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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/23/2011 Regular Council MeetingCOUNCIL MEETING March 23, 2011 The Council Meeting of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Council Chair Jay Furfaro at the Council Chambers, 3371 -A Wilcox Road, Lihu`e, Kauai, on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 9:09 a.m., after which the following members answered the call of the roll: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable Jay Furfaro, Council Chair EXCUSED: Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Mr. Chang moved to approve the agenda as circulated, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried. MINUTES of the following meetings of the Council: Council Meeting of February 9, 2011 Special Council Meeting of March 2, 2011 Public Hearing of March 2, 2011 re: Bill No. 2400 Public Hearing of March 9, 2011 re: Bill No. 2399 Mr. Rapozo moved for approval of the minutes as circulated, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried. COMMUNICATIONS: Council Chair Furfaro: The first item on our communications today is in fact a communication from myself requesting the administration to be present to provide some discussion to the council on an update on the Kapaia Swinging Bridge. Since that communication was mine, I have had a communique from the public works department in behalf of the mayor, and Mr. Dill was going to come up and speak, but I don't see him in the audience. Eddie's going to look and see if he's outside? Okay. Well, whatever of the outcome of that communication, for those of you that are in the audience, I will take public testimony from you, but I'm suspecting that the mayor is asking for a deferral on this item. So let's wait on this item until we hit seeing Mr. Dill's presence and we'll come back to it. That is what I'm suspecting that he's asking for, a deferral until the mayor has an opportunity to speak with members in the community. So we'll come back to that item. The second item is also a communication from myself to get an update on the county -wide road resurfacing, and I don't see anyone from public works here and probably on that note I can ask the deputy county clerk to make a call over to the administration and let them know that it is ten past nine and we are moving on with our agenda. Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair? COUNCIL MEETING - 2 - March 23, 2011 Council Chair Furfaro: Yes, Mr. Rapozo, I'll recognize you; go right ahead. Mr. Rapozo: I don't know where they're at, but I know that the community is here and I know some of them have taken off from work for the first item. Would it be possible to get the public testimony from those that have time issues and then when Mr. Dill comes, get him on? I'm concerned because like myself, I was not aware of a deferral. I had expected this to move on today. I did communicate with a couple of members in the audience that it was going to go on at 9 a.m. this morning. So I feel kind of embarrassed almost that it's deferred and that they're all here and we're not even ready to move forward because the administration isn't present. So I would just ask that we ... if we can just get the speakers that are pressed for time and if they can come up and do their testimony, I'd appreciate that. Council Chair Furfaro: Yeah, I certainly acknowledge your piece. First I do want to clarify for the council and especially since this is my communication, I'm not embarrassed for the council, but I am embarrassed for the administration. If those in the audience don't mind, I'll give Mr. Dill five more minutes, but as I said earlier if they are asking for the deferral, I will take your testimony today regardless of their request for a deferral. And on that note, thank you very much Mr. Rapozo. I would ... is he here? Okay. BC, if you could wait just a moment then and we have an arrival from public works to go on the first item and because I see many people here who are absent from their normal schedules on behalf of this testimony, I will ask the clerk to go ahead and read the first item. PETER A. NAKAMURA, County Clerk: Mr. Chair, we're on Communication C 2011 -75: C 2011 -75 Communication (02/10/2011) from Council Chair Furfaro, requesting the Administration's presence to provide the Council with an update on the Kapaia Swinging Bridge Project: Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Dill, thank you. This is the first item on today's agenda and although I do not have anything in writing from the administration, I did get a call via the county clerk indicating that the mayor had made a request for a deferral for two weeks and since I have nothing in writing I'm going to suspend the rules and ask you to in fact communicate that message to the body here. So the rules are suspended and you have the floor. There being no objection, the rules were suspended. LARRY DILL, County Engineer: Certainly. Good morning, Chair Furfaro and Members of the Council. Larry Dill, county engineer. As indicated, the mayor has requested a two -week deferral of this item. He has made a commitment to the community that he would share information about the Kapaia Swinging Bridge to them first and foremost before going public with that. So in order for him to honor that commitment, we're requesting a two -week deferral, please. Council Chair Furfaro: So should I assume then, with the administration asking for a two -week deferral on my communication that it is probably within that time that the mayor plans to meet with the Kapaia community? Mr. Dill: That's correct. COUNCIL MEETING - 3 - March 23, 2011 Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, okay, is there anything else you'd like to add because I will take public testimony today because people took time off to be here on this agenda item? Is there anything you want to add to that? Mr. Dill: I can just add that we have received a preliminary engineering report regarding what's required and some cost estimates for the bridge and that's what the mayor will be sharing with the community. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Dill. I will go ahead and keep the rules suspended and ask if we have anyone who signed up to speak on this item this morning. Do we have anybody that signed up? No? Could I see by a show of hands in the audience anyone who wishes to speak to the council on this communique? Why don't you come right up, please? Just want to remind you to please introduce yourself first, and since I only see two speakers, I'll give you up to six consecutive minutes to speak, but introduce yourself first for the record. KIMO ST. JOHN Bridge Foundation. Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. St. John: Council Chair Furfaro: My name is Kimo St. John and I'm with the Kapaia Kimo, can you pull the mike a little closer to you. Is that better? Go right ahead, yes. Mr. St. John: Okay. Originally we had been prepared to speak at this meeting because we thought we were going to be receiving some information, but at this point, we're going to withhold it. We don't really want to say anything. After waiting four -and -a -half years to have another delay, it's kind of expected almost at this point. I will give copies of this to the council so that at the next meeting they can see exactly what we're going to talk about. I think that would be appropriate. But at this point we really don't have much to say until we have the mayor here and we have the information we've been waiting for. And other than that I appreciate your time. Thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, Kimo, let me see if there's any questions for you. First, Mr. Rapozo, go right ahead. Mr. Rapozo: Kimo, thanks for being here. I know you've been a part of this for a long time. As far as you know, and I'm asking because I don't know the answer, what is your understanding of the status at this point with your last discussions? I know you've had several meetings with the administration, but what is your... as of today, what is your understanding of what's happening? Mr. St. John: At this point, really, because it's a... after four -and- a -half years of being repeatedly told one thing and then another thing happens, my understanding is that we're probably still basically back at Stage 1. We really don't have any idea what's going on. Back in I think October /November last year they had told us that in December they would have a feasibility study ready for us and a structural report. And basically we're looking at now it's March and we really haven't heard much of anything. So we came here today expecting to get a little bit of information and once again it's been delayed. And I understand everybody's busy and times are pressing, but it takes a lot for us to be here every time. You know, I mean it's hard for me to just call off work and show up here like this. But I do it because I believe in what we're doing and I think it's something that needs to be done. And everybody else in the audience back there that's part of our group is COUNCIL MEETING - 4 - March 23, 2011 doing the same thing I'm doing. And it seems that if we could be here, that the people we're supposed to meet with should be here, and if they're not, we should have noticed ahead of time, so we don't waste our time like this. And I know things come up, but even a phone call this morning that it was deferred and that there was no sense coming here would have been nice. Mr. Rapozo: Well, Kimo, let me apologize because I know as of late yesterday afternoon I sent over an email to Mr. Minatoya and I believe I sent it to Save Kapaia Swinging Bridge at yahoo. I'm not sure where that goes to, but that... asking for you folks to show up today. I had come here today with the same expectation that you did. I did not find out it was going to be deferred until I sat my butt on this chair, so I'm not happy as well. And I think you remember probably four years ago when we saw the wonderful presentation (PowerPoint) of what was going to be done, and it's been four years and really I agree it's frustrating for me as well. But you know, we'll give them two more weeks. This communication went out back in February and I think that was ample time to meet with the community. I don't know what that meeting will be. I'm hoping that we also, at least some of us, Mr. Chair, would be informed of when this meeting will occur because I'd like to sit in on that meeting as well, and so I can monitor the progress of this project as well, so. Again, just from myself personally I apologize to all of you that came because of my email, but I thought it was important that you folks had an opportunity to speak. And I'm hoping that you'll still come up and speak because I think we need to build a record, and I appreciate you guys taking your time to be here today. Mr. St. John: Well, we appreciate the communication and we appreciate being given the chance to be here. It's just that after four - and -a -half years, it gets a little frustrating; that's all. And just because it's that way doesn't mean we'll stop doing what we're doing. But you know that just ... it doesn't make sense to come up and speak if the people that we really need to talk to aren't even here. So, once again thank you for your time and we'll see next time around. Council Chair Furfaro: (Inaudible.) I need to see if anybody else wants to ask you any questions because I know I have a couple statements for you. Does anyone else have anything for... okay, Kimo, again I don't have an actual written request for the deferral. This communication to put it on the agenda came from me. I do want to, however, say that this is only clearly a communication. This is not any particular details regarding the project. But I do believe this council had earlier approved money for the engineering study on the bridge, that the council did in fact allocate that money. And we also need an update on issues regarding the legal particulars related to any easements and so forth. So that will be part of the communication when it comes back in two weeks. I will also and I just want to share with you that you're all aware of this, I will be making a request of the mayor to invite at least two councilmembers to his planned meeting with your organization as Mr. Rapozo pointed out. But I also want to share with all of you that if there's going to be a discussion about options and so forth, in reality we can only have up to two councilmembers participate in that discussion. So I would like you to make certain that you leave your phone contact number with one of the members of our staff so that we can reconfirm once we get a written communication from the administration of when he's having that community outreach meeting. So if you could leave with one of our staff members a contact number, it would greatly be appreciated. Thank you for your time today and I'm sorry you had to take off. Mr. St. John: Thank you. COUNCIL MEETING - 5 - March 23, 2011 Council Chair Furfaro: Next individual that wanted to speak? I saw a second hand raised. Okay, seeing no one else willing to speak on this item, I'm going to call the meeting back to order. There being no one else wishing to speak on this item, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Furfaro: Members, as Mr. Dill carried the message from the administration, they are requesting a two -week deferral on my communication requesting the administration to give us an update. Mr. Rapozo to have the date and time of that meeting, I will assume that we'll get you that information so that you can be attending that meeting along with one other councilmember who so desires. There will be no further discussion once we take a motion for deferral, so let me see if there's any discussion before we ask for a deferral. Mr. Chang. Mr. Chang: Thank you, Council Chair. Kimo St. John and to those that came over, I want to thank you folks for coming. And although the administration is not here, it's really important to voice your concerns out over to the council. But I would like to acknowledge that I didn't realize that there was a committee that was put together for the past four - and -a -half years, and I didn't really realize the bridge was closed since September of 2006 and of course there were more than three hundred signatures. I have not personally had the privilege of walking through the bridge; however, I did go to the bridge several times to overlook and to see what the bridge was all about, so. We wanted to thank you folks for coming and sorry about the inconvenience, but in two weeks I think you will get all your answers and we can get the ball rolling. So just wanted to say thank you and thank you for the testimony because it shares a, lot of mana`o with us, those of us that were not familiar with the bridge. So I just wanted to say that and say thank you. Thank you, Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: Any other discussion amongst members? If not, I'm looking for a motion to defer this specifically for two weeks. Mr. Chang moved to defer communication C 2011 -75, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. We'll be back in two weeks on this item. Clerk, will you read the next item, please? Mr. Nakamura: Next communication is C 2011 -76: C 2011 -76 Communication (02/16/2011) from Council Chair Furfaro, requesting the Administration's presence to provide the Council with an update on the County's Islandwide Road Resurfacing Program. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Dill, are you here along with Ed to give us an update on this item? I'm going to suspend the rules then. If I can ask both of you to come up. Ed, you might as well come up too now so we can just stay fluid on this process. Thank you, the rules are suspended. There being no objection, the rules were suspended. Council Chair Furfaro: Mr. Dill, just a quick recap on this follow through on this communication. When we last spoke about islandwide resurfacing, you were going to do some more historical research and do somewhat of a summary on what you were able to accomplish with the moneys sitting in the various account funds COUNCIL MEETING - 6 - March 23, 2011 for roads and highways, and that is where we're at. I also know that we were going to see a separate item on what you might finalize as a final road resurfacing project for this year, but not seeing that final summary, I believe that would be an item that would come up on a future agenda in two weeks. So on that note, the rules are suspended. You have the floor to give us an update. LARRY DILL, County Engineer: Again, Larry Dill, county engineer. As we've been discussing in previous council meetings, we've been discussing the '09210 islandwide resurfacing plan which we originally began to give you an update about. As was discussed at council, we looked at certain plans we had, measures we were going to implement in order to expand the scope of the work when we went out and repaved those indicated roads which would mean we'd be doing significantly more than simply repaving the roads in order to try to extend the lifespan of those roads and ultimately lower the life cycle cost of maintaining those roads. That involve... there are three major things. That includes instead of simply paint striping the roads, we're going to implement thermoplastic striping; with the edges of the pavement, we're going to take a look at how we could do a better job of specifying how we're going to have those prepared for repaving and then dressed after the paving was done; and perhaps the biggest impact item was we're going to take a look at areas that were failing and repairing those areas prior to coming and doing the repaving. That last item requires a significant effort on the part of our roads division staff because we have 22 miles approximately of roads identified in the resurfacing plan at the moment. We have to go back now and conduct an inspection of those roads in order to identify the failing areas and identifying the scope of work that needs to be done to repair them prior to repaving and then providing a cost estimate to all of those in order to compare it to our budget that we have available. And obviously as the scope of work goes up within a fixed budget amount, the amount, the number, or the miles of roads that we're able to accomplish is going to go down. So we are currently in the process of that and that's why we're coming requesting a deferral to the April 6th meeting to allow us to finish all of that work and come to you, after having briefed the administration as well and getting their approval, come to you for a final request for approval on that list of roads. So that's the status of the 2009 -2010 islandwide road resurfacing plan. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, I don't mean to summarize this again, but so then my understanding is of the money that we have in the highway and roads account, which equals roughly $6.2 million, you are asking for the additional two weeks to go back and reprice out the thermoplastic striping, to reevaluate those portions of the roads to be inspected for the integrity of the patching and what type of work would be done, and then also expand some of the scope, I guess, following some of our discussions about shoulders and so forth. Is that pretty much the summary? Mr. Dill: That's pretty much correct, but I think the April 6th meeting is two meetings from now. Council Chair Furfaro: I'm sorry, my apologies. Yes, so April 6th is the date. Now I do want to point out, Larry, that ... I want to make sure that the scope that you bring to the table because I already feel that you're about $300,000.00 short in what is in those highways and roads funds that we're very clear that anything that exceeds the scope first and foremost needs the council's approval and secondly, anything that exceeds the money that's in the portion now might actually lapse into the money that's being proposed in the April 8th presentation of the budget, so that we're clear. We do not have at this time any additional money bill in front of us, but more importantly that we realize that we absolutely must operate within the funds that are approved. COUNCIL MEETING - 7 - March 23, 2011 Mr. Dill: Understood. Council Chair Furfaro: Any variation from that must be considered as part of the schedule for the April 8th budget submittal based on what has been submitted. Okay, so we seem to be all square on the next step here. Let me ask councilmembers if they have a question. The intent of public works is to come back on April 6th. If there are no questions, then I'll go and ask the public ... you have a question? Go ahead, Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: Two quick questions and one is... this document is dated March 21. Do you know if it came over here to council on Monday? Mr. Dill: I believe it came yesterday. Mr. Bynum: Okay, thanks. And then, you know I've been able to read the ... the question and I'm not going to ask you to answer this question right now, but I'm going to ask it on April 6th. We were routinely paving 8 to 10 miles a year. We didn't repave any last year, right, Ed? And so for 10 years you're giving us the data of how much we've paved and so I don't understand why we didn't pave anything in a period of time where we desperately need those jobs, we need that work out on the street and I'd like an answer from someone in four weeks of why we missed a whole cycle. Mr. Dill: four weeks. Mr. Bynum: Okay, all right, we'll come back with that then in Okay, thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: It would be appreciated by this body that since you had a preview of the question that the answer comes back in writing, Mr. Dill. Okay, any more questions before I suspend the rules for the public? If not, thank you Mr. Dill. We'll see you on April 6th and then we'll take public testimony here before I call the meeting back to order. GLENN MICKENS: Good morning, Councilmembers, thank you, Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens. You have a copy of my ... there's been a lot of questions, good questions asked. I will still be awaiting the answers on April 6th. I have questions on top of the questions, so. Let me read my testimony. In it there's going to be a lot more questions I think. Larry, I know he's the new kid on the block and I appreciate all of his efforts. For him to play catch up for 15 or 20 years is going to be a monumental job for him and I can well appreciate that. I can't excuse past councils, past administrations for allowing this thing to escalate this thing, but regardless. First I want to once again thank Chair Furfaro for keeping this roads paving and repaving issue on the agenda. Obviously after 15 years of trying to find out why we have been wasting millions of tax dollars . on wrongly paved and repaved roads with no results. You can understand why I'm so happy to see this issue being addressed. Until I see concrete results, I will remain cautiously optimistic with our new "sheriff' in town, Larry Dill, and be hopeful that he can rectify a longtime bad situation. As far as the Micropaver system that Larry wants to implement, I'm sure that he knows as well as you, Jay, that any computer program is only as good as the information that's put into it. It cannot solve any problem by itself. So the big COUNCIL MEETING - 8 - March 23, 2011 question and problem is where are we going to get the road -by -road, mile -by -mile report from on current conditions and past maintenance? We need to have the list that has the up -to -date information on the condition of each road containing the condition of the base, the shoulder, the square footage, the thickness, plus the last time it was resurfaced. There's a saying about computers: garbage in, garbage out. And those words will so well fit this issue if proper data is not fed into the computer. And the bigger question is where is the data and who's got it or does it need to be gathered? If so, who is gathering it and what kind of accountability is there for whomever is collecting it. I mean, will the information come from a political source as was done with Haleilio Road —Mel's familiar with that —and Kealia Road where choices of roads were totally not in the public interest. Plus, if this information is now available as it certainly should be, then we certainly don't need a new computer program. All that's necessary is to look at this compiled data, use HAPI standards to correct what was wrongly done, and pave and repave by HAPI in all work going forward. And if this data is not available, then Larry's job will be monumental in gathering the information necessary to put in this computer in order to do his job. In fact, it could take years taking core samples from our roads to diagnose what has been done and what needs to be done. Whatever course of action Larry chooses to do will take a huge budget. Check the equipment HAPI uses in doing their roads and Larry will need this same equipment when paving and repaving. If the answer... Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes, Mr. Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: Excuse me, Glenn, that's your first three minutes, but you can continue for your second three minutes. Mr. Mickens: Thank you, Jay. Whatever course of action Larry chooses will take a huge budget. Check the equipment 'HAPI uses. And as he answered in one of the questions given to him, HAPI will definitely cost more initially but will save a lot of money in the long run with the longevity it gives, which is common sense, which we've never been able to do before. Past and present administrations can shoulder the blame for allowing this deterioration to reach such a high level, and councils can also share in that blame for funding this illegal, not done by code work. But what is done is done and from here on, the taxpayers want to see their dollars used properly, and Larry's past experience in Princeville gives me hope that this can be done. I don't have the time to question our wrong methods of paving, e.g., our using one ton of AC to pave 90 square feet for 1.5 inches —it says the contracts specify compacted — instead of using one ton of AC to pave 108 square feet for 1.5 inches, as ... this slide rule is a slide rule that all contractors use across the nation and it's very simple. If you want 1.5 inches, you go and find out how many tons are being used. It shows one ton per 108 square feet for 1.5 inches. So we're using either 90...I think on this latest thing that Larry gave you I think it's 95... one ton per 95 square feet. So, you know, I've asked that question before and I wonder why. Or why are we still dumping cold mix in potholes instead of using methods stipulated by code. I mean it's going on right now. Go up there in upper Waipouli Road. You go drive down that thing. They continually come in there and dump asphalt, cold mix, on the shoulders, in a hole, some places gone by the next rain. The problems are many as I've pointed out for so long and again, if Larry's going to address them, he will need a large budget to do it. And hopefully the administration can tell us why they have changed... and this question was asked I think by Tim or somebody... changed their method of resurfacing our roads on a COUNCIL MEETING - 9 - March 23, 2011 yearly basis to one where they have accumulated or saved budgeted money from one or two years and use it in one given year as they have done in the '09 -'10 budget. It seems to me that there is something very wrong with that methodology. And I've only had a chance to read these responses from what Larry has given to some of the questions, but I'd have a lot more, but I know that my time is probably very close to up. If anybody has any questions, I'd be more than happy to try and answer.. But anyway there's obviously a lot of questions in my testimony here that I hope that the administration will bring forth on the April 6th meeting. Council Chair Furfaro: Glenn, if that is your hope, perhaps you want to share your testimony with Mr. Dill because it is his office that responds on April 6th. So maybe you want to share your testimony. Mr. Mickens: Sure, be happy to, Jay. Council Chair Furfaro: Any questions of Mr. Mickens? If not, thank you, Glenn. Next speaker if there is one to speak on this item. Seeing no one, I'll call the meeting back to order. There being no one else wishing to testify on this matter, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Furfaro: Members, it is our intention to let Mr. Dill finish his study over that period of time as well as make some evaluations on the thermoplastic striping cost and reevaluate the integrity of the current standard for patching. And if there's no further discussion, I'd like to get a deferral till April 6th on this. Mr. Chang moved to defer communication C 2011 -76, seconded by Mr. Kawakami, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, next item. Thank you Mr. Dill. Mr. Nakamura: Next matters are matters for receipt on page one of the council's agenda, communication C 2011 -89 and C 2011 -90: C 2011 -89 Communication (02/09/2011) from the Director of Planning, transmitting for Council consideration, the Planning Commission's amendments to the Council's Proposed Draft Bill No. 2380 (Zoning Amendment ZA- 2011 -2), relating to the Subdivision Ordinance: Mr. Bynum moved to receive communication C 2011 -89 for the record, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried. C 2011 -90 Communication (02/10/2011) from the Director of Personnel Services, transmitting for Council information, the second quarter reports (October — December) relative to vacancies, new hires, reallocations, promotions, and positions established: Mr. Bynum moved to receive communication C 2011 -90 for the record, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Next item. Mr. Nakamura: On page two of the council's agenda, communications for receipt are communication C 2011 -91, C 2011 -92, and C 2011 -93: COUNCIL MEETING _10- March 23, 2011 C 2011 -91 Communication (02/22/2011) from the Director of Finance, transmitting for Council information, Fiscal Year 2011 Period 7 Financial Reports — Statement of Revenues as of January 31, 2011, pursuant to Section 21 of the Operating Budget Ordinance (B- 2010 -705): Mr.. Rapozo moved to receive communication C 2011 -91 for the record, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and unanimously carried. C 2011 -92 Communication (03/04/2011) from the Mayor, transmitting for Council consideration and confirmation, his appointment of Palmer Hafdahl (Architect Appointee) to the Board of Appeals: Mr. Rapozo moved to receive communication C 2011 -92 for the record, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and unanimously carried. C 2011 -93 Communication (03/15/2011) from the Mayor, transmitting his Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 -2012 Budget Message, along with his proposed Operating Budget, Capital Improvements Budget, and Real Property Tax Rates: Mr. Rapozo moved to receive communication C 2011 -93 for the record, seconded by Mr. Bynum, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Next item. CLAIM: Mr. Nakamura: Next matter on page two is a claim, communication C 2011 -94: C 2011 -94 Communication (03/01/2011) from the County Clerk, transmitting a claim filed against the County of Kauai by Garden Isle Disposal Inc. for damage to their warehouse, pursuant to Section 23.06, Charter of the County of Kauai: Mr. Rapozo moved to refer communication C 2011 -94 to the County Attorney's Office for disposition and/or report back to the Council, seconded by Ms. Nakamura, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, I have a procedural question here regarding the communication 2011 -92. Do we wait until we get to the resolution? Okay, very good, thank you. Next item is a committee report. COMMITTEE REPORT: Mr. Nakamura: Next item is from your Committee of the Whole, Committee Report CR -COW 2011 -11. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE: A report (No. CR =COW 2011 -11) was submitted to the Council by the Committee of the Whole, recommending that the following be received for the record: "COW 2011 -03 Communication (3/7/2011) from the Rules Sub - Committee, transmitting their Report and Proposed revisions to the Rules of the Council of the County of Kaua`i." Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I do want to say that we have Vice Chairman Yukimura asking for excused personal time today as well as there's still some ongoing preparation on this particular item. So I am looking for a deferral. COUNCIL MEETING -11- March 23, 2011 Mr. Bynum moved to defer committee report No. CR -COW 2011 -11, seconded by Mr. Chang, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Next item, we're going to Resolutions. RESOLUTIONS: Mr. Nakamura: Next matters are resolutions. Mr. Chair, our first resolution is Resolution No. 2011 -44: Resolution No. 2011 -44, RESOLUTION CONFIRMING MAYORAL APPOINTMENT TO THE BUILDING BOARD OF APPEALS (Palmer Hafdahl, Architect designation). Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you and this is the same question I had raised earlier on the communication of 2011 -92. We do have coming over to us in writing... Palmer Hafdahl has actually asked to remove his name from this commission, and so we'll just move to receive this. Mr.. Rapozo moved to receive Resolution No. 2011 -44 for the record, seconded by Mr. Kawakami, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, next item please. Mr. Nakamura: Next resolution is Resolution No. 2011 -45: Resolution No. 2011 -45, RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE " REAL PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2011 TO JUNE 30, 2012 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI: Mr. Bynum moved to schedule a public hearing on Resolution No. 2011 -45 for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole, seconded by Mr. Rapozo. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. We have a motion to approve and is there anyone in the audience, based on this upcoming public hearing, that... Mr. Rapozo: Mr. Chair, I believe it was a motion to refer, not to... Council Chair Furfaro: I'm sorry. Mr. Rapozo: Okay. Council Chair Furfaro: It's my error and perhaps I should be paying more attention to the actual reference to the action. Thank you very much. Everybody came to my aid immediately. That's a good feeling. Okay, so all those in favor? The motion to schedule a public hearing on Resolution No. 2011 -45 for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you very much. Thank you for coming to my aid in not clearly understanding the motion. We're on page three, Bills for First Reading. COUNCIL MEETING -12- March 23, 2011 BILLS FOR FIRST READING: Mr. Nakamura: First bill for First Reading is Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2380), which is a bill for an ordinance to amend Chapter 9, Kauai County Code 1987, as amended, relating to the Subdivision Ordinance. This bill was referred to the Planning Commission on September 29, 2010 for their recommendation. Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2380) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 9, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE: Mr. Kawakami moved to receive Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2380) for the record, seconded by Mr. Chang. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, any discussion on this? Mr. Kawakami: Yeah, this is the bill that I introduced and it went to planning and they have a different version, so. I'm agreeable with their version. Council Chair Furfaro: You are agreeable with their version? Okay, any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. The motion to receive Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2380) for the record was then put, and unanimously carried. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, next item, Mr. Clerk Mr. Nakamura: Next bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2401), which is a bill for an ordinance to amend Chapter 9, Kauai County Code 1987, as amended, relating to the Subdivision Ordinance. This is the planning commission's recommendation on Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2380). Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2401) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 9, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE: Mr. Kawakami moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2401) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for April 20, 2011, and that it thereafter be referred to the Planning Committee, seconded by Mr. Rapozo, and carried by the following vote: FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, TOTAL — 6, Rapozo, Furfaro AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Yukimura TOTAL —1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL — 0. Mr. Nakamura: Six ayes, Mr. Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, next item. Mr. Nakamura: Next bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2402). Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2402) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO THE OPERATING BUDGET AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2011 TO JUNE 30, 2012: Mr. Chang moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2402) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole, seconded by Mr. Bynum. COUNCIL MEETING -13- March 23, 2011 Council Chair Furfaro: Any discussion? If not... go ahead Mr. Rapozo. Mr. Rapozo: I have a quick comment. You know I will be supporting this bill on first reading to get it through, obviously, to the public hearing. I do want to make a note that as it is submitted, I will not be supporting that budget, obviously. I think there's a lot of work to be done on this budget, a tremendous amount of work to be done and I look forward to a quite active debate as we get through the budget hearings. I did have a chance to speak with the mayor briefly on Saturday as well as the managing director and the finance director. And I guess I want the message to be out that they're going to have to come and justify their requests in positions and services and so forth. I think as we look around at the state's financial situation today with the shortfalls and the cuts and the word furlough is popping up again as I listen to this morning's news as I was getting ready for today's meeting, I just think that to utilize the anticipated surplus or reserves in the operating budget I think is bad practice. I think and I'm hoping that the mayor and the administration and his budget team will reassess the fiscal situations of this county and the state and come back to us with a much more practical budget. I think to utilize our anticipated surplus and to utilize transient accommodation tax, which we may not see or we may not see as much as we'd like, I think we gotta revisit that budget and make sure that it's real so that come next year this county doesn't find itself in a situation where we gotta lay people off or we gotta raise property taxes. I think we gotta be real. Now is not the time to be spending money and I want this message to go out loud and clear to the administration that in fact this budget simply cannot pass. If this budget passes as it was proposed, not being an economist or any kind of CPA or any kind of financial genius, I don't think it takes that kind of person to realize that this county will run out of money in the middle of the year next year. So that is just my humble opinion. Again I'll pass it on first reading simply because it needs to get to the public, but'I want everyone to understand that now is not the time to spend money on the luxuries. Now is not the time to spend money on the luxuries of life and now is really to get the necessities down and what... always remember what our core function of government is and it's really public safety, public health, keeping the employees that provide those services working. And I'm concerned ... I really am concerned and I've only been part of I believe six, this is my seventh budget, but this one scares me and I think it requires each of us on this council to think hard and it is going to be up to us, unfortunately, to make the tough decisions, and I'm hoping that we can do that as we move through the budget. So with that, Mr. Chair, thank you for the time, I felt I had to make those comments because there's a lot of rumors and a lot of... I'll call it, a lot of fear and I think we all will get the email so we see it from the community that's afraid and now is not the time to be spending money. Thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. I am going to entertain other commentary from other members if you'd like at this time? Is there anyone else who wants to speak? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: This is the beginning of a long process. I also found things in the budget that were a surprise to me in terms of the way they were framed. On the other hand, the budget —and I hope to present this during that time —the budget is a plan that we put before the public and that we're required to present a balanced budget every year. But what we say we're going to do and what we actually do are often quite different. And so I hope to present that during the time that for instance just as an example, we rarely ... we budget $150 million, we only spend $115 million, roughly. So it's important to look at what the actuals are. COUNCIL MEETING -14- March 23, 2011 The way some of this was reported out in the media, I don't think gave an accurate picture of the county's fiscal state and we'll get into that through these budget hearings in quite a bit of detail. So thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak at this time from the councilmembers? If not, I am going to say a few items as well. First and foremost I too anticipate I guess a very intense review of the operating budget for the County of Kauai. I think there's a few messages that we need to revisit as we come up with $158 million operating budget at this particular time. It should also be noted that we are using the current tax rates for accomplishing that goal. There is, as we passed earlier for a reading, a similar rate base for taxes. This is extremely important and I think I've heard the message from Mr. Rapozo that we live within our means at this time. I also understand Mr. Bynum's comments about under spending the budget. I wouldn't say it's as dramatic as he used as an example, but his example is in fact factual. And we need to make sure that department heads realize in this economic time that we live within our means and we are prudent in our expenditures. How the administration finds themselves justifying overtime in some areas of public works while at the same time they asked us to consider an additional $6 charge for collection has to be justified during the budget process. And the department heads and division heads need to know that the primary responsibility of this council is not the implementation of those programs but making sure we identify problems and fix them so we don't bleed. And I set aside, as you know I set the budget schedule up, I left four blank days in the budget schedule in the event that we have to defer a department or division for additional scheduling of time to understand their operating plan. And that's exactly what it is; it's an operating plan and we need to hold their feet to the fire as we do this together. But I'm proud of the fact that the first blush on revenues does not propose any tax increases on the rates, yet we've had a deflation of valuations on our island made up with some new construction. But overall our revenues are down 6% and their proposed operating budget is up 12 %. You know those are the types of things that we need to focus on. The primary duty of government is in fact to do exactly as it was pointed out by Mr. Rapozo. Our first goals are public safety, health and wellness of our community, so we need to focus on those items. Some...I'll give you the floor again, Mr. Rapozo, when I'm finished. Some of the other things we need to be aware of that's going on around us is what happens with the transient accommodation tax. I was a bit concerned to see a larger revenue forecast number in this year's budget than last year's budget as we take our share of the TAT. The fact of the matter is with the current discussion going on at the legislature, if we are able to save the TAT, it will be a number that's frozen for five years. If we look at the senate version, it's a number that's going to reduce the collection by ... an allocation by almost $14 million to the other counties, so that's a depressed number. And then of course with the recent tragedies in Japan, there's a growth number for us to look at because certainly those visitors are going to be more attentive to their homeland needs, so there's concern right off the top with that number that's in the budget. I will be making a presentation to all of you on the six months' actual spending I think which will play out some of the commentary that Mr. Bynum had pointed out that we seem to be spending a little under every year from what we budget. We need to be closer on the forecasted number. So there's a lot going on and please, as you look at the calendar that I submitted, please make sure you block those dates that I opened for recall because I think we will be using it during this COUNCIL MEETING -15- March 23, 2011 very tough time and I would like everyone to have an opportunity to get their questions answered. So, it is going to require deep focus and attention on all matters. Mr. Rapozo, you wanted to be recognized again? Mr. Rapozo: The only comment I was going to make was to say thank you for the additional days to evaluate and bring back questions that we have. I think that additional four days will be useful for this budget. And I know in the past we've been really pressed for time and looking at the calendar, I think it's adequate and we will have that opportunity. So that's all my comment was, was to thank you for allowing us that opportunity. Should we need to have call- backs, it will be available because I think this budget, in my experience, is different from all the rest. Simply and you brought up a very, very interesting point about the TAT, we budgeted for more TAT when I think we can all agree on a best case scenario we're going to get less and there's even a chance that we may not get any. So I think we gotta keep those variables in mind when we have the discussions. So the extra days, I truly appreciate and I will be blocking those off because I think we will definitely be using them. Thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: Yes and again that message was also for the department heads as they need to know that if they get recalled by the council, it is about specific operating plans that they have to take responsibility for in managing their budget within their budget, and managing any labor and payroll, even in that area we have concerns. You heard in the news last night, and for those of you that don't know, the governor gets four votes on labor pacts, each mayor gets one vote. If in fact the governor is successful to secure a plan on the bargaining units with one vote from one mayor, say the mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, it is perceived that all counties will embrace those labor costs. And I understand that both: of them are even anticipating an issue that might reduce the payroll by 5% and look at identifying one -half of one day a month for furloughs. And so here we are the County of Kauai with one vote but obviously the message we're trying to send through is if we've ended furloughs which we did we need to make sure that everybody understands how seriously we have to be about productivity in the sense of making sure we're collecting taxes, we're collecting fees, that the offices are open, and that we're doing county business. So I do think we'll end up using those extra days. So on that notice from me, and I'm sorry I did leave the floor open earlier for comments, there were none, I've called the meeting back to order and so now we are taking a vote and it is by roll call. The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2402) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, TOTAL — 6, Rapozo, Furfaro AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Yukimura TOTAL — 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL — 0. Mr. Nakamura: Six ayes, Mr. Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you. COUNCIL MEETING -16- March 23, 2011 Mr. Nakamura: (No. 2403). Last bill for first reading is Proposed Draft Bill Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2403) — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FINANCING THEREOF FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2011 TO JUNE 30, 2012: Mr. Bynum moved for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2403) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole, seconded by Mr. Rapozo. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you and please note the last two public hearings were scheduled for 5 p.m. for those of you in the audience so that more of the populace might be able to attend those evening meetings. Is there anyone that would like to speak on this item? Mr. Mickens. There being no objection, the rules were suspended. GLENN MICKENS: Thank you, Jay, for the record Glenn Mickens. My question is we seem to be running our county on our surplus, not on an estimated budget. Our surplus was, I think you pointed out, like $43 million. It's going to be depleted. So we've been running the thing here ... I'm not sure that that's an accurate way to do it. You're much more (inaudible) than I am in that, Jay. And my other question is when it comes to the budget hearing, is the format going to be exactly the same as it has been in past years, meaning you allow the public to come here before the thing even starts, have their three minutes and that's it. You can't say anything during the course. In other words, you might sit here for eight hours and you had three minutes at the beginning, but maybe something will come up during that whole course of testimony for the budget hearing that the public would like to say something about. But the way the format is you can't. I've come two times and I just said I'm not going to go again and sit there for eight hours. I said I'm not sure what I would say in the three minutes going over hundreds of pages of that budget. Obviously as each day comes up, they have a different whether it's public works or where it is comes up on the thing. But even that, it can ... I think public works took something like two days the other time. So my question, I guess, is is that going to be the format again this year with the budget? Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, first of all the two public hearings that were announced, there's no change in that format. I mean you'll be able to speak when we have the public hearing on the tax rates, the operating budget and of course this last item we're talking about right at the present which is actually the CIP, capital project. You will be able to testify; these will be evening meetings. Now when we go into the actual budget activities, if you would like a schedule I'll be glad to give you a schedule today from my staff of when we go into those meetings, and those will be handled at the discretion of the chairman when allowing people to speak. How long, how often and so forth, I can't answer that today. I can tell you that each item you will be provided an opportunity to speak based on the schedule. Mr. Mickens: I can only go by the past. In the past that's been your modus operandi. Council Chair Furfaro: Stop, don't use third person. We have a new chair. You will have an opportunity to speak, but that discretion is left with me. COUNCIL MEETING -17- March 23, 2011 Mr. Mickens: Oh and will you announce when you send us when we get a copy of the budget and we... Council Chair Furfaro: I'm going to give you a schedule today. Mr. Mickens: Okay and you will announce in that budget how your format is going to be for the public. Council Chair Furfaro: When you get the schedule you'll see when those meetings are called. Mr. Mickens: Right. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, I am currently working on a schedule to make sure that the budget is also aired. We have a couple conflicts I think. One we've worked out with the mayor's time and one with the planning department, but I think we have that pretty much worked out. But let's leave that to the schedule that I give you today so that you're aware of when we're having these sessions. Mr. Mickens: Well and you say it will show when we're having the sessions and like you say you're the new chair, so in your discretion you will publish or show us how it's going to be prior to the time we come down here? Council Chair Furfaro: I'm going to follow the rules, Glenn. The rules are this. You have an opportunity to speak on all of those committee pieces. Depending on how we're progressing and so forth, I may or may not add additional time. I can't answer that question now. But if we're doing public works in the morning and it's going to be at 9:30 on that day, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of that session to say what you want. Now, depending on how that discussion goes, and I can't forecast it, I may allow for additional testimony. I don't know right now. But if you come or you choose to do the web at home, that's your option. But I will give you the schedule today as we set it up. Mr. Mickens: Okay, thank you. Council Chair Furfaro: Okay, I'm going to call the meeting back to order. There being no one else wishing to testify, the meeting was called back to order, and proceeded as follows: Council Chair Furfaro: We have a motion and a second. May I ask for a roll call vote? Excuse me, before we go for— members, you have discussion? Mr. Bynum. Mr. Bynum: I just want to address one thing Mr. Mickens said that the budget as presented, you said it seems to be using the bulk of the surplus to. finance it and the key word there is "seems." As I said earlier, what we say we're going to do in the budget plan and what we actually do... so the budget plan is a budget plan. We have to submit it, it gives us a framework. But every year we get an audit report that tells us what we actually did during that year, right? And even though we've assigned a significant portion of the surplus in previous years, we haven't used it, right? And so in reality, I believe, I'm working on that data right now, but... COUNCIL MEETING - 18 - March 23, 2011 I also wanted to make a comment about the TAT. That's the transient accommodation tax. It's been a subject very near and dear to all of us for the last few years. I bet you a couple of years ago hardly anybody knew what TAT was and so basically TAT is visitors pay taxes on their hotel bills. The county gets a portion of that. The rationale for the county getting a portion of that is that we host visitors here. In fact on Kauai as a percentage of our de facto population, we have more visitors on the island as a percentage of the people present than any island and they use and tax county services. It's appropriate that they help fund county services. And so we, I think the county and the mayor last year did a good job of educating the public about why counties, in my opinion, are entitled to a portion of that tax. If the legislature were to take it all away, what they would be saying is "County of Kauai we understand that two out of ten people on your island are visitors on any moment, but they're going to pay nothing for their services, go get it from your own citizens." And that wouldn't be fair to do that completely. And so the legislature may act irresponsibly and I think ... my own view is if they take any portion of our allocation it's irresponsible and it's dumping their problem, their fiscal problems onto the counties. Despite that I expect that they will at least cap it this year, maybe reduce it, but we need to fight that fight and make that argument about why. And if that comes to pass, we will have to deal with it. But I don't think we should do our budgeting assuming that the legislature is going to act irresponsibly. So it's going to be a very interesting dialogue and discussion this year, and I want to acknowledge Chair Furfaro for making a commitment to broadcast the budget hearings for the first time ever with just a few exceptions where there are technical difficulties or conflicts with other scheduled meetings. So that's a great thing and I want to acknowledge the chair for doing that. Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Bynum. So again Mr. Bynum gave you a quick recap and again I share the challenges that we will have. You know we have a $43 million reserve. I don't use the term surplus. It's a reserve. We have intentions to create with the administration an ordinance that establishes what the reserve will be from year to year. But in the meantime, we have spent $9.7 million of that money in the year for the year. We have in fact $5.5 million next year that is adjusting the furloughs. We have revenue shortfalls of $3.7 million. We have additions of the expanded bus at $5.2 million and when you start to add these up, they in fact come to about $34.1 million that has been presented in the mayor's budget, and then to get us to the $43 million is the question that Mr. Bynum just surfaced. What happens to the $12 million on the TAT? If you take that out of there, we quickly get to the $43 million and that's the unknown at this time. So I hope we have enough information. At this time I'm going to call for the vote. Mr. Clerk this is a roll call vote. The motion for passage of Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2403) on first reading, that it be ordered to print, that a public hearing thereon be scheduled for May 4, 2011 at 5 p.m., and that it thereafter be referred to the Committee of the Whole was then put, and carried by the following vote: FOR PASSAGE: Bynum, Chang, Kawakami, Nakamura, TOTAL — 6, Rapozo, Furfaro AGAINST PASSAGE: None TOTAL — 0, EXCUSED & NOT VOTING: Yukimura TOTAL — 1, RECUSED & NOT VOTING: None TOTAL — 0. Mr. Nakamura: Six ayes, Mr. Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: Does that end our business for today? COUNCIL MEETING -19- March 23, 2011 Mr. Nakamura: No further business, Mr. Chair. Council Chair Furfaro: No further business? This council is adjo ... oh, I'm sorry, my apologies. Mr. Chang, I understand you do have a personal point of privilege. Mr. Chang: Thank you, Chair, yes I do. I'd like to say aloha to Lianne "Ani" Parongao. She's directly behind me. She's wearing the lei that was kindly presented to her by Councilmember Nakamura, so. This will be her last meeting with us. I know you will all join me in sharing our aloha. On a personal note, she's been, in my first term and my second term, very, very helpful, not only with the Hawaii State Association of Counties but with our recent trips up to our nation's capital there at our National Association of Counties meeting. So I want to take this opportunity to thank her for not only her work professionally but her friendship personally. So I wanted to say aloha to our friend Ani, Lianne Parongao. (Applause.) Council Chair Furfaro: Thank you, Mr. Chang. I think all of us do want to wish her the very best, but we understand she's transferring to another county department and you forgot to mention it. Mr. Chang: Council Chair Furfaro: family. Let's leave it at that. we look forward to seeing her Lianne, for everything. Mr. Chang: Council Chair Furfaro are adjourned. ADJOURNMENT. I didn't know if I could. Oh, okay, well she's staying within the county So she is still just an extended part of the `ohana and in the hallways of the county ongoing. Thank you, Just a phone call away. Just a phone call away, I like that. Thank you. We There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:14 a.m. Respectfully submitted, PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /wa