HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-27-2009A Special Council Meeting Minutes 1
SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
MAY 27, 2009
The Special Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kauai was called
to order by the Council Chair at the Council Chambers, Historic County Building,
4396 Rice Street, Room 201, Lihu`e, Kauai, on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at
8:45 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll:
Honorable Tim Bynum
Honorable Dickie Chang
Honorable Jay Furfaro
Honorable Daryl W. Kaneshiro
Honorable Lani T. Kawahara
Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami
Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asing, Council Chair
APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
Mr. Furfaro moved for approval of the agenda as circulated, seconded by
Mr. Kawakami, and unanimously carried.
Chair Asing: Can we have the first item please?
PETER A. NAKAMURA, COUNTY CLERK: The next matter is a
communication for receipt communication C 2009-184.
C 2009-184 Communication (05/06/2009) from the Mayor, submitting his
supplemental budget communication for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 and proposed
amendments to the budget bills: Mr. Furfaro moved to receive C 2009-184 for the
record, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried.
Chair Asing: Next item please?
Mr. Nakamura: The next matters for are Committee reports.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A report (No. CR-B&F 2009-13) submitted by the Budget & Finance
Committee, recommending that the following be received for the record:
"B&F 2009-4Communication (5/14/2009) from Daryl W. Kaneshiro,
Budget & Finance Chair, transmitting the Budget & Finance's proposed
amendments (+/- sheet) to Resolution No. 2009-32 (real property tax rates),
Bill No. 2310 (Operating Budget), and Bill No. 2311 (CIP Budget),"
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Mr. Furfaro moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Kaneshiro, and
unanimously carried.
A report (No. CR-B&F 2009-14) submitted by the Budget & Finance
Committee, recommending that the following be approved as amended:
"Resolution No. 2009-32 RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE REAL
PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO
JUNE 30, 2010 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUA`I,"
Mr. Furfaro moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Kaneshiro, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Resolution No. 2009-32, Draft 1)
A report (No. CR-B&F 2009-15) submitted by the Budget & Finance
Committee, recommending that the following be approved as amended on second
and final reading:
"Bill No. 2310 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO
THE OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010,"
Mr. Furfaro moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Kaneshiro, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Bill No. 2310, Draft 1)
A report (No. CR-B&F 2009-15) submitted by the Budget & Finance
Committee, recommending that the following be approved as amended on second
and final reading:
"Bill No. 2311 A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010,"
Mr. Furfaro moved for approval of the report, seconded by Mr. Kaneshiro, and
unanimously carried. (See later for Bill No. 2311, Draft 1)
Chair Asing: Next item please?
Mr. Nakamura: The next matter for approval is a Resolution.
RESOLUTIONS:
Resolution No. 2009-32, Draft 1 -RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE
REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE
30, 2010 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI: Mr. Kaneshiro moved to adopt
Resolution No. 2009-32, Draft 1, seconded by Mr. Furfaro.
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SPECIAL COUNCIL ME~'i'ING -3- May 27, 2009
Chair Asing: Go ahead.
Mr. Bynum: Thank you Mr. Chair. Oh, I will wait for the
budget.
Chair Asing: Roll call please?
The motion to adopt Resolution No. 2009-32, Draft 1 was then put, and carried by
the following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Furfaro, Kaneshiro,
Kawahara, Kawakami, Asing TOTAL - 7,
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Chair Asing: Next item please?
Mr. Nakamura: The matters are bills for second reading. First bill
for second reading is Bill No. 2310, Draft 1.
BILLS FOR SECOND READING:
Bill No. 2310, Draft 1 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE
OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010: Mr. Kaneshiro moved for adoption of Bill
No. 2310, Draft 1 on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the
Mayor for his approval, seconded by Mr. Furfaro.
Chair Asing: Any discussion? Councilmember Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: Thank you Mr. Chair. This is our budget for this
year. It was a fascinating year. My third budget and a difficult year for the entire
State and entire country. I wanted to start by acknowledging our Budget & Finance
Chair Daryl Kaneshiro for shepherding us through this difficult year and also our
staff who worked really hard, particularly Jade Tanigawa and Stephanie Iwasaki
and Ricky Watanabe who worked late to get us through this process. It was really
tough year because of a reduction in County resources and revenues, and I think
we've made a lot of sacrifice and did a very fiscally prudent budget. You know, one
of the... you know, we have dollar funded 53 County positions and those are
positions that are important to our County to provide services, but in this difficult
time and they weren't filled with warm bodies. They were positions that we could
hold off, but those are in my view positions that are important to the long term
efficient operation of the County. The Administration deferred a lot of maintenance
items and equipment purchases which we can get away with for a year or two (2),
but eventually it would come around to being a difficult situation for the County
because we want our workers equipped with the tools that they need to do their jobs
SPECIAL COUNCIL ETING -4- Ma 27 2009 "
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appropriately. The positions were particularly difficult. There were three (3) that I
personally felt like we should seriously consider continuing. One of which was the
Police Legislative Analyst for the Police which the Mayor put in the supplemental
budget, and there was unanimous approval for it. The other was the Recycling
Coordinator and we chose not to go forward with that position, but I am hopeful
that in the course of the year, we will see the need for that because of our need to
address the solid waste issues. The third position which I didn't really bring up on
the floor, I didn't make an effort, but I am really concerned about an engineering
position for a Civil Engineer, and the reason is because I think our need to put
forward our capital improvement projects and expedite that as quickly as possible.
The County of Kauai has over $100 million of capital improvements already funded
and approved waiting to get to the bureaucracy and on the street. And with
unemployment around 10%, I think this is a very important time for the County of
Kauai to put forward those projects in order to employ our people and get them to
work. We just saw in the Garden Island this week that in the construction trades
where those jobs would likely be created or many of them that the entire State is
hurting. In the future as the Chair of the Public Works Committee, I hope in a few
weeks to have a review of those CIP projects and an update from the
Administration regarding their efforts to get them out to bid and get people back to
work. So that engineering position is a position that would help through that
bureaucracy, but I know the Administration... it is important to them as well, and
so hopefully we will have more dialogue about that. By and large, I thought we did
a good job as a County addressing the budget. We collaborated and worked together
and got through a difficult year. So thank you for being able to make those
comments.
Chair Asing: Thank you. Any other comments Councilmembers?
Councilmember Furfaro?
Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. I would also like to also
extend my courtesies for the staff who was very flexible during this period,
documented the discussions, and, you know, we had certain demands during all of
the meetings, but I, again, want to be very complimentary of the work that was
prepared, the narrative that is associated with the Operating Budget itself. I want
to thank Councilman Kaneshiro for a job well done. It was reported in the media
that the fact that we only made about $11,000 worth of changes from the first draft
to the second draft, but the reality is... what I think needs to be mentioned is the
excellent response from the Administration during the budget meetings. Many,
many items were discussed in the first draft as Mr. Kaneshiro brought us through
this process and the Administration heard us and they made the appropriate
changes, so when we actually got the final draft as outlined in the Mayor's budget
message for the fiscal year 2009-2010, it was reported that there was only about
$11,000 worth of changes. I do want to note the many things that the
Administration heard during the dialogue especially in the area of the social
programs from our request to increase Food Bank opportunities to fully fund our
previous share of the Red Cross when the second draft came back to us. The
SPECIAL COUNCIL ME~PING -5- ~y May 27, 2009
responses were very positive from the Administration and I also want to
compliment Mr. Asing. I know those points were also driven home by his
comments. There are a couple of things as we talk about the Operating Budget that
we now have put in place, but we have to manage. There is comments regarding
the kilowatt hour management going forward. As we all know, fuel prices are rising
as well. We talked about the timeliness of the Treasurer's report actually showing
us the variances that we need to look at quarterly by Charter. We have made some
drastic changes over the years with the Building Department and Doug Haigh...
what we now have building permits that are aged and show us the flow through. We
get better idea of the potential additional revenues by construction projects. Of
course, another one we need to watch is... as the Finance Department under
Mr. Rezentes adjusted our share of the TAT, we need to continually monitor those
revenues when they come in as our share.
So my message on the Operating Budget is... we are looking towards the
staff both here as well as in the Administration to do all they can to help us monitor
the expenses that have been identified in this budget. Also, again, I just want to
thank the Mayor's Office for responding to some of the needs with the social
programs that we are refunded after the first draft. Thank you Mr. Kaneshiro.
Chair Asing: Thank you. With that, any other comments
Councilmembers? Councilmember Kawakami?
Mr. Kawakami: Thank you Mr. Chair. I just want to say thank you
to the staff and also to the Chair of the Budget & Finance Committee
Councilmember Kaneshiro, our Council Chair, and also the Councilmembers that
have been through the budget process before. I just have to say that the staff really
impressed me because going through our first budget, it is a huge binder and it can
be a labyrinth of numbers that start to just look the same after you review them for
days upon days. And whenever there was a question, there was always an
immediate response. They knew exactly where each line item was. If there was
something that I thought was missing out of the budget, they were quick to point it
out. So I just want to say that they made it so much easier to work with having such
good support, and with that being said, that is my only comments.
Chair Asing: Thank you. Any other comments Councilmembers?
Councilmember Kaneshiro?
Mr. Kaneshiro: Thank you Mr. Chair. I just, again, I know this has
been echoed before many times, but I just wanted to thank the staff and the
Administration being able to work together with us to put this budget together. We
know it was a very difficult budget for us because we knew about the money
constraints and the economic downturn. But, again, you know, I have to give the
credit to each of my Committee members also. Mr. Chang with his many years in
the visitor industry. Mr. Furfaro with his hotel management experience.
Mr. Kawakami has been able to be on top on what we call... looking at the public
SPECIAL COUNCIL ~ ETING -6- Ma 27 2009
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safety, his concerns with the KPAL programs. And with Lani Kawahara going green
talking about the Farm Bureau being able to... these are things that we started to
implement. We are doing it ourselves. Even though it is a small amount of money,
we fund it, we are trying to set an example of how we are also trying to conserve
energy. Mr. Bynum on some of the talks he had about coastal erosion and he had
brought that up and I know that was a bigger issue for him. And, of course, with
Mr. Asing's 26 years... I believe almost 26 years of working on the budget every
year has been so much of a valuable information and being able to give us a lot of
knowledge as to the history of being able to put a budget like this together
especially... I think Mr. Asing would agree that this might have been one of the
most difficult budget for us to have worked on when we talked about fiscal
constraints. So my hat goes off to each and everyone of them and I just wanted to
note for the record and this is just for the record, but I would like to have this on the
budget message that... it has to do with the Planning Department side.
With the Planning Department, I wanted to note for the record that I know
that we have had some discussions in regards to how they could apply and receive
and expend coastal management funds and so forth. So I want to make it clear so
the finance is clear, Planning is clear, so we can still be able to proceed, and to be
able to meet the goals of the Planning Department. Basically, the Planning... my
comment would be that the Planning Department is authorized to apply, receive,
and expend coastal zone management certified local government and open space
program for grant funds as set forth in the budget submittal of the department. So
I want to make it clear that it is set forth by the budget submittal of the
department, and therefore, to proceed in that manner. Again, with that, my hats...
well, I don't have my hat on today, but... I always wear it during the weekend, but
goes off to the staff, the Administration, Wally, the Mayor, and Mr. Heu... and to be
able to put something like this together, I would have never have been able to do it
without the six (6) other compadres that I have here that worked so hard to be able
to stick together, and come up with a plan that I think we put a good budget
together that we would be able to fulfill the needs of the community for this year.
Thank you Mr. Chair.
Chair Asing: Any other comments Councilmembers? If not, I just
want to echo what everyone brought up. I thank the staff for their hard work, that
Councilmember Kaneshiro for his leadership, and for the participation of all
Councilmembers in all of the actions that was taken. Also, the Administration for
their cooperation and help in getting the budget together. I have always mentioned
that the single most important item that the Council makes every year is the
budget. That is the single most important item. That is our guide on where we go
from the budget period to the end. So I want to just thank everyone. I would also
like to express my gratitude and mahalos to the Legislature, you know, for not
taking away our TAT. Had we lost that, that would have been, you know,
$11.8 million that we would have to make up, and that was just a tremendous
amount to make up if we had to make that up. So there was a lot of hard work done
behind the scenes. I know many of you have testified at the Legislature. I know
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SPECIAL COUNCIL ME~rING -7- May 27, 2009
that Councilmember Kawakami was present at many of those meetings, and our
Legislators are working hard to retain the TAT. The one word of caution that I can
use that have been expressed in our deliberations is next year, would could happen
next year, and this budget reflects that. This budget is not a one year budget, this
budget is looking forward to next year. What happens next year, so with all of that,
I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. With that, roll call please?
The motion to adopt Bill No. 2310, Draft 1 was then put, and carried by the
following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Furfaro, Kaneshiro,
Kawahara, Kawakami, Asing TOTAL - 7,
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Chair Asing: Next item please?
Mr. Nakamura: The next bill for second reading is Bill No. 2311,
Draft 1.
Bill No. 2311, Draft 1 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR JULY 1, 2009 TO JUNE 30, 2010: Mr. Kaneshiro moved for adoption of Bill
No. 2311, Draft 1 on second and final reading, and that it be transmitted to the
Mayor for his approval, seconded by Mr. Kawakami.
Chair Asing: Any discussion? Councilmember Furfaro?
Mr. Furfaro: Yes, and I think this would be appropriate in
following up on your comment just recently made about the Operating Budget. This
comment being focused on the ordinance to approve our capital improvement plan.
Obviously, there is and going to be some deferred maintenance over the next few
years as we go through these difficult cycles of economic times and the uncertainty
on our revenue share in future years from the State. I do also want to say that
when it comes to some of the capital items for the Planning Department, we do have
an understanding that we will get a summary report in my Committee on or around
the 10th of June for those nine (9) projects covering from the CZO to the important
ag lands. But it will be about 60 to 90 days before we actually see the
Administration's final summary of the bond float which will make moneys available
for certain projects. And at the same time, I did want to make certain that we
understood that to accomplish this task before us this year, there was some
maintenance deferred items. There are hopes to get some other improvements
focused on in future years such as Kapa`a Pool improvements with the pump house
and so forth. There are hopes that when we do finally see a version of the bond
float, we will be able to do some reimbursable for the Black Pot application that we
are using for the Open Space account, but I do want to say that some of these
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SPECIAL COUNCIL ETING -8- May 27, 2009
extensions of certain repair and maintenance items were necessary to get us where
we are at in today's Operating Budget, and there will be further discussions when
the Administration is submitting the bond float which will represent a number of
capital projects. Thank you again Chairman Kaneshiro.
Chair Asing: Councilmembers, any other comments?
Councilmember Bynum?
Mr. Bynum: Yea, I just want to... you know, from the Public
Works point side of this, I just want to say that, you know, there are a number of
projects that I think will be online in the next few months, and I am very pleased
about that because o£ you know, this is really... the Federal government has
engaged in stimulus because of our economic situation and the County of Kauai is a
recipient of some of those stimulus funds, and the Administration is applying them
appropriately where possible, and we are seeking those to see that Kauai gets their
fair share. But the County of Kauai also has funds available and this is probably
the best time for County government to put those projects online because of the bids
we receive will be better than they were a few years ago because of... you know,
potential bidders are anxious for work, you know, so we will get a better bang for
the buck for those funds. And for the funds that we have already set aside, and so as
I mentioned earlier, and I will be asking the Administration as Councilmember
Furfaro is doing in Planning to outline their plans in a reasonable timetable to also
do that for our CIP projects some of which are backlogged two (2), three (3), four (4)
years, and we need to look at our system about how to get those funds on the street
and working to put our people to work.
Chair Asing: Thank you. Any further discussion? If not, I just
want to echo all the things that were said by Councilmember Bynum and
Councilmember Furfaro, and also would like to urge the Administration to put an
extra effort to try to get our Capital Improvement Projects moving. We are kind of
behind normally and we need to put some extra effort at this particular time. So
with that, roll call please?
The motion to adopt Bill No. 2311, Draft 1 was then put, and carried by the
following vote:
FOR ADOPTION: Bynum, Chang, Furfaro, Kaneshiro,
Kawahara, Kawakami, Asing TOTAL - 7,
AGAINST ADOPTION: None TOTAL - 0,
EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL - 0.
Chair Asing: There being no other business on the agenda, the
meeting is adjourned.
SPECIAL COUNCIL METING -9- May 27, 2009
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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PETER A. NAKAMURA
County Clerk