really important that we spend this
money the best way possible and as efficiently as possible to make sure we support
our community as much as possible Doing the RFPs next week and trying to get the
funding to the nonprofits and other grantees by the middle of July is really important
Even with that, it will give them approximately five (5) months to expend all the
funds I know it will be a challenge. Everyone will step up and make it work the best
that we can Thank you so much for all of your work.
Council Chair Kaneshiro Councilmember Cowden
Councilmember Cowden• I also want to thank the Office of the Mayor,
Mike, Senator Schatz, Representative Case, and the people that brought us these
CARES Act moneys It is a big relief for me to see how it is being directed I think
we desperately need this and it will be helpful I am very interested in staying
involved and understanding as much as we can with this I think it is very critical
that we get the word out. I hope that there is good detail that goes out in the updates.
I think the public is accustomed to watching the daily or now tn-weekly updates We
could also push the information out on the radio If there has been a weakness, no
matter how well-intended, some of the Kaua`i economic stimulus recovery effort that
has come out has not reached the awareness of everyone. If people are not informed
enough to be looking into it, they might have missed it I am happy to be a part of
trying to blast that information out to everyone so that we can reach the tentacles of
people who are going to need this help I know twenty-nine million
dollars ($29,000,000) is not actually a lot of money, but it is a good start Thank you
Council Chair Kaneshiro Councilmember Evslin
Councilmember Evslin. Thank you Thank you, Mike, for the
presentation today and for the communication over the last few weeks about this I
know that we have talked about it a number of times now and I appreciate that
dialogue I want to express some appreciation for our State Legislators As I
understand it, a lot of smaller counties and cities are not getting allocations via their
state I appreciate that our state is giving us money and they could have used the
argument that they needed more of the funds and not release any of it I really
appreciate them not doing that It is obviously unfortunate that the CARES Act has
these types of requirements, that we cannot use it for revenue replacement, that we
cannot use it next year when it is probably going to be more needed, and that we
cannot fill budget holes with it. On the other hand, I think it is going to create unique
opportunities for projects that may not have been done otherwise and unique forms
of support. I really hope that we can use it well Lastly, I just want to pitch again
my strong belief on the need to invest in public outdoor spaces Hopefully we can use
some of these moneys for that as we see rates of anxiety and depression nationwide
has gone up four percent (4%) from this time last year I think that is due to policies
of social isolation As we learn more and more that outside activities are relatively
safe, I think it is important for us to encourage and invest in those types of activities.
Hopefully we can see some of the moneys go towards that Thank you again, Mike
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 25 JUNE 10, 2020
Council Chair Kaneshiro. Thank you Mike Getting the information out
to the public is going to be very important for us to be able to spend the money down
Whatever you can do to get information out regarding the grant opportunities or
whatever we are going to be doing will be helpful Twenty-eight million
dollars ($28,000,000) is a lot of money, especially to be spending it by December 30th
If we are going to give grants and people are going to have to spend it by
December 30th, the sooner we get on it, the better I would hate for us to have all of
these lingering projects in December Thank you for your hard work in thinking of
the budget and how we are going to be spending the moneys I look forward to seeing
how it all goes If we need to move moneys around, then please let us know...this
includes projects that may not get completed Obviously, we put a lot of money in for
labor costs and if we do not have another emergency then that is money that we are
going to have to figure out where we are going to spend it instead It is going to be a
living, breathing document that is always moving Thank you for your hard work on
this and the quick turnaround. We do not usually like working on such a quick
turnaround, but it is the nature of the game Councilmember Kuali`i
Councilmember Kuali`i Sorry, I actually thought of one additional
question
There being no objections, the rules were suspended
Councilmember Kuali`i• When I asked about the grant administrative
fee, I forgot to ask about the line item titled "Rise to Work — Non-Profit Grants " It
is one of the larger amounts of four million dollars ($4,000,000) I know that is
intended for actual labor costs for hiring people and you said that it could be regular
employees, part-time employees, non-benefit stipends, et cetera Sometimes certain
jobs will require tools, equipment, or certain supplies for doing the job Will these
moneys solely only be for labor and not anything else to make the job possible? Could
there be a small percentage allotment towards that?
Mr Dahilig• You bring up a good point. I think that is
probably not unreasonable to put in the RFP as an allowance related to that type of
work. We can look at how we scope the item and try to carve out some avenue to be
able to provide these people with the tools they need to do the work that we are going
to be asking them to do.
Councilmember Kuali`i Thank you.
The meeting was called back to order and proceeded as follows
Council Chair Kaneshiro Any other discussion? If not, the motion on
the floor is to approve.
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING 26 JUNE 10, 2020
The motion to approve C 2020-158 was then put, and carried by a vote of 6 0 1*
Council Chair Kaneshiro The motion is carried
ADJOURNMENT
Council Chair Kaneshiro This concludes our Special Council Meeting.
Not seeing or hearing any objections, this meeting is now adjourned Thank you
There being no further business, the Special Council Meeting adjourned at
958 a m
Respectfully submitted,
1111r At
111.
JADE ' FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA
County Clerk
•ss
*Beginning with the March 11, 2020 Council Meeting and until further notice,
Councilmember Arthur Brun will not be present due to U S v Arthur Brun et al ,
Cr No 20-00024-DKW (United States District Court), and therefore will be noted as
excused (i e , not present).