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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/10/2024 Council minutes COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 10, 2024 The Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by Council Chair Mel Rapozo at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Lihu`e, Kaua`i, on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, at 8:34 a.m., after which the following Members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Addison Bulosan Honorable Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr. Honorable Felicia Cowden Honorable Bill DeCosta Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable Mel Rapozo APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Councilmember Kuali`i moved for approval of the agenda, as circulated, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there discussion or public testimony on the agenda? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion for approval of the agenda, as circulated, was then put, and unanimously. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. MINUTES of the following meeting of the Council: March 27, 2024 Public Hearing re: Bill No. 2913, Bill No. 2914, and Bill No. 2915 Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve the Minutes, as circulated, seconded by Councilmember DeCosta. (Councilmember Carvalho was noted as not present.) Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any discussion or public testimony? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: COUNCIL MEETING 2 APRIL 10, 2024 The motion to approve the Minutes, as circulated, was then put, and unanimously carried (Pursuant to Rule No. 5(b) of the Rules of the Council of the County of Kauai, Councilmember Carvalho was noted as silent (not present), but shall be recorded as an affirmative for the motion). Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please INTERVIEW: CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION: • La`akea Chun—Term ending 12/31/2026 Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. With that, Ms. Ellen Ching, and welcome. (Councilmember Carvalho was noted as present.) ELLEN CHING, Boards & Commissions Administrator: Good morning. Today I am incredibly excited and pleased to introduce La`akea Chun. She was born and raised on the Westside of Kaua`i and she is currently a senior at Kawaikini Public Charter School. Soon she will be leaving Kaua`i to attend Windward Community College in Kane`ohe to pursue an associate degree in Hawaiian studies. She plans to continue her education at the University of Hawai`i (UH) at Manoa and earn a Bachelor's in Hawaiian language. You may be wondering why she is being nominated for a position on the Charter Commission when the Commission is in the middle of formulating ballot questions and La`akea will be leaving for college soon. Here is the exciting part. In October 2023, La`akea proposed a charter amendment to create student ex-officio positions on the Public Access, Open Space & Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission and the Charter Review Commission. Since then, she has worked in collaboration with the Charter Review Commission and the ballot question being formulated and considered has been expanded to generally include all boards and commissions. Working with La`akea, the Commission is hopeful that this ballot question will pass the legal muster and be included on the ballot. However, the Commission also recognized that should the charter amendment be adopted by the voters, she would not be able to participate or benefit from it. It was at the urging of the Commission and with the Mayor's strong support, since La`akea turned eighteen (18), that she be nominated and have the opportunity to participate on the Commission, if only for the few remaining months before she leaves for college. La`akea is the daughter of Kimo and Malia Chun and she will be following in the footsteps of her older sister, Leiohu who is already matriculating at UH Manoa. As a senior, she has a full schedule, between school, working part-time, dancing hula and, at the time of writing this, it was preparing for the Merry Monarch festival as a member of the Halau Ka Lei Mokihana 0 Leind'ala. She also enjoys cooking. Her specialty is spaghetti with a Ceasar salad. She loves to travel. She has already been to Japan and dreams of going to New Zealand and creating a network of communities and exchanges within the context of Polynesian culture and values. At the age of eighteen (18), La`akea has already demonstrated her interest, knowledge, and COUNCIL MEETING 3 APRIL 10, 2024 experience, and I look forward to hearing her unique perspective on the Charter Review Commission. Council Chair Rapozo: Wow. Do you want to say a few words before we start the round of questioning? LA`AKEA CHUN: Sure. Aloha, everyone. Good morning. My name is La`akea Chun. I am currently a senior at Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School, and I am here representing my `ohana, my school, and most importantly, the leaders of tomorrow. At Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School, it is required that we complete a senior project capstone. One (1) requirement is that it needs to benefit the community and I thought of benefiting the community through youth leadership, especially in government. I am interested in serving on the Charter Review Commission because in the next few months, we will be deciding on what goes on the ballot, and I would like to be a member when they decide what will be on the ballot. I am fully aware of the responsibilities of the Charter Review Commission. It reviews and studies the operations of the County, and also proposes amendments or new charters to the voters on the general ballot. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Ellen for supporting me, the Charter Review Commission, and the Mayor for joining us today. Mahalo nui. Council Chair Rapozo: Mayor, did you want to come up and say a few words or did you want to save that for later? It is up to you. DEREK S.K. KAWAKAMI, Mayor: I can do it whenever you want, Chair. Council Chair Rapozo: This is quite an interesting and exciting nominee. Mayor Kawakami: Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Council, Council Services Staff, and especially to the guests in the audience today, I am truly honored to be in your presence. My name is Derek Kawakami, Mayor of the County of Kaua`i. This is a first for me. I have never shown up in person as the Mayor to testify in support of any commissioner or board member who is willing to volunteer their time, but I am here today because I think it is a monumental...one day, when we look back in history, it is going to be a monumental period for the County of Kaua`i. We have never had a young person get so civically engaged that there is going to be a proposed charter amendment on the ballot to allow our young people to have a voice and get some experience on the big table where big decisions are made. The Charter Review Commission is the first commission that I got started on. I would say it was like my springboard to where I am today. It is really the foundation of how we operate and it comes with a lot of wisdom, but with that, the Charter Review Commission is tasked with making sure that it is updated to modern times, and what better way to modernize and update the Charter than to have young people at the table. I think it is a very exciting time, because there are many young people like La`akea who are truly starting to speak out. They speak out in different ways. If you take a look around, some of the murals, the artwork, the music, the type of music that they listen to in their dance, but more and more young people, like La`akea, are yearning and seeking a seat at the table. It is very commendable, because God knows when I was COUNCIL MEETING 4 APRIL 10, 2024 eighteen (18), the last thing I was thinking about was getting engaged in government. In fact, I would say I was rather anti-establishment, running with the counter culture. If you tell me left, I will go right. If you say up, I will go down. I am pretty sure that there is a rebellious spirit in our young people like La`akea, but I think when we give them a voice and they are at the table, the biggest benefit is not only to the people of Kaua`i, but to us as leaders, because I think we have a lot to learn from our young people. Thank you very much. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you, Mayor. Are there any questions for La`akea. Okay, thank you. No. Who wants to go first? Go ahead. Councilmember Cowden: I just want to say I was so pleased to see you. I was lucky to be at the Charter Review Commission when she was presenting and even right now, I am fighting back tears. I was so pleased to see what you were bringing forward, and I was so moved, because I go to a lot of the boards and commissions meetings, and how much I will really appreciate seeing someone from our high schools at any of them—the Police Commission, the Planning Commission— all of it, so I hope that this makes it on the ballot. I hope it passes. I was just so touched and we are certainly super proud of Merrie Monarch and your halau for doing awesome. I am happy to see the future that awaits you. Thank you for participating so fully for all of us. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else? Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Yes. I just want to congratulate you and thank you for stepping up. You are making history by stepping up and being the youngest person, and I certainly feel you are the most deserving because you are something that we need. We need change. I think that is what we need. A lot of times you see the same old thing in government, and as the saying goes, "If you do the same thing, we will get the same results." Hopefully, with you on there, you can add a breath of fresh air to the Charter Review Commission. My only advice is, if you can, try to help simplify the meanings of each charter amendment that goes on the ballot. For us, it is disappointing sometimes when voters are sending us text messages like, "How do I vote on number two? How do I vote on number three?" That means as they read it, they do not understand what the question is asking. I do not think it is because people do not have the intelligence. I think a lot of the time the question is confusing for them as far as what the question is asking, and what will change in government if it passes or not. If you can help the Commission on that and because I know you are representing a lot of young voters, and young voters are typically the ones who do not know what is happening in government, so as they vote, it is disappointing when they do not really know what they are voting for or just leave it blank because that is not truly a vote for or against it. I just wanted to share that with you. Hopefully, you can help the Commission achieve that goal of simplifying what the Charter means. Thank you and congratulations. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else? Councilmember DeCosta. COUNCIL MEETING 5 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember DeCosta: Ms. Chun, I am very impressed. I have had some time at Kawaikini. I am not sure if you are one of the students that came to Koke`e with my program when you were in the fourth or fifth grade, but I have worked with some Kawaikini students and I am very impressed. I have heard this cliche many times, "Wisdom comes with age." When you look at someone with some frost in their hair or gray colored hair, they say that person has a lot of wisdom. Sometimes, I beg to differ. I think our youth has a lot of wisdom. I think you were born a leader. I believe leaders are not created; they are born with that gift. I know about you. I see some of your teachers back there. Is Deatri Nakea your teacher? Ms. Chun: Yes. Councilmember DeCosta: She is a very impressive young lady, and if you have learned much from her, I am very confident that you will do an excellent job. Our own homegrown, local girl from a deep culture, over one thousand (1,000) years ago, can I ask you just one (1) tiny favor? We are a very unique group of people in this unique group of islands. We are unlike any place else in the world. Keep the culture, the lifestyle, and the traditions in the back of your educated mind when you make those decisions. Thank you for representing us. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Carvalho. Councilmember Carvalho: Number one, I just wanted to say how proud we are of you for "stepping up to the plate," if you will, and wanting to volunteer your time. Number two, you bring to the table an opportunity for our culture, because you know what it is. It is the Hawaiian part of it and the cultural side. I think that is a big, big part as well, with your background. I see your future being so open, but this is just the beginning for you, and I think it is a good opportunity to be part of the process and gain the knowledge and whatnot. At the same time, being able to connect everything—your °ohana, your family, the aina, and of course, the decisions that will need to be made in the future. We are very proud of you. Aloha. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Aloha, La`akea. Ms. Chun: Aloha. Councilmember Kuali`i: Yes, of course we are very, very, very proud of you. As your hula brother in Halau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina`ala, I have been able to watch you grow over the years. I have always admired how you carry and express yourself with grace and maturity. You are truly the best example for our young people on how to give back, engage with the community, and serve the public. Along with what Councilmember Kagawa, suggested and you probably will not have enough time, so maybe this is for after college, you will come back and do more work for us as well, but maybe look into possible proposed changes to our election system to get more women and younger folks to run for office, such as County Council. The one (1) simple idea I will put out to you is to consider numbering the seats so that we actually COUNCIL MEETING 6 APRIL 10, 2024 have seven (7) for County Council, instead of one (1) race. Congratulations. Mahalo nui loa for your service and for your example. Aloha. Ms. Chun: Mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Bulosan. Councilmember Bulosan: No one is asking you hard questions. Since I am the closest to your age and these folks are giving you a free pass here, I will ask you a couple of hard questions. Being that you would be an innovator and the first, how do you feel you could utilize your position to engage your cohort? Ms. Chun: I feel high school students have a lot of wisdom, as Councilmember DeCosta mentioned earlier. We are advocates of innovation, and we know what we want the future to look like. If I were to participate on the Charter Review Commission, I would want to bring that innovation and encourage others to "step up to the plate." Councilmember Bulosan: I have a couple more questions. Considering what you shared, it feels like for your world and your peers, things change fast. There is a rapid rate of new information, decision making, and accountability to everything that is going on in the world is so fast, and you are entering into a world where things do not really move as fast as the rate of everything else. How will you handle that challenge? Ms. Chun: I believe being in this experience, I would acclimate to what is happening outside and what is happening in here. I just feel like going with the flow of things and keeping an open mind. That is how I feel about that. Councilmember Bulosan: I have one (1) more tough question. Ms. Chun: Alright. Councilmember Bulosan: Your position is a volunteer position, so you will be donating your time. Why it is important to you for you to donate your time and why would it be important for others, like yourself or your peers, to engage in this process? Ms. Chun: Everything takes time, and you need to donate time to things that you believe in. I have a busy schedule, but I do think that this is important to learn government, learn civics, and like I mentioned earlier, encourage others to "step up to the plate" as well. You are not always going to receive things, right? You need to work your way up. That is how I feel about being on the Charter Review Commission and donating my time. Thank you. Councilmember Bulosan: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. COUNCIL MEETING 7 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember De Costa: This is the last thing. I want to ask a favor. Can I pick your maile lei when you become the Senator for Hawai`i? Ms. Chun: That would be lovely. Council Chair Rapozo: You better hurry up, because he is in the back nine (9) of life. Are there any other questions or comments? First of all, I know you have some supporters. Would you like to introduce them? Ms. Chun: Sure. I have my teacher, Kumu Mahina Nakea, here. She teaches English and has supported me throughout my capstone project. I also have my dad, Kimo Chun, here. He works for Kamehameha Schools. I am so grateful to have them here today to support me. Council Chair Rapozo: That is awesome. Welcome, to the two (2) of you. This is probably the longest interview that we have had. Councilmember Bulosan spoke more today than he did during the whole budget process over the last two (2) weeks, but that is the difference when you have a young person. The brain is different from all of us older folks. I am serious. He asked some brilliant questions. Again, that is just the difference. Councilmember Kuali`i: And you had brilliant answers. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, you were well-prepared. This is quite inspiring because a lot of the discussions we all have, all of us, whether it is here or outside, we talk about the new generation, "These kids nowadays are lazy. They do not want to work. We cannot find workers. What are they doing? They have nice cars. How are they paying for them," etcetera. I admit that I am starting to accept that. Mayor Kawakami: We are getting old. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, but this gives me hope. I know there was a request to move this along as quickly as we could. I could not understand why, but now I see why. This is historical. I do not think we have had a high school student or eighteen-year-old person. In all my years on the Council, we have never had a mayor come up and testify in support of a nominee, so this is really giving me some hope of the future, because you are in the right place. The Charter Review Commission is a tough commission. Like the Mayor, when I was your age, I was running away from the police and hiding in cane fields. I would never have thought of entering this arena, but we have a very serious problem Statewide, in fact, nationwide, with voting and having people come out to vote. I am hoping that The Garden Island newspaper will write a nice article about this, because when the young people see this, they get inspired. It will not be all of them, but a lot of them will be inspired. When people ask me for advice, especially new people who are running for Council, I always tell them you have to run two (2) campaigns. Number one is to get elected. Number two is you need to run a separate campaign to get people to register to vote and to vote, because our numbers are embarrassing. If you look at all the people who are registered, but do not vote or do not show up, that is about half (1/2), but you also have to count all those not registered to vote. In reality, it is a very small minority of people who are COUNCIL MEETING 8 APRIL 10, 2024 determining the outcome of elections and Charter amendments. That is why it is so critical that in this journey you have embarked on that you keep in mind that we really need to focus on getting people reengaged. They say, "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks," and there is some truth to that, but all of the young dogs, like you...you know what I am saying. You are not a dog, but you know what I mean. All of the young people today need to be engaged, they need to be inspired, and you are just the type of person who can do that. I do have one (1) ask for you to think about. I do not need a response. The way I read this and what I think I heard you say is you are only going to be on for a few months. Ms. Chun: That is correct. Council Chair Rapozo: I know you are going to be on O`ahu and you will be busy, but I will ask that you consider staying on as long as you can. Councilmember Cowden: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: I know it comes with a financial requirement, but you are exactly who we need on the Charter Review Commission. Your mind...one thing you said that struck me was having an open mind, and I think we all need to exercise that at time, but that is what makes that commission successful, because you are going to be proposing Charter amendments, which are not like what we pass. We pass bills that can be amended and changed. For the Charter, once it gets passed in the Charter, it is very difficult to change. It is a very serious role, but I am one hundred percent (100%) convinced that you are up to it. Thank you and congratulations. We will vote at the next Council meeting. I know there was an attempt to do it today, but let me explain why I chose not to. Number one, that is the process that we have always had. For those of you who do not know, there was a request to have us vote on the Resolution today and to appoint her today, but a big part of what we do and what you will be doing, based on what I am hearing, is transparency. It is allowing the public to participate. If we voted on the Resolution today, then the public would not have an opportunity to talk to us after they see this meeting. We would have already made a decision without the public having any type of input. I hope you folks understand, Ellen. I hope you folks appreciate that because in my mind what we do here requires the participation of the community and that is so critical. That is what we do. I apologize for that. Ms. Chun: It is all good. Ms. Ching: Chair, if I may, I just wanted to recognize you, the Council, and the Council Services staff for expediting this nomination. We really appreciate it. We are very excited to have La`akea here. We are hopeful, excited, and anticipating her participation on the Charter Review Commission, so I really, really want to thank you and the staff for helping us get to this point so quickly. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any further questions for the nominee? If not, again, we will have this Resolution up in two (2) weeks. I am not sure if you will be back. I know you have to go to school, right? COUNCIL MEETING 9 APRIL 10, 2024 Ms. Chun: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: I think your teachers will be fine with that. When you come back, once it is official, then we can actually take a nice photo and things like that. Ms. Chun: Alright. Council Chair Rapozo: I would have done it today, but I am really superstitious. You cannot celebrate your birthday before your birthday, or bad things can happen. Are there any other comments? Mayor, thank you very much to you, Ellen, and La`akea. You will be able to speak, but not you. We need to make room for you. ALICE PARKER: Alice Parker, for the record. Thank you. I needed you seventy (70) years ago. You are opening the door and may you have many come with you. Ms. Chun: Thank you for your time. Mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: Next item, please. CONSENT CALENDAR: C 2024-78 Communication (03/15/2024) from the Housing Director, transmitting for Council consideration, a Resolution Authorizing The Filing Of The Kaua`i County 2024 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 Kuali`i moved to receive C 2024-78 for the record, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any discussion or public testimony? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion to receive C 2024-78 for the record was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. COUNCIL MEETING 10 APRIL 10, 2024 COMMUNICATIONS: C 2024-79 Communication (03/07/2024) from Janet M. Berreman, MD, MPH, District Health Officer of the State of Hawai`i Department of Health, requesting agenda time to brief the Council on Tropic Care 2024. (Councilmember Kagawa was noted as not present.) Councilmember Kuali`i moved to receive C 2024-79 for the record, seconded by Councilmember DeCosta. Council Chair Rapozo: We will have Tropic Care up. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. LAUREN GUEST, MPH, Deputy District Health Officer, Hawai`i State Department of Health, Kauai District Health Office: Good morning, Council. Dr. Berreman is currently on leave, but she wanted me to provide an update on Tropic Care 2024 to the County Council. The Kaua`i District Health Office in partnership with the County of Kaua`i will host the sixth medical Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) Mission, also referred to as Tropic Care. Tropic Care will return to Kaua`i on June 13, 2024 and will operate at several sites through June 20, 2024. (Councilmember Kagawa was noted as present.) Ms. Guest: The eight-day event will provide no-cost healthcare services for the community, including physical examinations (exams), dermatology, which is a new service this year, eye exams, eyeglass fabrication, dental exams, fillings, and extractions. Locations will include Kapa'a Middle School, Waimea Canyon Middle School, and Kilauea Elementary School. They will operate from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the exception of the last day, June 20, 2024, when all clinics will close at noon. Tropic Care services are provided at no cost to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Thank you to Mayor Kawakami and the Administration for making Kaua`i Bus fixed route services, islandwide, free of charge during the mission to facilitate access to the clinics, as well as for supporting other resource and logistical needs of our military partners. We appreciate the Council's assistance in helping to get the word out. I will leave some flyers with you all, and if you need more information, you can refer to our website, www.health.hawaii.gov/kauai, or call our office. Over the years, Tropic Care missions have provided millions of dollars' worth of free medical, dental, and optometry services at no cost to our residents. Mahalo to our active and reserve military partners. We would like to express our sincerest gratitude for their contributions to improving the health of Kaua`i. I would like to give them an opportunity to introduce themselves and their mission. Thank you for your time. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. IAN MCEWAN: Good morning. My name is Captain Ian McEwan and I will be the Mission Officer in charge of Tropic Care this year. COUNCIL MEETING 11 APRIL 10, 2024 SHAUN SHILLADY: Good morning. I am Lieutenant Commander Shaun Shillady. I am a Program Manager for the next higher chain of command with regards to this mission. I am serving a dual hat. I am coming in as the Navy contingent Officer in Charge (OIC), but I also represent the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Program Manager for this mission. Let me just say, if it is okay with you, that we are extremely excited to come to your beautiful island and provide some no-cost healthcare to your needy community. We are looking forward to being here and in the weeks and days leading up to our mission, I can tell that everyone who is heading here is extremely excited to come and do this for you. We are very much looking forward to it. Council Chair Rapozo: What year will this be? For how many years have you been doing this? Ms. Guest: Six (6) years. Council Chair Rapozo: Six (6) years. Thank you for your service. I know you have some people in the back. Thank you for your service as well. Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: I am just waving to them. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I just really, really appreciate Tropic Care. It has been wonderful. I have tried to make it a point to go for something every year that you are here, but I mostly just go to see how many people are well-served. I think it is important that we get the word out. Typically, the County allows for free bus service those days and there are so many people who need the help, especially with the vision and dental, but all of it, really. It is such a blessing and I just thank you very, very much. At the beginning, I think people were a little nervous and wondering what it was about, but it has just been so good. I appreciate it. I want to ask because people are watching. I know you offer vision, dental, and basic medical. You can even prescribe medication, right? If people have infections or something. Can you tell the public what types of service you are giving? Mr. Shillady: We will do some prescribing. We do not bring a lot of medicine (meds) with us, but with working with Lauren and her team, we will make sure that ongoing care is taken care of and handled, and that people who are leaving our site have that ongoing care. Councilmember Cowden: We have a lot of people going who do not even have medical, so what can they get when they go to see you? Do you know? Maybe that is for someone who is sitting in the back. Mr. Shillady: My job within the military is a Healthcare Administrator and an Operations Professional within the military. What we will do is provide basic medical care—exams, patients can come in and present a concern. Oftentimes, we are talking to people and the only time they receive care is when we COUNCIL MEETING 12 APRIL 10, 2024 are here, so, again, we encourage that ongoing care and coordinate that with your local health agencies. With dental care, as Lauren mentioned, we will do extractions, fillings, and things like that, and with optometry, we will be able to do a complete eye exam and provide a free pair of eyeglasses to every participant who needs one. We are looking forward to being able to offer those services. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else? I need to say that the eyeglasses have changed. They look really good. When the mayor was Mayor Carvalho, I remember sitting at this same table when Tropic Care was coming out for the first time. It was interesting, we had never seen anything like it, and it was such a success. It has just gotten better every single year. I was in the United States (U.S.) Air Force. I never got glasses, but I remember what they issued back in the day. You folks are probably too young to remember what they looked like. I saw what the new glasses look like. The reason I bring this up is because it is quality and it is free. I just got my glasses, these glasses right here. They are nothing special, but even with my vision plan, these were five hundred dollars ($500). I am blind, but you folks do it for free and you do a complete eye exam, dental exam, fillings, and extractions. You do everything for our people. I do not want to get into the details, but thousands and thousands and thousands of people have been served over the years. As you said, some people wait for Tropic Care to come and get their annual physical because there is no cost. Thank you so much, folks. Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you. It is a priceless service that helps so many. I know the Department of Health must be keeping some data on services provided in the past because we are going onto the sixth year now, I am curious how these locations are selected and have they changed over time, because you have data on where the demand is greatest. Ms. Guest: You might notice that we have fewer locations this year. The mission in 2022 actually saw a lot less utilization of the clinic services throughout the island. We had five (5) locations in 2022. The number of people that the military is bringing this year is smaller than it has been in prior years, and because the more sites you have, the more you spread out all of the providers you have, the harder it is to provide all of the services that you are providing equally at each of those sites. The idea behind the three (3) sites this year was to maximize the number of clinicians that we have coming out and the services that we provide, while still providing a spread across the entire island so we had islandwide access. Councilmember Kuali`i: When you mentioned the three (3) sites, I tried to write them down quickly. Waimea Canyon Middle School was the second, I lauea Elementary School was the third. The third was Kapa`a... Ms. Guest: It is Kapa'a Middle School. There will not be a Lihu`e location this year. Councilmember Kuali`i: The last thing, in the years past, how has it been as far as lines and waiting, and what can we tell people to expect? COUNCIL MEETING 13 APRIL 10, 2024 Ms. Guest: We always tell people to expect to wait in line. Sometimes, it is for several hours. At other times, there is no line. We do try to communicate that through our radio stations to help get the word out. For example, if there is no line or are really long lines at a certain site, we encourage people to go to another site that does not currently have lines, but it is pretty hard to say. It really does vary by the day and is based on whether people are working. Our weekend days tend to be the busiest, because as you folks know, people typically work during the week. If you can go during the week, I would definitely recommend that. They tend to be less busy days, but we will work as hard as we can to serve everyone who shows up. Councilmember Kuali`i: Lastly, did you say the mission starts June 13, 2024? Ms. Guest: That is correct. Councilmember Kuali`i: How long will it go and is it every day? Ms. Guest: It is June 13, 2024 to June 20, 2024. It is eight (8) days of clinic services, but the last day is just a half('A) day. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you so much. Ms. Guest: Of course. Councilmember Kuali`i: Thank you, Chair. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kagawa, followed by Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you for all you do, Lauren. My question is similar to Councilmember Kuali`i's. What is a good strategy for people as far as services? I think vision would be a big one, being that many vision plans are not great or there is a lot of copay. You said the best days to go are probably weekdays. With Kaua`i people at Safeway on five-dollar Fridays, if something good is on sale, it is gone by 10:00 a.m. Even that might be too late. Kaua`i people like to go early. Is that a good strategy or is the afternoon a better time to go for the popular services, like vision? Mr. Shillady: I think what you are trying to get at is how many eyeglasses are we bringing and will we run out. It is a possibility that we will, depending on how many people come. What the Navy brings to bear on this particular mission is the Naval Ophthalmic Readiness Activity (NORA). It is based out of Cheatham Annex in Virginia. We bring a team here that can literally make the eyeglasses from beginning to end after the eye exam is completed. We will bring a selection of about six (6) different styles of eyeglasses, as the Chair was mentioning earlier. We do tend to run out of certain things, but we are bringing a significant number this time, so we hope not to, but the earlier you get there, the more chance you have at getting a slightly better selection. I hope that answers your questions. COUNCIL MEETING 14 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Kagawa: Okay. Do you open at 8:00 a.m.? Would it be a good strategy for people to go in line at 7:00 a.m.? Mr. Shillady: Let us say we get to 2:00 p.m. and we see a lot of people in line who we cannot get to on that particular day, what will happen is we have a ticket system. We will hand those people those tickets so that when they come the next day, they are sure to be first in line. Councilmember Kagawa: Is this soon as you folks start at 7:00 a.m.? Mr. Shillady: Yes. Councilmember Kagawa: This is because my eyes are bad. I am only joking. Mr. Shillady: People can get in line a little early if they want, but we will make sure everyone is seen. Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I have a couple of questions and a bit of a concept thing. Last time, in 2022, there was not enough turnout. It was a weak turnout. I think a part of that is we were at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic window and people were still a little nervous to go out, but we also had a demographic change over the COVID-19 pandemic window. We have less of our working class here now. They have been economically displaced off the island and we have more poor people. Lauren, are you contacting our houseless outreach people?I think if you really work closely with that group, and it might even be that we can work with them somehow to pick people up in vans and bring them there, because when I work with that community, it is really evident that we have metabolic problems and that there is infection. Do you have an intention to work directly with that community? Ms. Guest: Yes, we do that every year. We work with our houseless agencies and our other social service agencies, because they know a lot of the clientele who need these services most, and they help bring them out to the clinics as they can. Councilmember Cowden: That is great. The Garden Island newspaper is not here right now, but I would say we really need to get the word out because I think last time, too, our mindset was really still yet a lot more closed, so whether you have posters up in different places, stick brochures in buses, or something like that, because I think you folks came and went without us hardly knowing last time. Ms. Guest: We have already posted banners near our office and we are going to be placing them in other parts of the island as well. We will run radio advertisements (ads). I think it is a good idea to see if we could put banners or posters in the buses. I can reach out to the Kaua`i Bus to discuss. COUNCIL MEETING 15 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Cowden: Community radio and Ho`ike are pretty much free for you folks. That is great. Banners...I love it. Last time, you came and were gone without enough awareness, because you are providing something really critical. Council Chair Rapozo: There are millions of people who watch this show, so after today, the word will be out. Councilmember Carvalho. Councilmember Carvalho: I wanted to ask again about the service from you folks, the Tropic Care program in general, and having it all set up for people on our island. Are there any other types of challenges you folks have right now or are you pretty much solid with everything in each of the areas? Ms. Guest: I think so. We are working through some challenges with forklifts and things like that. Councilmember Carvalho: Forklifts? Ms. Guest: I think we will figure it all out. Councilmember Carvalho: I remember from the past that you folks have been awesome in providing support to our people of all ages and even our houseless community, like Councilmember Cowden mentioned. I just wanted to ask about that. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just thought of one more thing. Do you provide, or have you thought about having for each day, the first hour being the kupuna hour or the most serious health issues time where people who need it the most and maybe cannot wait in line for three (3) hours or however long, where they might have some type of priority? I know that might take some advance work, like Councilmember Cowden was talking about with some of our nonprofit agencies. Ms. Guest: It is supposed to be on a first-come, first-served basis. That is one of the basic tenants of the program from the Federal government. Obviously, we do try to accommodate higher needs patients and older adults, but it is challenging to prioritize them first. I would say that the day before, June 19, 2024 [sic], we are going to have a soft open. Council Chair Rapozo: It is no longer soft. Ms. Guest: I know. I am a little nervous to say that. We do work with some of our social service agencies to prioritize bringing in our higher needs clients on that soft open day particularly. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Bulosan. Councilmember Bulosan: This is a prime example of our military, our Department of Health, and our County coming together. You know the statistics, COUNCIL MEETING 16 APRIL 10, 2024 Lauren. Healthcare costs are probably number one or two of the biggest challenges, besides housing, and every time Tropic Care comes, it is a lifesaving moment for many people. I am sure you folks see it with the patients you help, so I cannot express enough gratitude for the support. I know at some point...I think we skipped a year. How is Kaua`i determined as the location and how can we keep being the location? Is there any way we can support on this side? Do we need to write letters of support? Do we have to knock on your door? Truly, the week that you are here, you are literally elevating the health of thousands of people and it is a ripple effect. Mr. Shillady: What I can tell you is at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level, when a community application comes in, typically in the fall timeframe, we will start to look at all of the applications coming in across the country. This program is entirely about training for us. We come out here under the guise of training. Captain McEwan, for example, is getting a lot of training in project and program management. I am Healthcare Administration, so operations, running this mission from start to end. There are countless hours that are involved. Again, with our two (2) associates back here, I met and I know them now. We are working together for hours on end. It is all about training for us, so when we start to look at the community applications that are entered, the primary thing we are looking at is what is getting that training value?Any mission has training value, some more than others, and every unit that is then going to look at those applications and say, "I want to do that mission," will look at it from that value. There is never one that is more or less needy than another, but it is about the training value for us. If memory serves from when we were here last in 2022, I believe the community value that we provided you is over one million three hundred thousand dollars ($1,300,000). If you got a doctor exam and calculated it out with what that value was, that is where we come up with those numbers, and that is adjusted for Hawaii as a locale. That value is primarily what goes into that decision-making—the training value that we will get out of it. All I can say is we have been coming for six (6) years, I do not think we will ever stop coming, so keep putting in the application. That is all I can say. Ms. Guest: We will keep submitting the application. Councilmember Bulosan: If there is any other logistical trainings or scenarios that you need, I am sure we can some with it, such as taking care of people on the beach, remotely, no internet access. We have all of that for you. I really appreciate the collaboration and for the Department of Health always supplying and making sure we are in the position to help serve our community, but most importantly, for making a mutually beneficial experience for all of us. I am sure all of your trainees who come out can feel the impact that they make. I am sure it is lifelong experiences that they never forget and we hope that through those partnerships and experiences, it better serves them in their training, but mostly, on the selfish side, it always best serves our community, so thank you. Mr. Shillady: I will speak to the fact that there is a variety of IRT programs. They are not just medical. We also do construction, cyber, dive missions, and we have numerous things going on in Hawaii, in general, over the next year or so, most notably down at the Ford Island Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. COUNCIL MEETING 17 APRIL 10, 2024 That is a big one we are working on for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. There are lots of different styles of IRT support for Hawai`i, in general, let alone Lihu`e. Councilmember Bulosan: With that said...more things for Lauren. I am sure there is a laundry list that you put requests for. Is there consideration for maybe looking at mental health with the next program? Mr. Shillady: We are actually bringing mental health services. Councilmember Cowden: Is that for this time? Mr. Shillady: Yes. Councilmember Bulosan: That is awesome. Ms. Guest: Typically, there are some mental health service providers. It is a challenging way to provide those services, because it is a one-time thing and you really need to establish a relationship with that person to provide mental health services. It is there and it is a service that will be available, but we work extra hard to try to link to local providers afterwards. Councilmember Bulosan: That is awesome. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: Thank you, Lauren and you folks, for all that you do. My question is geared to a personal question. Do you folks have lunch every day? Do you need me to help you coordinate that? No one talked about how we can help you folks. We have all these questions about how you help our community, but you are going to these different locations. Have you folks thought about lunch? If you need some help coordinating that, I would like to leave my number with you. This is not for all the people who are coming for care. I am talking about the caregivers. Thank you. Mr. McEwan: Thank you, Councilmember. We appreciate it. We are here to help and not be a burden. Councilmember DeCosta: Yes, but you need to eat. You cannot work eight (8) hours without eating. We eat all day when we have these meetings. Mr. Shillady: I had a whole different answer to that. Councilmember DeCosta: Lauren, I will give you my phone number. Let me know if there is something I can do. Ms. Guest: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo: Do not say, "No," to his food. COUNCIL MEETING 18 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Kagawa: He will make you some smoked sheep. He has a lot of creative things that you do not eat where you come from. Council Chair Rapozo: He makes an amazing goat stew. Councilmember De Costa: I just want to help you folks out. I appreciate what you do. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any other questions for Tropic Care? Seeing none. Thank you, folks. I do not think it will ever leave Hawai`i either, because it is just a destination where everyone wants to go to train. I have been on many deployments. Some were good, some were not. I cannot imagine how anyone would say, "No, let us not go to Kaua`i," but the training component is so important, especially for our reserve units that participate. Thank you, folks. Did you leave a flyer here with us? Ms. Guest: I have a stack of them. Council Chair Rapozo: That is perfect. We will try to get that up on our website and promote it as much as we can. Ms. Guest: That is awesome. Thank you so much. Council Chair Rapozo: Do the two (2) associates in the back want to say a few words? Yes, yes, you do. You did not come all this way to sit. If you could, state your name and introduce yourself. FRANCESCA MALIWANAG: Aloha. Good morning. I am Master Sergeant Maliwanag, I am the First Sergeant for the mission, so I will be making sure that nothing bad happens with all of our people. I did want to mention about food. That was one of our challenges. Part of my task with the mission is trying to feed two hundred (200) people at our locations. We are staying in hotels; we are not doing tent city this year. If we are doing two (2) to a room, it is a very small refrigerator, so we are telling our members to bring lunch pails, pack a lunch, go to Safeway, and are giving them all sorts of local resources where they can purchase food. Getting the food to them and making sure that their food is staying cold or warm is a huge challenge for us that we are trying to figure out. Food is going to be a challenge. We have looked at numerous local food trucks and establishments in the local area. We have been serving those, but being able to keep up with the hours of working with the clinic and serving the community is going to be a challenge just to make sure our members get food within the window that they are allowed to grab food. That is just one challenge for us. Councilmember Cowden: I have a question. Council Chair Rapozo: Go ahead. Councilmember Cowden: Are there two hundred (200) people coming for this? COUNCIL MEETING 19 APRIL 10, 2024 Ms. Maliwanag: I believe it is about two hundred (200) personnel (pax). Councilmember Cowden: Where are you from? You are coming from all across the nation, right? Ms. Maliwanag: Yes, ma'am. Councilmember Cowden: Where do you come from? Ms. Maliwanag: I am coming from California. Councilmember Cowden: California. GIAN VERA: Georgia. Councilmember Cowden: Georgia. It is a nice thing of everyone coming together. Two hundred (200) people is a lot. Ms. Maliwanag: Yes, ma'am. Council Chair Rapozo: You can connect with Councilmember DeCosta, because it is rough. You need to feed them. As the First Sergeant, you need to keep them happy. That is your job; you need to keep them happy. , _ Ms. Maliwanag: Yes, sir. Council Chair Rapozo: For people who watch this, I am hoping local venders out here, maybe a food truck or a restaurant, might be willing to cover one (1) meal for one (1) day for two hundred (200) people. That is a lot of people, but one (1) big pot of goat stew or... Ms. Maliwanag: It is just the access to food during that time and making sure that they are able to have a place to keep their food cold, warm, or whatever. Council Chair Rapozo: We will try to get the word out. I will bet that there are businesses out there that would want to help. Sir. Mr. Vera: I am Technical Sergeant Vera. This is my first time doing a mission like this. I really enjoy it. The planning of it is a lot of learning for me. I am a medic by trade. I have been a medic for thirteen (13) years and I am really glad to be here to help out the community. Council Chair Rapozo: Again, thank you for your service. Are you folks here until Tropic Care Kaua`i? Mr. Vera: No, right now, we are here just until Friday. COUNCIL MEETING 20 APRIL 10, 2024 Ms. Maliwanag: No, we are here for planning. This is our final planning meeting. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay, and then you will come back and do the set up? That is awesome. Councilmember DeCosta: When is the official date of set up? Ms. Maliwanag: To set up? Councilmember DeCosta: Yes. When is the official date for Tropic Care to set up? Ms. Maliwanag: The 8th. Council Chair Rapozo: In June. Mr. Vera: We are going to start setting up. Ms. Maliwanag: That is when we start setting up. Some of our personnel will be here starting on the 7th or 8th of June, and then I believe we are starting the clinic on the 13th. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, we will not mention the soft opening. Are there any more questions for these amazing people?Again, thank you for your service, thank you for being here, and we will do what we can to get the word out. Ms. Maliwanag: Thank you. We appreciate it. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify? Ms. Parker. You need to come up to the chair, though. We need to get a cordless microphone (mic) for you. Ms. Parker: Alice Parker, for the record. I have gone to Tropic Care and they are fantastic. They are very patient, they are very professional, and they do a great service for the community. Welcome and mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Is there anyone else? If not, is there any final discussion? Go ahead, Councilmember Kagawa. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called to order, and proceeded as follows: Councilmember Kagawa: I went out of curiosity more than anything. I went for a vision exam twelve (12) years ago, or something like that. It was just at the middle school and it was very crowded. Like they said, in 2022, it was really slow, so I think we need to get the word out, and get the community to participate, because who does not like free? Free ninety-nine is the best price. I think if we do not show the numbers, it could jeopardize the size of future Tropic Care help to the people or COUNCIL MEETING 21 APRIL 10, 2024 even eliminate, as our Federal government have budget problems itself right now. Hopefully, it will turn out where the true Kaua`i, about twelve (12) years ago that I saw, will be participating and benefiting from this great service. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I want to say I share your concern, Councilmember Kagawa, that we would lose this service if we do not have enough people. I did try and pay attention when they were here last time. I think part of it was not getting the word out, but, like I said, when I am speaking, Part of it is we have displaced so many people from our island, so a lot of those people who...like when we do not have people to work the gas stations, the shops, the everything, it is because our working class and working community has gotten displaced. I watched last time with a concerned heart when people did not show up, because I was thinking, "Is this a demonstration of how many people are now gone," because the type of people who are moving here typically have plenty and a lot, and good health insurance, so they do not need this type of service. That is why we do not have enough people doing the work. It is an indicator of a challenge we have, and hopefully, they will come out of the woodwork and we will see that we have plenty of people. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else? Seeing none. Again, mahalo to the Department of Health and Tropic Care. The lines are long, but if you have ever tried to go to Urgent Care on Kaua`i, it is long there, too, and you have to pay for that one. For those of you who are out there watching or know someone who can benefit, please spread the word, and we will try to get it out as much as we can. The motion to receive C 2024-79 for the record was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please C 2024-80 Communication (03/15/2024) from the Director of Economic Development, requesting Council approval of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University of Hawai`i, pursuant to the Broadband, Equity Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and to apply for, receive, and expend funds, from the University of Hawai`i, via the Memorandum of Agreement, in the amount of $100,000.00, for broadband outreach, education, and equity efforts through the County, which will include training, and looking into securing broadband coordination support. Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve C 2024-80, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. Council Chair Rapozo: Office of Economic Development (OED). For some reason, it is like I just heard you last night. There being no objections, the rules were just suspended. NATHAN M. PRESCOTT, Economic Development Specialist IV: Yes, I have been out doing a lot of broadband outreach. I am Nate Prescott, Business Specialist in COUNCIL MEETING 22 APRIL 10, 2024 the Office of Economic Development. We are here seeking your approval for this Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University of Hawai`i for one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to further the broadband mission. A lot of it is education, outreach, and making sure that our people have highspeed internet going out toward the future. To give you a little bit of background, there is almost five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) for the State of Hawai`i floating around for broadband efforts and a lot of it is contingent on us showing that there is need for our communities. A lot of this money will go towards outreach and education of our community, and working with nonprofit organizations to help spread the word as well that there are a couple of steps that need to be done to have this evidence that shows that we need this funding and that will help us secure funding for a fiber-optic cable for highspeed internet for everyone on the island, our undersea cables, so we have redundancy, resiliency, and we will not miss out in case there is any outage with the one (1) cable that comes to the island. This money will be used for outreach and advertisements to advertise we are having events. It will go to contracting with nonprofit organizations to help us be a part of the challenge process. The challenge process is going to require community members to do speed tests at home for multiple days, then submit that information to us and to nonprofit organizations to submit it to the bigger challenge process. That will require a lot of manpower, people, and time, so we will work with nonprofit organizations to have them go out, do that, and train them for it. It will possibly also go towards an intern position that we would do either through AmeriCorps VISTA or through our Department of Human Resources (HR). All the other counties have multiple people working on this, so we are trying to get more help in-house to get these projects done. Another possibility for what we are going to use this money for is digital equity programs. For those of you who are not familiar, digital equity is that matter if we get highspeed internet—fiber-optic or another undersea cable—there are going to be some people who either do not know how to access it or cannot afford access to it, so some of these programs could go towards training for kupuna or for others who do not know how to use the internet, do not know how to use the internet safely, and do not know how to use it to get the same opportunities that the rest of the world has.There have been other programs to give devices to people who cannot afford it. That is what digital equity is and those are the types of programs that might come from this, but part of this budget would be for a pilot program, so that we could hopefully apply for more later and show that there is need. That is the basis of what we would like to use this money for. I think it would be really helpful. We are working with UH, the State, Federal partners, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and all other counties. We meet with them every single week and strategize together. Council Chair Rapozo: Are you participating in the broadband meetings that go on? I know we were not for a long time. Mr. Prescott: Yes. I have been running them and speaking at them for the most part. There have been others. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) has come and had their own meetings, because they have their own funding for Anahola, Kekaha, and all other DHHL land. I have also participated with them when I can. Yes, I have been involved with all the broadband things that have been going on for the last year and a half. COUNCIL MEETING 23 APRIL 10, 2024 Council Chair Rapozo: Is this one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from UH? Mr. Prescott: Yes, it is from UH. It is from the larger Federal BEAD. It is part of that big chunk of money. It is coming from the Federal government to UH, and they are spreading it out to the counties. Council Chair Rapozo: Is the hope to create this justification to get more money out of that five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000)? Mr. Prescott: It is to spread outreach, so that we all can have highspeed internet. Part of it, yes, is we also have to reinforce. On one hand, we have to train our people to know, because everyone who I spoke with, if you ask them a couple of questions, they start to realize, "Yes, my internet is not very good, but I thought everyone's internet was like that," but it should not be. A lot of us are not getting the internet that we are paying for. Part of it is just education. The speed test also gives you some evidence to talk with your internet service provider and troubleshoot any issues that are going on there, so a lot of this is education. There are a lot of problems along the way that could lead to us not having good internet, so it is education and it is also reinforcement and showing that the need is here. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: What is the uniform resource locator (URL) for the speed test link again? Mr. Prescott: I believe it is kauaispeedtest.net. Councilmember Bulosan: It should be .com. Mr. Prescott: It might be .com. Councilmember Cowden: Can you post that on the County of Kaua`i website so that we can populate it and push that out. I want to say that since you did your talk, and I was unserved and underserved, as of two (2) weeks ago, I am not highly served. Mr. Prescott: Okay, you are in. Absolutely. Councilmember Cowden: Is it that hard? Mr. Prescott: We plan to utilize press releases and keep getting this out. As you all know, trying to get information out to the public is like you have to hit every angle and we are trying.Yes, we will be posting it. We will post it more on our social media and send it out to all of our other partner organizations, and will try to get press releases out with it as well. Councilmember Cowden: I am thankful for the fiber-optic cable, because that is healthier for us. Are we getting another undersea cable? COUNCIL MEETING 24 APRIL 10, 2024 Mr. Prescott: One (1) was announced. Councilmember Cowden: To Kaua`i? Mr. Prescott: Yes, one (1) was announced to Kaua`i. Councilmember Cowden: Is that a "yes"? Mr. Prescott: Another cable would be coming here. There are also plans for a second cable that is coming in. This second cable would be partly owned by the State of Hawai`i. That is partly how we are able to ensure that no one has a monopoly and the State will ensure that these are affordable rates, so we have part ownership of it. That provides the redundancy. There are two (2) cables that are planned. Both of them have been announced at various levels, but nothing is for sure until it is here and is set up. Councilmember Cowden: Do we have a when? Is it in the next two (2) years? Mr. Prescott: I could find out. Councilmember Cowden: I would like to know that, because it is a problem. Both of our cables are long past their expiration date. They are years past and it does have a pretty big impact on business stability. Mr. Prescott: Yes. I talk about this in the presentations that I do. Internet is not just a luxury anymore; it is what we rely on for work, for school, for our connectivity, for instead of flying to O`ahu for a doctor's appointment, a lot of times we can just do a Facetime video call and get a lot of our needs met and is a lot more convenient. It is much more a part of our life that we rely on for almost every level. Council Chair Rapozo: The State will not get into the telecommunication business, though, right? Mr. Prescott: No. Council Chair Rapozo: They may partially pay for the cable, but at some point, you need to rely on the businesses to bring that service to the homes. Mr. Prescott: Yes. We work closely with Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum. One of the businesses that is going to own one (1) of the cables is Ocean Networks, so we work closely with them. In part of the conversations that we had last night at that meeting, there were some people who were talking about the big difficulties they are having. We have higher up connections at all of those companies that we have been able to reach out to and solve problems at a much quicker level than going through customer service agents, so, yes, we are working closely with all these businesses as well. There were questions of if the County or State will do something like Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC), where they just buy this utility and take care COUNCIL MEETING 25 APRIL 10, 2024 of it, but I do not think the State is interested in that. They just want to have "skin in the game" that ensures that we are able to keep prices fair for residents. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any other questions? Councilmember Bulosan. Councilmember Bulosan: Did you say when you are implementing the marketing program for all the initiatives? Mr. Prescott: It is an ongoing process. We have been doing it to the best of our ability, and hopefully, if we get some of this money and we can get more support, then we can do a lot more. Councilmember Bulosan: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: You run the business department for OED and we have the Kaua`i Made®Program, the smaller little businesses.Are you also reaching out to them with this broadband and this internet? It is a nice way for them to get their product out, because a lot of them might sell it online. Are you working closely with the Kaua`i Made® Program? Mr. Prescott: Not necessarily about the broadband things, but I work with them regularly to try to give them business help and business resources. I work closely with the coordinator of the Kaua`i Made® Program and we collaborate often. As she talks with businesses that need some help, we get together and help. It is a great idea to include them. Councilmember DeCosta: It seems like this would help them with their business, right? A lot of them are small "mom and pop" or small at-home commercial businesses on their private property. Mr. Prescott: Yes, and a lot of them rely on the internet for their sales. Absolutely. Councilmember DeCosta: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any other questions? Councilmember Cowden: I have just one. Have you tested this building? Mr. Prescott: I have tested...not necessarily this building. Councilmember Cowden: I am testing it right now. Bad, bad, and poor. Mr. Prescott: As I said, there are a lot of steps along the way that can cause bad internet, but I am happy to talk to Spectrum, as they do our internet. COUNCIL MEETING 26 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Cowden: Can you check it?At home, I now have "highly effective" or whatever it is. I have the top ranking. I went from the worst to the top. Shout out to Hawaiian Telcom for their new line. For here, it cannot even really come up to giving me a total other than it is bad, bad, and bad. No, bad, bad, and poor. Mr. Prescott: That is something that we can look into. I do not spend a lot of time here, so I am glad to know. I am sure there are solutions that we can find. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kagaw 1. Councilmember Kagawa: You asked him a question that you gave the answers to? Councilmember Cowden: I asked him if he had tested over here, and he said he had not, so I was telling him what my experience was. Councilmember Kagawa: I thought you were asking him, but you knew what the answer was. Councilmember Cowden: I asked him if he had tried it, because if he had tried it and he got a good one, then maybe I am not doing things right. Council Chair Rapozo: We have horrible internet over here. Councilmember Kagawa: I can sort of tell that. The internet is pretty slow here. Council Chair Rapozo: Again, that is par for the course and that is why I am very frustrated, though not with you. Mr. Prescott: That is what I get a lot when I talk to people. They are like, "No, it is fine," and when I talk to them more, they say, "It is not very good, but I thought that is the just the case that we have been dealt," but it is not. In the building where OED is located, I had really bad internet for a long time, then I talked with Spectrum. They said, "We have a special line that goes to all the County buildings." Council Chair Rapozo: Not this one. Mr. Prescott: I will find out more information. I talked to their Information Technology (IT) staff, and there were multiple... Council Chair Rapozo: You can tell Spectrum we will try to isolate this building and go with Hawaiian Telcom to get the fiber optics, because the six hundred megabits (600 Mb) is where we are at. COUNCIL MEETING 27 APRIL 10, 2024 Mr. Prescott: I can look into it for sure and maybe we can get some better answers. Councilmember Cowden: My final is, "You are unserved," in this building. Council Chair Rapozo: It is rubbish. Councilmember Cowden: By the way, when we get low internet speeds, does that help burn out your equipment or not, because my things had gotten hot? I have had to replace the computer. Mr. Prescott: I do not know. Council Chair Rapozo: It makes your computer work harder because you are using all the resources to pull that signal, and that is the problem. Mr. Prescott: I would assume, yes. Councilmember Cowden: I would assume, too. You got an answer: unserved. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. Prescott: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify? Do you want to testify? Wow, two (2) firsts. Councilmember Kuali`i: No, he did once before. MAX RICHARDSON: I did once before and I was mad, but I am not mad this time. Councilmember DeCosta: I solved your madness. I gave you a hot tip, right? Do you remember that? Mr. Richardson: Hi. How is it going?It looks different looking at all of you with my actual eyes instead of through the camera. I am Max Richardson. I am with Ho`ike Kaua`i Community Television. We are actually a member of the Broadband Hui. My colleague is actually livestreaming the meeting that they are having right now as I speak to you. I do not go to their meetings too often because they happen on Wednesdays, and on Wednesdays I am usually here with you fine people, but I do pay attention to some of what they say, and I just wanted to advocate for this Memorandum of Agreement and the speaker who just spoke. Everything he said is great and you should do it, especially if we are getting the money from someone else. That is even better. I think he had a really good point about how you live here for a long time and you think, "Well, that is just the way it is. The internet sucks, but it sucks everywhere." For most of the rest of the developed world that is not on an island, the COUNCIL MEETING 28 APRIL 10, 2024 information technology and telecommunications technology are improving exponentially fast to the point where the assumed standard for what you are going to have is a different century from what we have on Kaua`i, so we need to catch up or we are going to be left behind. That is super expensive and it involves what is your folks' word to hear from someone at this podium, which is infrastructure. We need to put in all these super expensive fiber-optic undersea cables and all these science fiction (sci-fi) things. If we can get help with that, it would be great, because a lot of businesses are really disinterested in setting up all that infrastructure to help sixty thousand (60,000) people, which if you are Charter Spectrum, the biggest telecommunications company in the country, they are like, "Sixty thousand (60,000) people, who care? That is no one," but if they have the infrastructure and we are like, "You folks can use these cable lines to give us better internet," then suddenly they are more interested. Yes, we are going to need that, because Zoom, telehealth, and video telecommunications, in general, are assumed to be the standard. I do not know about you folks, but if I am on a Zoom meeting and everyone has their cameras on, half the time it crashes, I cannot hold my phone in my hand because it heats up so much and will burn my hand. We do not have the bandwidth, because frankly, our infrastructure sucks. Yes, if we can get help to make it better, I think that is the most important thing and I think the main thrust of a lot of the Broadband Hui...they are not necessarily arguments, but our discussions that we have are like, "These people are on board, these people are on board, and these people are on board, but there is not a lot of money for it, it is going to be really expensive, and we need help from the government, so anything that we can do to get the Federal government to pay more attention to us and help us improve that infrastructure, I think is going to improve everyone's daily lives quiet a bit. The other thing, not necessarily specifically related to this, but since I am up here, and in addition to being a cameraman, I am an IT person,just from an IT standpoint, you cannot really speed test internet with a phone, because there is a lot of links in the chain. The speed test that you care about in the context of the internet service provider, is speed in the cable. You could have ten bazillion gigabits per second in the cable, and if you have bad Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and a concrete building, which you have, the speed of your phone is going to be really slow. When you do a speed test, you should do it on a computer that is,actually plugged into a wire. I am not saying the internet here is good. It is probably not, but if your phone says it is not good, that is not definitive proof. That is all I had to say. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Just for your information, I just ran the Hawaiian Telcom speed test on this laptop, and yes, it is Wi-Fi, it is not hardwired. The download is eight point eight (8.8), the upload is four point seven (4.7). That is rubbish. Mr. Richardson: Is that megabits? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. Mr. Richardson: Eight point eight (8.8) megabits? Council Chair Rapozo: Eight point eight (8.8). Mr. Richardson: That is like speeds from 2005. COUNCIL MEETING 29 APRIL 10, 2024 Council Chair Rapozo: That is like dial-up internet. Mr. Richardson: That is pretty terrible. Council Chair Rapozo: That is what we get here. That goes to what I say is the respect this body gets in the whole scheme of things, because this is horrible. Mr. Richardson: You could probably improve that by quite a bit if you put a wireless access point in this room, because these walls are solid. Council Chair Rapozo: Right after this meeting today, we are meeting with IT, because I am obviously not happy. Mr. Richardson: Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Is there anyone else? Seeing none. Is there any further discussion? Councilmember Kuali`i. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Councilmember Kuali`i: I really appreciated his testimony and I think that makes it even more clear how important it is that our folks at OED take this one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), do the outreach, and get as much data as possible to demonstrate the need. I think the timing is right because this Administration out of Washington, D.C. is investing more money historically than has ever been, and he said five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) to Hawai`i alone. I bet that could even be more if we demonstrate the need. Remember, too, that this Administration in Washington, D.C. puts an emphasis in all of their federal programs and funding on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hawai`i as a state is the most diverse state in the nation with the most minority group population. The timing is right for Hawai`i and we should jump on it. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Bulosan. Councilmember Bulosan: I appreciate the Administration for prioritizing this. Two (2) years ago, we attended a National Association of Counties (NACo) conference where this was just released. I met with the organizers on the federal-level and I really appreciate the mayor assigning Nate into this program. I think he got voluntold, partly because of my fault, so I appreciate Nate doing all the work. I truly feel this is one of those issues that can be looked at as a small thing but it is probably one of the largest things. As we had earlier, healthcare is probably the second biggest cost to the community. The first being housing, but what brings all that together and evens the playing field is access to things. In almost every level in all our of lives, access requires access to internet. Whether you are getting your doctor's appointment or buying something online, everything involves that. We had La`akea here for the Charter Review Commission interview and I asked that one question about what the gap is and how are you going to bring your community together, specifically your peers. The biggest challenge in digital equity is actually for our children. They are going to continue COUNCIL MEETING 30 APRIL 10, 2024 to be further disadvantaged in their workplace, in their education, and in their health if we do not get the digital equity up and running in the way that it is supposed to. As they enter into their higher education, as they engage the world in all these different responsibilities, this is the minimum need. Like the minimum need that we have for getting your General Educational Development (GED), their minimum need is getting fast access internet. To see the prioritization from the Administration of both the State and the County, it is very important that we continue to encourage more of these MOAs and try to access more of these funds, because we cannot get behind on this. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kagawa, followed by Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you. This is a classic example of how Hawai`i is hurt by our relationship with the U.S. We are the only island-state that is so far away and separated by an ocean from the Mainland U.S. It is underlines how important it is for the Federal government to help us pay for these cables that need to be laid to keep up with the Mainland U.S. and the rest of the world. I think we are far behind. We need the government's help. We can spend billions of dollars on Pearl Harbor doing submarine improvements. I think these fiber-optic cables are far more important for us as a State, so whatever we can do at our level,whether it be the Hawai`i State Association of Counties (HSAC), or lobbying the congressional delegation via a resolution, I think we should do it as a Council. I am willing to sponsor it. We certainly need to start moving on it rather than talking about it because we are just falling further and further behind on something that is so critical, and again, we need the federal help. We cannot do it alone. It is not worth the Federal government to fund us if they just look at holistically, but they need to look at the differences of Hawai`i and help out in that way, because I think we are far more important to the U.S. government than they are to us. Thank you, Chair. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: Thank you, Councilmember Kagawa. That is exactly the point I was going to make. You said it so well. The only other point I wanted to add is I remember being in the room with Councilmember Kuali`i, Council Chair Rapozo, and Councilmember Bulosan. We were all in that room with broadband and we were telling them the importance of taking that sea cable over to our islands from the continent. They do it in small areas of Nevada and Utah for little country folks who live way out in the sticks. They run that cable underground and bring them internet service. We cannot do it that easily. Like Councilmember Kagawa said, our congressional leaders need to be listening. That is when we go up there and lobby. People do not really understand. The people who are watching do not know. When we take our trips, when we go to NACo conferences, when we build that rapport with our senators and congressmen, when we have the relationship and they give us their ear, that is important. A lot of politicians do not have the ear of politicians of the next level. When you have their ear and you tell them our problems, they can advocate for us at that federal level. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Carvalho. COUNCIL MEETING 31 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Carvalho: Overall, with the presentation, which was great, this is just an opportunity to attract more funding, pots of money that are out there. We need to get this done as soon as possible (ASAP). The other big part for me in working closely from the past is our kupuna, and how to get them engaged as well in this overall reach. I think with this opportunity here, we will bring in the resources, and then we can go from there. Broadband is at the forefront right now, as far as I am concerned with. We are always talking about the different challenges that we have, but the funding that it at the table will reach out to different pots, so we just need to support that. Mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else? The motion to approve C 2024-80 was then put and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. C 2024-81 Communication (03/20/2024) from the Director of Economic Development, requesting Council approval to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with State and County agencies, to establish a Coalition, and to apply for, receive, and expend grant funds from the United States Environmental Protection Agency for two (2) projects: the County of Kaua`i Complete Streets Project and the County of Kaua`i Energy Efficiency Upgrades Project. Councilmember Kualici moved to approve C 2024-81, seconded by Councilmember De Costa. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion was to approve and there was a second. Is there any discussion or questions for the Administration. Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion to approve C 2024-81 was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. C 2024-82 Communication (03/21/2024) from the Executive on Transportation, requesting Council approval of the Revision to Supplement No. 03 for Memorandum of Agreement CKTAMOA-01, which corrects the funding amounts in Exhibits A and C. Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve C 2024-82, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. JADE K. FOUNTAIN-TANIGAWA, County Clerk: Council Chair, we do have a registered speaker. Council Chair Rapozo: Who is the registered speaker? COUNCIL MEETING 32 APRIL 10, 2024 Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Alice Parker. Council Chair Rapozo: Ms. Parker. There being no objections, the rules were suspended to take public testimony. Ms. Parker: Alice Parker, for the record. I guess this is on transportation. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, this is for a prior submittal of a Memorandum of Agreement. They had the wrong amounts in there. This is just a revision to the amount to make the numbers correct. Ms. Parker: As it regards transportation, I wish they would use their funds to ensure their drivers follow the rules and the designated routes. I was left at Lihu`e Neighborhood Center again. The driver said the bus was full. It was Tuesday, but that is not important. He just does not like to stop at the neighborhood center. I resent it and I think they should (inaudible) drivers who do not follow the routes or do something about it. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you, Ms. Parker. I will ask you to speak with the Executive on Transportation who is in the back. They are very responsive. I can tell you that. Share your concern. We will follow up on that. Are you saying the bus does not stop at the Lihu`e Neighborhood Center? Ms. Parker: He does that consistently, that driver. Council Chair Rapozo: Alright. Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to testify? Seeing none. Are there any questions for the Administration? Seeing none. There being no further testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows. The motion to approve C 2024-82 was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please C 2024-83 Communication (03/25/2024) from the Fire Chief, requesting Council approval to apply for, receive, and expend a United States Department of Homeland Security, Fiscal Year 2024 Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant, in the amount of $784,021.00, for two (2) Full-Time Firefighter line staff positions. COUNCIL MEETING 33 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve C 2024-83, seconded by Councilmember Cowden. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any questions for the Fire Department? I do not see them here. Councilmember Cowden: I do not see them here, but we have gone over this a number of times. Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. I am just curious. They did meet with Councilmembers individually. For the public's information, the SAFER grant is federal moneys that are provided to fire departments throughout the country to fund salaries for three (3) years. This is request is for two (2)positions for three (3) years. The SAFER grant, which is Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response...that is what SAFER means. This request is for two (2) positions for three (3) years. From the fourth year and on, the County absorbs that expense. This is a great tool. Again, the Fire Department has met with Councilmembers individually prior to today. Are there any other questions? Do we need the Fire Department? If not, is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion to approve C 2024-83 was then put, and unanimously carried. CLAIM: C 2024-84 Communication (03/25/2024) from the County Clerk, transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kaua`i by Duane Miyasato, for loss of income and personal property damage, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of Kaua`i. Councilmember Kuali`i moved to refer C 2024-84 to the Office of the County Attorney for disposition and/or report back to the Council, seconded by Councilmember Kagawa. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any discussion on the claim? Is there any public testimony? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion to approve C 2024-84 was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. COUNCIL MEETING 34 APRIL 10, 2024 COMMITTEE REPORT: PARKS & RECREATION / TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE: A report (No. CR-PRT 2024-02) submitted by the Parks & Recreation / Transportation Committee, recommending that the following be Approved on second and final reading: "Bill No. 2913 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 19, ARTICLE 3, SECTION 19-3.2, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PLAYING FEES AT THE WAILUA GOLF COURSE," Councilmember Kuali`i moved for approval of the report, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any discussion or public testimony? Seeing none. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting proceeded as follows: The motion for approval of the report was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Rapozo: The motion is carried. Next item, please. RESOLUTION: Resolution No. 2024-16 — RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF THE KAUAI COUNTY 2024 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 Kuali`i moved for adoption of Resolution No 2024-16, seconded by Councilmember Carvalho. Council Chair Rapozo: First of all, let me apologize. I intended to take your testimony during the Communication, not realizing it was in the Consent Calendar. Forgive me. There being no objections, the rules were suspended. ADAM P. ROVERSI, Housing Director: It is okay. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: If you want, go ahead and share with us the Resolution. COUNCIL MEETING 35 APRIL 10, 2024 Mr. Roversi: Thank you, Chair and Councilmembers. Adam Roversi, Director to the Kaua`i County Housing Agency. With me is Kerrilyn Barros, our Community Development Block Grant Program Coordinator and Anna Kanoho, who is our relatively new Federal Programs Assistant. She works with both Kerri and Steve, and she is a great addition to our team, so I wanted everyone to have a chance to meet Anna. Council Chair Rapozo: Welcome. Mr. Roversi: I will just give a quick introduction, and then I will ask Kerri to give more specific details about projects. As the expert, she will be a person to ask than myself to answer any specific questions. This is our annual process of submitting a resolution for our action plan which includes the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) projects to be funded on Kaua`i for the annual year. As usual, our total amount of CDBG funding is just over seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000). This year, a little out of the ordinary, we elected...if you recall yesterday, we talked about the Housing Agency's 211 revolving fund account. That account is funded by income that comes from Federal programs, including past CDBG loans. In particular for this year, we elected to allocate just over two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) from that fund, the in excess program income to the annual grant, so we have a little more money to hand out in grants this year. That is in part to meet the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) required spend-out requirements. I think I might leave it at that and give Kerri a few minutes to tell you a little bit about the specific projects and perhaps also just about the project selection criteria. There are fairly complex federal regulations as to what projects are acceptable and categories of projects, so it is fairly constrained, there is a lengthy process of receiving applications and informing nonprofit groups and organizations about the parameters of applying, assisting them with applying, and a fairly detailed scoring system that ends up with what you have before you today. With that, I will turn it over to Kerri to give a little more information. KERRILYN R. BARROS, Public Housing&Development Program Specialist III: Aloha and good morning. I am Kerri Barros, CDBG Coordinator. As you will see before you in the Resolution, we are recommending funding three (3) projects, including Administration, two (2) public facilities and improvements projects and one (1) public service project. The two (2) public facilities and improvements projects include mitigation of service interruption. This is by the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Kaua`i and is to purchase and install a photovoltaic system and battery backup to enhance resilience and ensure uninterrupted crises and support services for victims of domestic violence. The amount that we are recommending for funding is three hundred fifty thousand three hundred thirty-seven dollars ($350,337). The second project is by CSF Real Property, Inc. and it is at the Hale Ho`omalu Family Center in Kapa`a. This is part of the agency's Phase 3 goal to make improvements to the family center there. They have used CDBG funds in the past to make improvements on the building. This request now is to secure all of that, finish up anything that was not accomplished in other goals, and to put up a gate and secure the facility there. Finally, a public service project. CDBG has a requirement where no more than fifteen percent (15%) of the annual allocation can be awarded to a public service type of project, so Keala Transportation by the Keala Foundation will be purchasing two (2) COUNCIL MEETING 36 APRIL 10, 2024 fifteen-passenger vehicles to facilitate youth participation in their drug prevention and intervention programs that support mental and physical health, and offer reliable transportation for low- to moderate-income families. Finally, administration. There is also a cap, which is twenty percent (20%) of the annual allocation can be awarded towards administration. This year, we identified two (2) additional projects that we listed as alternate projects. Should there be a project that does not spend all of their funds or if we have additional funding, we could potentially fund these alternate projects. They are the Catholic Charities Hawai`i's Kaua`i Community Office for a support service. This would be a vehicle purchase and some maintenance costs to transport vulnerable populations or clients needing access to appointments and services. The second alternate project identified is through Women in Need (WIN) for the Lima Ola Photovoltaic Project. This is to purchase and install a photovoltaic system to reduce tenant electricity cost at the new supportive housing project for houseless families. We thought it was a well-rounded action plan that we will be submitting, first for the Council's approval, then finally to HUD for final approval. The projects serve a diverse population. We are looking at youth, under CDBG, we are also looking at the presumed benefit of victims of domestic violence, and we are also looking at serving the families through the Hale Ho`omalu Family Center in Kapa`a. Council Chair Rapozo: Typically, how many applications do you receive? Ms. Barros: It varies every year. Council Chair Rapozo: How many did you get this year? Ms. Barros: This year, we received five (5). Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: First of all, thank you for doing the job that you do. It is really important that we have people who write grants, so that is deeply appreciated. I am happy to see the buses for the Keala Foundation. They do incredibly good work. When you say there is an alternate, does that mean that the Catholic Charities Hawaii will get their vehicle or are we not sure if they are getting their vehicle? Ms. Barros: The alternate projects are identified because they have met the minimum criteria to be funded, but we do not have enough funding. The scoring process is ranked and that determines who is recommended for awards. Councilmember Cowden: When we have no more than fifteen percent (15%) that would go to public service, this would also be a public service. Does that mean either Keala Foundation gets it or Catholic Charities Hawai`i gets it? Ms. Barros: Keala Foundation will be recommended for award. You are correct about the public service projects. However, in the Federal regulations for CDBG programs, any program income that we receive, we can also use fifteen percent (15%) of that, so anything that we have in our revolving loan COUNCIL MEETING 37 APRIL 10, 2024 fund...should we have an excess or extra funds in our revolving loan fund, we could potentially award another public service project. Councilmember Cowden: Like Catholic Charities Hawai`i. We had an earlier item with Tropic Care and that is an excellent example of that. Ms. Barros: Yes. Councilmember Cowden: I have one more question. Council Chair Rapozo: Go ahead. Councilmember Cowden: The Administration...roughly forty-four thousand dollars ($44,000)...is that going to be a new job position or is it supporting an existing position? Ms. Barros: It is supporting the existing position. Councilmember Cowden: Which position is that? Is that the Houseless Coordination? Ms. Barros: That would be mine. Councilmember Cowden: Yours? Ms. Barros: Yes, and a portion to the new Federal Grants Program Support Specialist. Councilmember Cowden: Okay. I support supporting grant writers because we need to have grants written. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Kagawa. Councilmember Kagawa: Thank you. I just want to be familiar. Where is the Hale Ho`omalu in Kapa'a located? Ms. Barros: It is right across from Big Save. CFS. Council Chair Rapozo: Child & Family Service? Ms. Barros: Child & Family Service. Council Chair Rapozo: It is the Child & Family Service. Councilmember Kagawa: Okay. Where is the other one, the Keala Foundation? Ms. Barros: They have various sites—Koloa, Po`ipu, Lihu`e... COUNCIL MEETING 38 APRIL 10, 2024 Councilmember DeCosta: Kekaha. Ms. Barros: Kekaha. Councilmember Cowden: Kekaha. Kind of Anahola. Ms. Barros: I think they have one (1) on the North Shore. Councilmember DeCosta: Yes. Councilmember Kagawa: Do they service all. students? From what age is it? Ms. Barros: Yes, from elementary school through high school. Councilmember Kagawa: Elementary school through high school. Is this an afterschool program or something? Ms. Barros: It is. Councilmember DeCosta: They take them to the gym. Ms. Barros: Yes, they take them to the gym. They also have prevention and intervention services, and they incorporate the gym, physical, and mental services. Councilmember Kagawa: Is this just an open program like the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai`i? Can anyone join? Ms. Barros: Yes, and they have identified that transportation is a barrier to get the children to their gyms or their sites. Councilmember Kagawa: Alright. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Are there any other questions. If not, thank you. Thank you for your work and your team. That is awesome. Councilmember DeCosta: Thank you for your folks' work. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone in the audience wishing to testify? Seeing none. Is there any further discussion? Councilmember Cowden. There being no one present to provide testimony, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Councilmember Cowden: I just really want to talk about Keala Foundation, because for a lot of the children, it is free for them, so it is effectively an afterschool program for high school and middle school, and it can be a bit younger, but COUNCIL MEETING 39 APRIL 10, 2024 they even have what I call a "Prehab" program in the summer up at Kahili Mountain Park where children go up and stay there when they are struggling with addiction disorder. From what I can tell, they have really been able to grab that at-risk group before they are, for the most part, into deep problems although the Kahili Mountain Park program is really an extraordinary step forward, and while the County has struggled to get our adolescent drug facility going, this one is really a great diversionary before it even happens. I am happy to see them have those vans, because that means they can bring children from further away and they usually end up getting home fed, exercised, and happy, so I appreciate all the effort here. I just wanted to highlight the importance of those vans. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: Thank you for recognizing the Keala Foundation. I donate a lot of time with the Keala Foundation. Full disclaimer, I donate my time with those children in Kahili Mountain Park and have been on some adventure programs with them. Aaron Hoff is amazing. His intervention program is amazing. It is all about mentors, really. That is what it is. You brought up a good point with the program they have in the summer. It is before the children even get involved in alcohol and drugs. They get to hang around adults, males and females, who are mentors in the community. It is amazing how much of our youth need to have mentors in their life. They do not have a dad or a mom or uncles or aunties. Keala Foundation deserves a trophy. They are amazing. Thank you for providing them with the bus service to bring the children from all over the island, because a lot of the parents are working two (2) jobs and do not have the opportunity to bring their children to the fitness center and the programs, so thank you for that. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any more discussion? Councilmember Kuali`i. Councilmember Kuali`i: I just wanted to say mahalo nui loa to you and the entire team for bringing these CDBG moneys year-after-year and awarding them into our community to benefit our constituents. Mahalo. Council Chair Rapozo: I just want to clarify. Councilmember Cowden said the County has not been able to get the drug treatment center off the ground. It is not the County's drug treatment center anymore. The County has absolutely nothing to do with it. Councilmember Cowden: Yes, thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: I am troubled by all people in the community thinking that nothing is happening up there. I wanted to clarify it for the record that they are operating. They are operating their outpatient and intensive outpatient COUNCIL MEETING 40 APRIL 10, 2024 treatment with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) as the provider. They get referrals from the judiciary. They get referrals from Keala Foundation. Keala Foundation is a great organization, but they are not substance abuse counselors. They provide a definitely needed service, they do an amazing job, and am very happy to support this, but treatment is a whole separate thing. I just want the public to understand it is in operation and right now there is a provider in negotiation with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division (ADAD), which is our State funding source that is working to open up the residential side, so it is moving. I think the people need to know that. Again, there are many children up there right now who are being treated on a daily basis, and I will say it: I do not see much in the budget for any...there is one million dollars ($1,000,000) going to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney (OPA) for drug prevention, but in my opinion, it is not enough to fund the services that we need on this island. I wanted to make that clarification, because I am hearing it more and more and more and more and more that nothing is happening up there, but it is happening up there. That nonprofit organization—Kaulu I Ka Pono—which I am not a part of, has done more in a year than this County did in decades. Much mahalo to them as well. Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: Can I respond to that? Thank you so much for the news and that correction. I have been up there and it did not yet have children in there, so apparently, I have not been up there recently enough. Thank you for that. Maybe we can have a presentation, because even in this budget, we have been hearing the comparison over and over. It probably parroted the piece, so thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: You are welcome. Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: I will speak a little bit to that. I will actually speak a little bit to that on the Department of Education (DOE) side. The DOE side, we...I am saying "we" because I just came out of an interview last week. I will potentially help build some curriculum for the day students, so the children who come out of the high schools and middle schools and are not thriving because of some type of addiction, they would go to that facility. They would not necessarily stay as a residential treatment student, but a day student. I was actually helping them with the curriculum. I might even take the position there if they offer it. The DOE is involved. They are trying to do their part. I see the nonprofit organization doing their part. Any way the County can help is important. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Is there any further discussion? Councilmember Kagawa: I will hold my comments. Council Chair Rapozo: Hold on. Councilmember Kagawa: It is not about you. The DOE leadership is in need of help. COUNCIL MEETING 41 APRIL 10, 2024 Council Chair Rapozo: Roll call. The motion for adoption of Resolution No. 2024-16 was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR ADOPTION: Bulosan, Carvalho, Cowden, DeCosta, Kagawa, Kuali`i, TOTAL— 7, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— O. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Seven (7) ayes. Council Chair Rapozo: The last and final item. BILL FOR SECOND READING: Bill No. 2913 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 19, ARTICLE 3, SECTION 19-3.2, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PLAYING FEES AT THE WAILUA GOLF COURSE (Councilmember DeCosta was noted as not present.) Councilmember Kuali`i moved to approve Bill No. 2913 on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the Mayor for his approval, seconded by Councilmember Bulosan. Council Chair Rapozo: This is the final reading of the decrease in the twilight rates. Councilmember Kagawa, did you want to share a little bit? Councilmember Kagawa: Yes. I just want to explain that in January we significantly increased a lot of the fees. Significant increase to the non-resident fees was the main objective. Councilmember DeCosta and I worked on it. It was long overdue and it is a big success. I will be asking the Department of Parks & Recreation for a report on the numbers ASAP, so that going into our final votes on the budget, we can get a glimpse of the success of the Council taking that measure and what it will mean in a full year as far as the County's reduced subsidy to the golf course. (Councilmember DeCosta was noted as present.) Councilmember Kagawa: This Bill came at the request of the office staff of the golf course. They said that historically, the twilight fees which are for nine (9) holes after 3:30 p.m., was always exactly half(1/2) of the daily rates for each category. The way I reduced it early was not exactly half(/2) of the daily rates. They said it led to some confusion in the office and in trying to justify to the twilight regulars why it COUNCIL MEETING 42 APRIL 10, 2024 was a little bit more than half (1/2) of the daily rates. When we have a mistake...it is not typically a mistake, but when we are dealing with our County employees, we want to listen to their advice. They have worked the windows for twenty (20) or thirty (30) years and I value their work, their honesty, and with them dealing with customers, who are sometimes unruly. Certainly, this is one where a simple fix of a few dollars here and there, but to please the employees and let them know we need them, and we want to pass bills that make sense to you. I appreciate the Council for pushing this through quickly and it will be in place as soon as it is signed by the Mayor. Thank you, Councilmembers and, again, Councilmember DeCosta for all the work we put in. I think one of my biggest accomplishments was certainly doing that big hike to the non-resident fees, because they are still playing. That is how ridiculously low it was. It is still much cheaper than playing the private courses on Kaua`i. They are still playing, the numbers are high, and every time they play, it is doubling the revenue to the General Fund. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember DeCosta. Councilmember DeCosta: I will speak a little bit since I worked with Councilmember Kagawa. Thank you, Councilmember Kagawa, for allowing me to work with you. It is great. As Councilmembers, every time you can do a resolution, it is great. You send a little message, but there is not much weight in a resolution. When you do a bill, you are pretty much making a statement. We heard the cries from the community and from the employees. We also heard the cry from the County on subsidizing the golf course, so we decided to go after the group who I think our constituents want us to go after, which is the group who comes to visit us, so when they come to visit us on the golf course, at a hotel, or at a resort, they need to pay their certain fees. They come to a golf course. It is a world-renowned golf course, and having that small hike for them to pay...and it is still lower than any other golf course, so I am proud of this Bill. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Councilmember Cowden. Councilmember Cowden: I just want to follow up that we are not going after anyone, because we are learning about why we do not choose words like that. We are inviting them to help support our golf course. Councilmember DeCosta: What? Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. That is enough. Is there any other discussion? Councilmember DeCosta: I would like to finish my discussion. Council Chair Rapozo: We will end it there. I would caution Councilmembers that we do not make comments about other Councilmembers. State your point, your position, your opinions, and let us keep it civil. Roll call. COUNCIL MEETING 43 APRIL 10, 2024 The motion to approve Bill No. 2913 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 ADOPTION: Bulosan, Carvalho, Cowden, DeCosta, Kagawa, Kuali`i, Rapozo TOTAL— 7, AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL— 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— 0, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL— O. Ms. Fountain-Tanigawa: Seven (7) ayes. Council Chair Rapozo: There is no further business. This meeting is adjourned. ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business, the Council Meeting adjourned at 10:27 a.m. Respectfully submitted, JADE ir OUNTAIN-TANIGAWA County Clerk :ss