foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] good afternoon members reconvening homeless city council it's now 1 40 P.M we're at the top of page 11 from the committee on Executive matters and legal Affairs council member dos Santos Town chair I move that committee report 203 be adopted in Bill 44 past second reading council member dos Santos Tam for the explanation chair this relates to false statements specifically deterring persons for making or inciting the making of a false statement to a public servant thank you very much Mr clerk do we have any testifiers Mr chair we have one person standing by remotely okay please proceed looks like June James good afternoon to James please unmute yourself Aloha can you hear me yes okay I hope you all had a good lunch break anyway you know I really think that this bill is so vindictive and so spiteful and you uh you are going to find people you're going to put them in jail you're going to uh First Community um service hours and is this bill for monster homes it seems to me that the gosh it seems to me that instead of trying to regulate and focus attention on a few bad apples and I think that the city knows who the few bad apples are it is casting a white net across the board to punish a perceived a problem that we have in Oahu and and and you know this is just like defunding the police movement because of a few bad cops everyone not everybody there was such a huge vindictive movement to defund the police and of course time has shown us that this was a bad policy and it was a bad idea so I I really think that the city should not keep getting more and more into that vindictive threatening uh punishment more that it has actually become fines have gotten so high uh and then here you know we're talking really about um works right it's it's saying that uh let me see what it says that that it is um oh gosh I can't find them but anyway it's it's just between conversations in print and this and that and I have found through my years that that are also Intercultural uh misunderstanding and and not a lot of people have eloquent English language and uh you know even between a husband and wife there can be misunderstanding so I I'm just really concerned at the direction that the city is going uh mainly to be so punitive to be so vindictive when I think that we should be focusing on the few bad apples and I think it's possible for the city to do that if I'm correct I think this is geared towards monster homes um violators and uh even with that with the monster homes who's whose problem is it because it's the city who had also given them the permit to build right so so hopefully if you know who the who the violators are then make sure that the inspectors but doubt them more carefully and and so so on and so forth I think that is the route to go you know we should not be casting such a white net to punish and to to even throw people in jail I I I think that I think that's too much thank you thank you very much thank you Mr clerk do we have any other testifiers Mr chair of one person uh signed up in person Miss iwassa please proceed MRSA chair council members Natalie Wassa for the record um so I oppose this bill it's just simply too broad and it's been reported and discussed that this was trying to um enforce the um monster homes you know people who are putting forth plans at DPP that are not what they actually plan on into on building and I think a better route would be to enforce the code and if somebody is going to put forth plans that say they're going to build a three-bedroom home and they end up building a nine-bedroom home they should be forced to to go back and fix it so that it's a three bedroom home they should have to build what they said they were going to build and if they don't they should tear it down I think that's what people want they don't care about a fine or going to jail or you know any other punishment that that's likely seen as a slap on the hand because developers have a lot of money they that's just like very punitive to them and so I ask you to scrap this bill because I have similar concerns to what Chun James said I think that down the road that this could be misused and people who just make a mistake could have to defend themselves against this particular Bill if it becomes law so thank you for allowing me to testify thank you members any questions for the testifier Mr Clark do we have any other testifiers for Bill 44. Mr chair we have none thank you members are in discussion council member Kia Aina thank you chair I firmly believe that more needs to be done to stop the development of massive homes in our communities including stiffening the penalties for violators I have requested additional information from the office of Consul services and hope to provide suggested amendments to the bill when it comes back to committee so I appreciate uh council member dos Santos Tam's introduction of this measure thank you thank you any further discussion Mr Clerk council member Cordero aye aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia Aina aye council member okimoro reservations council members say council member Toba reservations councilmember 2pola council member wire all right chair Waters hi Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you cr203 has been adopted and Bill 44 has passed the second reading from the committee on zoning council members say Mr chair I moved at committee report number 208 Bill six committee draft one as amended past second reading second it's been moved and seconded council members say for the explanation it's relating to the professional self certification it's a temporary process whereby we're trying to alleviate the backlog of building permit applications by providing the building official and the authority to allow for alternative means to reveal building permit applications for compliance with all pertinent codes council member to Paul uh thank you chair I'd like to withdraw my FD but I will be um discussing it in my comments and will probably add it to committee as there's other things that have surfaced that I'd like to still add um thank you thank you so ordered Mr Clerk do we have testifiers I believe Natalie Owasso is registered to testify yes sir thank you chair council members Natalie Wassa for the record I just have some comments so I I totally appreciate the this intent to help speed up DPP they've been behind with their permits for a long time and so excessively behind that it's ridiculous but my question is what kind of due diligence will the DPP have to do for these self-certified professionals there are things that can be done such as checking dcca records for licensures I'm checking with the state to make sure that they're licensed for GT purposes but you know that's not really spelled out here in the bill and I understand that would probably be done in the rule making process but sometimes when bills get passed and then it is put forth to go to Bill to rules those types of concerns aren't always addressed in the rules so you might want to consider adding something to the bill for that the other concern I have is or just a comment I guess would be that somebody contacted me about an allegation of an inspector who was not even on island and having his name used to certify certain I guess fire extinguishers so that person had intended had already contacted other people I'm not sure where to go with this but I just want to put that out there because there are still problems within DPP that we need to be concerned about so thank you very much thank you Mr clerk do we have any other testifiers Mr chair with Jun James standing by remotely okay please proceed Aloha I am uh you know appreciative that there is more and more conversations of the applied of our uh property owners in trying to get prompt service and prompt um permits from the uh DPP and I I totally understand that DPP has a very long and systemic problem and a questionable history so it's not something that can be done just overnight or fixed overnight but but again I think that we need to put this in a in a very big picture and connect it all together this is just kind of like part of a puzzle uh the the idea is that DPP cannot promptly and efficiently and effectively provide permits in a timely manner and so because because of that had third quality reviewers are allowed right but then of course we know that that cannot a new can of worms because it seems like the records have shown that it is the third party reviewers that are also causing and becoming part of the problem because they have been also approving so to speak monster homes and this and that so you so at that and and I think it's the idea that we can depend on the trustworthiness and professionalism of our Architects and our engineers and this and that because because after all they are professional uh license and their livelihood is on the line so so I think that's a good idea but again if we if DPP is is going to accept third-party this licenses and you know license that it is also increasing the cost of construction and cost of Permitting to the poor home owner they have already paid property taxes to get services but now they have to pay an extra layer of it and and I also want to end with saying that you know um we uh with the monster homes again I'm kind of going back that part of the problem is that the city and and the mayor has has also contributed to all this commotion because it used to be that uh homeowners were only allowed to build up to 50 percent of the land area so so what I'm saying is that this is a very um interconnected problem and and and we need to find solutions from different angles uh but again um we should not have to keep a lot of forcing home owners to incurs more and more costs because DPP at this point cannot function effectively and efficiently thank you very much thank you Mr clerk any other testifiers in bill 6. please proceed uh chair Vice chair and the committee Angela Melody young testifying um I wish to comment and I I neither support nor oppose this bill so creating a self-certification process would address the regulatory burdens um and of the housing development industry and an example of this certification process that can kind of expedite things um is something that I've talked about before the emergency Proclamation and um you know because it's one of the wicked problems of the city um housing um therefore they declared it an emergency to try to expedite the processes so that developers can build and address the needs of our communities um and like this bill bill six the emergency housing Proclamation creates a mechanism in the law to expedite the certification process in the emergency Proclamation it creates a group building Beyond barriers BBB 24 members of the working group comprised of major housing Environmental Protection cultural impact and natural resources agencies at the state and County levels and um it certifies projects [Music] um and it also helps projects to move through the permitting and review process expeditiously and also provides advice and um so the lead housing officer invites subject matter experts to attend the meetings um for the certification process and the representatives from the building Beyond barriers group will have the authority to raise compliance concerns regarding any project and the lead housing officer takes appropriative correct corrective action including decertification um and this is all to kind of address the certification process so um therefore I support it yeah okay thank you Mr clerk any further testifiers I'm sure we have none thank you very much members we're in discussion council member tupola followed by KIA inov followed by dosa's town uh thank you so with reservations today because I I do want to add some things into the committee draft but I also want to make sure that I feel I feel good about what we pass out um chair you brought up a lot of good points about the similarities between third party reviewers and actually that we haven't codified any of that so here we are codifying self-certification but not all the parts because some are going to go to admin roles so two Missy wassa's testimony it's true there there isn't a lot um that is is actually written um in the law for us to understand and so that's kind of where my reservations lay because as a third party reviewer we're requiring tests we're requiring insurance and I understand that the director is going to do that in the admin roles but I also think that these things need to just be basic qualifications that we put into the law because when we are allowing people to do be a third party reviewer we're asking them to take tests on specific chapters of the roh to understand the luo to understand the housing code because we're basically saying your competency is up to a level that we're going to allow for some of your own review in combination with some of the city's review so even though we've had a decrease in the pre-screening process because of the bot and the you know the director said that significant amount of permits have gone down and that we still have code review and if you recall when this bill first came up hgea opposed it because for code review we need warm bodies we really need more people more Personnel so I did put forth a resolution to try to get more relief workers and I do believe the director updated on us that for us but you know the whole part of us sunsetting it was because we're trying to get enough workers to do it because really that code review part is the part where you do need people to be accurate to be able to go through it so again in favor of us trying to help the residential permitting problem but not trying to cut Corners in such a way where it's not Equitable with the current tool that we have with third-party viewers I think it should be fair for both because both tools seek to have the same objective and so I'll be proposing that CD for the committee and I I do hope that DPP can update us at that time no matter if they just updated us last month we're still hoping for improvement every month in this issue thank you chair thank you councilmember Kia Aina thank you uh chair I've received numerous emails about third party certification which I actually support with accountability uh even after passage of the CD in the zoning committee so uh before I make my other remarks I'd like to clarify with share say for the record whether the measure we are voting on today removed the Authority for DPP to implement a third-party certification program I mean I respond Mr chair yes please do I'd like to apologize to the members of the council there is nothing in this measure that deals with third party review if you look at the title what does it say relating to professional self-certification it's a new program it's a program that we have to have this ordinance in place in order for the administrative rules to occur if you lose if you read pages three four and five it highlights what the qualifications are the liability of the landowner the liability of the architect and engineer and also the liability of the county of Oahu that is the message I wanted to get across today there is no third party review in this measure because we could not incorporate it based on the title of this measure thank you thank you for that clarification Chair say so having said that I just want to reiterate that I oppose self-certification except a narrow situations and as such I will be opposing this measure in its current draft the director of DPP recommended starting a self-certification program with more focused and narrow projects such as specific solar projects and some tenant improvements these types of projects generally do not involve ground disturbing activities which increase risks for impacting cultural and historic sites and therefore I agree that if we are going to allow self-certification these types of projects are more appropriate from my reading of the CD one I am not even sure self-certification could be used for these lower impact projects and instead would be allowed only for new construction or renovation or residential buildings as high as 75 feet or approximately eight stories or renovation of non-residential buildings regardless of height or number of units as long as there is no increase to floor area moreover given the problems we are still trying to work out with third-party certification which is distinct from self-certification and that it involves a review of a building permit application by Third parties I cannot vote Yes on a program that would self certify for large-scale projects including properties up to 75 feet that doesn't even involve review by Third parties so if this measure is heard again in zoning I will consider introducing a committee draft and I was wondering if I could call the DPP director up here to answer some questions yes please proceed Aloha chair members of the council dvb director do you concur that a more prudent approach would be to move forward with a narrow focus and if so would you work with me to recommend a suggested language changes when we go through the zoning committee and maybe can you re-elaborate on what you stated earlier in the committee sure thank you council member so we would Define eligible projects under the self-certification program I think that we're looking at three different projects at this point which are the bill 7 projects as narrowly defined under roh chapter 32 and then commercial tenant improvements and we can provide a definition of what that would mean and and lastly actually we don't think necessarily solar projects but any projects that have a time limit in the approval of the permit for example the OTC 60 where DPP is required to make an approval or denial within a certain amount of time and if that is the case that we think that self-certification would be the best route because then it requires the professional to sign off and have all the insurance Etc to to do the review without DPP thank you so you would work on uh recommended language and what is your official position with regard to this current draft with regard to this current draft I I think that um as far as the third party review I understand that it doesn't fit within the bill title so we are solely focused on the self-certification part of it and I think that's fine um I think that uh there are some good um basic components as part of the program and we can develop it more within the ordinance and then during the administrative rule process we can work on further details and process for the program thank you thank you councilmember dos Santos town thank you I um I'll still be voting yes on this but I do want to express some strong concerns and this goes to Vice chair Kia aina's point about accountability I understand that in the bill there is a provision for penalties and the penalty for a professional self-certifier who does something out of the scope of this is simply to be removed from the list of self-certifiers and I think we've seen with a third party review process how people have abused that they've done third party reviews on dozens of homes and finally get caught and simply sidelining them doesn't seem to be a big enough deterrent to me um in fact I'm sitting here right now with a stack of building permit applications from my district and one of those third-party reviewers who had a third party review uh approval suspended is listed on these plans as a plan maker so he's just gone from being a third party reviewer just to making plans and continuing on he he also has Associates who are still third party viewers so so his business and the scheme just continues and that really troubles me um one of the other third-party reviewers who was convicted in the DPP bribery Scandal and sentenced to prison recently is still on the list of third-party reviewers I'm sure the director will take him off at this point but it goes to suggest to me that there is not enough accountability here and I really want to make sure that the people who are qualified for this understand the depth of the responsibility here and aren't going to you know abuse this to enrich themselves and I think that's something really important that I'd like to see in a future iteration of this Bill thank you thank you any further discussion members sure uh thank you just a question for the director please on the scope of projects so I heard the three that you went through thank you director for being here Bill 7 projects tenant improvements and then those that have the time limit of 60. so I just wanted to bring in one more because I have a lot of homesteads in my district there is a timeline by which when you get the lease that you have to commence building that you have to actually start your project or else your lease is revoked within that year if you don't start movement on it would that be something for consideration that could be added to a list of imminency potentially I think we'd have to look closely at what at how that would work but I'll send you over the verbiage and what the timelines they're up against and you know that's kind of why I withdrew my floor draft is because I the more I read it the more I thought there's there's still more that I I don't think and I think with that narrowing of the projects we're getting closer right to just certain things that are on a timeline yes let's expedite them and we're not giving the green light for everything but I think in addition to council member dos Santos times comments and that in the hearing is I'm still concerned that we're here clearing up and cleaning up a brand new uh self-certification and really the third part of review needs to be cleaned up in whole and I would have liked to see that program cleaned up first and in parity with this so that we can compare the two right and that's what a lot of people said is I've even had to make my own spreadsheet to compare the two so that we're doing the same thing putting in the same safeguards and then understanding what the differences are which for this one would specifically be what types of codes they're reviewing but then require all of the rest of the things like insurance and other things but then also narrowing the scope of what projects will allow this for so um I look forward to you know talking more in committee about this but I think you can hear you know what I'm saying is like I just think that it's a mess you know as far as us proceeding with one thing putting it into the law the other thing is still with some really outdated admin roles right no I I agree and as far as the third party review rules we are looking at them internally now like we are we do want to beef those up and have a higher standards and qualifications Etc so that's ongoing we don't have to wait um for this ordinance or other in order to do that so we're working on it currently okay um sounds good thank you chair thank you members any further discussion you know thank you um and uh since we are talking about 30 uh third party reviewers I just uh wanted to have an open conversation with uh uh Chair say with regard to the introduction of legislation uh regarding third party reviewers so uh chairs say it will we be getting a introduced uh Bill soon on third party review it's not on the calendar sorry um under Sunshine we cannot talk about third party reviews okay like The Limited I thought related to okay professional self-certainty thank you uh since it was uh originally part and removed from it I thought that it would still count but that's okay I just look forward to uh the bill being introduced because uh there there's a lot of support from it uh and I with the right accountability mechanisms in it I think it's going to help DPP thank you members are on page 11. we have a lot of people waiting here to testify on page 23 so if we can going forward we can limit your debate to two minutes or less and speak only once on the bill that would be very helpful so any other discussion from anybody has not spoken yet seeing none Mr clerk please call the roll councilmember Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia Aina no councilmember Okimoto aye council members say council member talba preservations council member to Paula no council member wire Excuse excuse chair Waters aye Mr chair there are six Eyes Two no's one member's absent thank you cr208 has been adopted in Bill 6 cd1 has passed second reading it'll be going back to the zoning committee thank you very much Mr chair I move that committee report number 209 and Bill 18 committee draft one as amended past second reading second remove that second then council members say for the explanation this is another measure in trying to support the department of planning and permitting in the backlog of their fermenting process this is relating to the special assignment inspections thank you very much Mr clerk do we have any testifiers I note that Shannon Olive Sean Oliveira and Eric kusunoki all registered to testify or any of these three people they are all logged on thank you good afternoon Ms olivaro please proceed thank you good afternoon chair Waters Vice Cherokee Aina thank you for the opportunity to testify Shannon alibado on behalf of Point Electric we stand on our testimony in support of Bill 18 cd1 and are available for questions thank you thank you very much members any questions from Ms Olive seeing none thank you Sean Oliveira I'm Mr chair the testifier is not logged on okay how about Eric kusunoki hi good afternoon um we are in support of this bill thank you very much members any questions for Mr kusunoki from Hawaii lecture seeing none Mr clerk is anybody else wishing to testify on this matter Mr chair we also have um is Chun James logged on okay June James please proceed Aloha can you hear me yes please proceed wonderful wonderful okay I think we uh I think we are quarrying about semantics too so when we talk about third party you know it doesn't matter whether it's uh it's a third party reviewer or the professional self-certification or um another one I can't remember a special uh whatever uh first party is DPP second party is the homeowner who is seeking the permit anybody beyond the two parties are considered third parties I mean however label names that we want to give them right so and and I'm thinking you know at this point if Governor Greene and I think he's having having a uh emergency Proclamation uh session right now on Facebook the government Governor green gets what he wants why why would we even need DPP I mean you know let's just let's just forget about a whole city county level because that Proclamation places all the approval power on what we call the the lead housing officer one person so um so that is something to uh to to consider and and again I I understand and and I appreciate everyone trying to improve and trying to uh you know work this out because it's been a long time coming but I'm also concerned that this bill particularly throws out the ordinary Fox suffering it says here that the building permit application must not involve a single family or two family detached dwelling that's that's a lot of us right who are having as much problems uh in fact um I thought it was funny that Governor ige uh in his last Spotlight talk was saying that he was having a lot of trouble trying to get his permit approved with uh with uh well actually quite a small home renovation in his home and we were thinking okay if a governor is having a hard time trying to get a timely permit approved by DPP I mean what chances do we small potatoes have so I I just want to leave it at that but I think that this bill just um just really leans towards uh big Developers and just uh throws out the small mom-and-pop single family or two family uh detached Darlings who have as much problems with DPP as anybody else so thank you very much thank you Mr clerk any other testifiers Mr chair we have none pardon we have no further testifiers thank you members are in discussion council member tupola thank you um so for me James I just wanted to clarify that this is the opposite of that so there is a line that says that um special assignment inspection is only for commercial projects and what I'm proposing in Bill 18 is that residential projects be included so really briefly special assignment inspections will allow construction to begin on residential homes while permit applications are being processed so you're still going to have to go through the permitting process but you can begin and you have to complete the permitting process by the time you complete the project because the permit process is so lengthy many projects become infeasible by the time the actual permit is improved due to economic conditions like increasing interest rates and inflation costs special assignment inspection for residential construction will streamline the permit process and allow for more residential construction to be completed on time director Puna reported that the backlog of 3 600 applicants waiting have dropped to about 70 percent with just a thousand one hundred she said they also reduce the permit review process there's still a huge hold up in code review and the majority of permits are still residential we must prioritize our local residents local families trying to build homes or repair them need a way to proceed and this Sai mechanism is a way to help them so far we have received testimony from naop Bia the board of realtors Hawaiian Electric Hawaiian solar energy association with other industry professionals and many individual residential builders one such testimony came from a mother whose son was diagnosed with stage four cancer at the age of 49. he moved to Ewa Beach to live with his mother so he could take appointments chemo and hospital stays however his 500 square foot home in Ewa Beach was inadequate for a hospital bed they drew up plans to accommodate his future needs they sold the house in Wahiawa to have the building funds they did all the drawings surveys inspections certifications compliances and it still took them three years to get a permit unfortunately her son passed away in December 2020 three months after they received their building permit we can allow this to keep happening and affecting our quality of life and for those reasons I support Bill 18. thank you thank you any further discussion members saying none Mr Clark please call the roll council member Cordero aye councilmember rental Santos Tam aye council member aye council member okimoro aye council member say council member talba council member tupola aye council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes I think he's here at 209 has a has been adopted in Bill 18 c21 has passed second reading from a committee on housing sustainability and health council member wire I moved it Community report 224 be adopted in resolution 23 162 past second reading second it's been moved and seconded council member wire for the explanation initiating Amendment to the revised Charter of the City and County of Honolulu 1973 amended 2017 Edition as amended relating to the establishment of a climate resiliency fund thank you Mr clerk do we have any registered testifiers um Mr chair we have Miss iwasa signed up okay please proceed lots of members Natalie Wassa for the record I oppose this bill as I have I think every um creation of those a special fund that has come up um again what you're what you're doing is you're you're chipping away at our foundation of our real property taxes that is the primary funding for for a city and this bill this resolution excuse me states that it could support green infrastructure renewable energy Etc and would demonstrate the city's commitment to safeguarding Residents economy in the natural environment well you already have the ability to demonstrate that when you do the annual budget so in my opinion this shouldn't be passed the resolution also states that the creation of the fund would do this support without the necessity of raising property taxes and I I I don't get that I don't get how you can um take a half a percent and commit it to a particular issue and then if something else comes up say oh by the way we we aren't going to raise real property taxes I mean it in the real world it just doesn't work that way I mean maybe if um you there's control in the other costs but over time I don't see that happening so um I I just I just can't support this and I ask you to vote no thank you thank you Mr clerk any other testifiers Mr chair we have none okay members who are in discussion councilmember Cordero thank you um I have a question for I guess uh it would be under BFS BFS good afternoon director kawano thank you for saying hi director kawano um if such Charter Amendment were to get onto the ballot and then were to be adopted by the voters would this percentage be available for use for stream maintenance and Coastal erosion and all of that yes I think it falls under the specified use of the fund um so the answer is yes and I know that a lot of the concerns not concerns but things that we um shored up uh now director Albano at dfm to do is like you know we want to prioritize our streams so like let's say we have this percentage and majority of our requests are for stream maintenance and this percentage this uh this percentage would go to that but then would that mean that there's less money in the department to focus on stream maintenance would we decrease that from another department you could that that's possible because if the voters vote and support the additional or the automatic set aside for this purpose there'll be eight million dollars or so less to spend on other priorities of the administration and Council um but I I want to state that climate change is one of our the administration's top priorities so we support the resolution in principle but to the point made earlier by Missy Wassa we would prefer that we go through the annual budget process to allocate funding to climate change thank you thank you chair council member Kia aino thank you director uh a question uh if this fund was established with the fund be able to receive outside funding sources like from non-uh profit organizations and the federal government uh uh federal government no because we we put all federal government's funding in a federal government fund federal grants fund so we keep track of that separately oh oh so even if the climate change office [Music] to go into another it won't be going into this fund can it receive uh uh private funding I don't I don't think so I I think the fund would be set up specifically for um for rpt yeah the allocation okay rpt like we have uh clean water natural land set up thank you for that clarification because you know there's so much funding out there for climate change I don't think anyone disagrees with the um Merit of the establishment of the funds so I'm glad that chair Waters is actually putting it out uh for a vote by the voters um I do have concerns about uh using rpt but I still understand um uh why this is needed thank you any further discussion members council members say yes Mr chair so Mr kawano if this is going to be a charter Amendment which I agree can we not call this fund a trust fund whereby trust funds can acquire uh not federal but private Foundation Monies I I would prefer to run that by um uh Corporation Council and then get back to all of you in writing okay that would be fine thank you thank you um director thank you for your thoughts on this um I'm also concerned about us continually chipping away at the real property tax base and we've had it in numerous discussions now today um in the realm of the priorities of the administration and setting aside money is especially because special funds are only for those issues right in the future because we just increased the Clean Water natural land fund amount and actually that's why we're having a lot of meetings with the Department Land Management is because they're trying to spend it down because they have a lot and we haven't identified all the projects yet that we're actually going to use it on um would you recommend that this be set up differently or that it just continue on as a priority of the administration I would prefer the latter uh that it continues a priority of the administration and Council and we discuss and prioritize what we're going to spend every year as we go through the annual budget yeah I agree with that and I do believe that it's very important we've seen especially in the coastal areas of my district we need a lot of it we've accessed some federal funds and to council member can this point there's a lot of that and we're constantly working with our Congressional Delegation to draw that down but again we couldn't use that in conjunction with this and I just wonder at the end of the day how big of an impact it's going to be when some of the federal projects require us to match what they're doing right so it would depend on the amount that they're putting down the amount we put down and I think the flexibility of putting it into a budget would be a lot easier than saying well we only have 10 million so we can't match your funds but maybe another year when we have more so um yeah for those reasons definitely reservations are a no but I I I'm interested because I do think that at our office of climates and sustainability they're doing a great job I love everything they're doing but I am concerned that we continuously are getting at this and what's going to happen to our city services so I guess in a future date if it ever does happen we're going to have to consider right whether or not this is going to affect our city services which we really can't have any more effect upon it it could and it also could affect Bond rating as well because as you as you automatically tie up um real property tax revenue for specific purposes and you have a situation where you have money set aside for needs that are not a must um it could provide it could cause problems with rating understanding thank you chair thank you any further discussion council member said followed by council member Mr chair in defense of the sponsor of the measure we are not addressing any increased ceiling is half of one percent of real property tax if you can correct me if I'm wrong Mr kuano that's number one number two at the way the law the ordinance is written half of that goes to the clean water and the other half goes to affordable housing this measure Cuts in further meaning with the climate resiliency fund everybody gets one third of the half of one percent that's what I'm saying if I stand corrected is that the way the way this ordinance is written all right one-third right now we have half of one percent of real property tax goes into this fund within this fund you split it up into two programs it establishes a half percent for a climate resiliency fund on top of the half percent for affordable housing and the half percent for clean water natural lands respectfully I have to agree with uh chair Waters the set aside is one and a half percent one and a half percent with a third a third a third going to those three programs including the new climate resiliency fund if if voted yes so we're not taking any money away this the fun is already there in place it'll displace the money from the general fund as well but the ordinance is already on the books books and you have the two funds already in place housing funds One Fund is for affordable housing and to get to about eight million a year another fund is for clean water natural lands that's about 8 million a year and I'm asking that another eight million go towards climate change and resiliency with what sea level rise coming up all of our roads are going to get inundated unless we start putting money away now to deal with climate change at some point that bill is going to become due and all I'm saying is folks we need to think about it put the money away now right okay all right that's that's the whole argument But ultimately folks if you don't want to put money in the bank for climate change then let's not do it but that's really the issue here do we want to put away money to this is it's gonna happen folks sea level rise all of our roads kalakaua Avenue is going to be underwater right what do we do about that if we're not going to start planning today right that bill is going to come due at some point and I get what the director is saying and I understand what he's saying and I get what Natalie Wassa is saying but really if we want to start being responsible and plan for the future we got to come up with that money and start setting it aside now that's just my thoughts and feelings folks But ultimately that's up for you know decide and possibly up for the voters to decide whether or not we want to set it aside it's not a new tax it's not an additional tax that we're going to be putting on the on the taxpayer right it's going to be coming from the existing part of mind that's what I'm saying so the 18 the 8 million 16 million total for the two funds that we have presently on the books correct that's what you just stated eight million for housing eight million for clean water correct all that 16 million I'm saying this particular way I read the ordinance of the 16 million one-third is going to go towards housing 130 is going to go towards nope yeah respectfully um the the edit the amendment adds a half a percent so instead of a percent uh it's going to be a percent and a half or 24 million dollars with a third going to each I stand corrected thank you council member Cordero followed by council member wire before I move forward with my remarks chair I would like to remind if members can direct their comments to the chair wait to be called upon by the chair before speaking thank you okay moving forward I would like to state that of course I would like to see more clarification I mean there has been clarification in the resolution I do have the same concerns about managing the budget however of course I also I appreciate when we do allow voters to have the opportunity to have that say whether they vote no whether they vote Yes and my my reservations or concerns on how we do on this will be will be um it won't just be my voice with the vote if we do put this on the ballot or if it goes through the chart and on the ballot so um I do have reservations but I would like to at least have our communities talk about it and discuss it too thank you thank you council member wire thank you chair director I'm curious who would be able to access these funds if if the fund was created um quickly what happens is the funds the fun is created typically console creates the fun so it gets created the fund has a specific purpose in terms of use so um typically the department that would be in charge or office it could be it could be managing director's office and ccsr the ccsr office but they would access the funds to spend it in accordance with the purpose set up for the funds we still need to appropriate though we don't get away from appropriation you still appropriate what you plan to spend annually it's just that what happens is if you don't spend it as one of the council members mentioned the fund uh instead of going back into the general fund any leftover cash if you will will revolve into the next fiscal year so if you don't spend it it keeps growing I appreciate that yeah just because I appreciate the direction I'm going but just to clarify so I'm curious if for example the funds created similar to the affordable housing fund would dfm be able to access those funds affordable housing funds did this particular fund dfm yeah so if we created a resiliency fund with dfn be able to access those funds it depends on who's in who's in charge right there may be a way to um you know achieve the purpose do um in OIC transfer officer in charge transfer from the Department that isn't you know set up as being in charge um I I don't know if it's going to be dfm I guess yeah I appreciate Mahalo for the Insight yeah I guess what I'm wondering um is because when you look at the charter language and it doesn't limit or identify an OIC in my mind it grants more flexibility because if you're creating a particular fund it can go to the needs as they arise and in my mind I mean what we're seeing today on Maui right it's sea level rise but it's you know stream maintenance and the dramatic flooding you know the roads falling into the ocean I'm just curious why um what the limitations are in that sense because in my mind what ENB does is resiliency what hfd does HPD EMS ocean safety dfm I mean I feel like every Department giving just the public safety implications we're going to be facing would be able to access these funds and so I'm curious when you say the OIC is that purely an internal mechanism or is that bound I'm not I'm not um we have Corporation Council here but um I would think that the charter would determine who has primary control of the fund yeah uh because for instance uh the charter affordable housing fund is under DCs um even though you know perhaps other departments could could expend the monies for for you know in a allowable purpose so uh I think I think when we cross that bridge we can determine that but there's there's probably ways to transfer the responsibility of the officer in charge yeah then well I'm asking because now we're talking about like why this mayor may not be a good idea because it limits the funds and so that's why I think it's pertinent to answer that now because if it actually grants greater flexibility for matters that like like you said a committee we're already spending well beyond point five percent on resiliency right like when you look at all the the stuff the city is going to have to be doing um and so that's the only reason I'm asking because I think the LM has used affordable housing funds too right or am I mistaken yeah yeah so yeah similarly like those funds move over to DCS or can move over to dlm I don't know all the complexities I don't know if it's a court thing or a BFS if it's just you do your bf117 or like I'm that's all above my head but well I think yeah to the point I was trying to make is um we already have a budgeting process climate change resiliency sustainability is factored into all of our budget decisions so the question I have is why do we have to automatically allocate real property taxes when we have a process in place already that's that's the only point I was trying to meet okay I appreciate that and so I guess just follow for answering um the questions director just for discussion purposes um you know based on just the reality we're facing um I think it's it's pertinent to create flexibility for all departments to be able to ask fund access funds as these situations we deal with sometimes unexpectedly arise right you know we've seen the sinkholes open up right um you know the stream flooding the stream maintenance needs so just giving departments that flexibility I think would be helpful with the fund that recognizes like this is a public safety issue um the types of situations like we're seeing today are going to continue to happen and get worse um and so that I I do think like I understand what you're saying you want as much flexibility as possible but on the other side I feel like it gives more flexibility because we're already doing this stuff and so it puts it in a general pot that departments can just go get as they need it yeah thank you any further discussion no um okay no further discussion Mr clerk please call the roll council member Cordero reservations council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kiana council member okimoro I council members say council member talba reservations council member to Polo reservations council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes I think it's cr224 has been adopted in resolution 23-162 has passed second reading members are on page 13. page 13 of 30. council member wire chair I moved it cr223 be adopted and Bill 38 cd1 is amended past second reading second related to concessions thank you it's been moved and seconded Mr clerk do we have any registered or unregistered testifiers we have no registered testifiers okay is there anybody in the audience who'd like to testify on Bill 38 cd1 seeing none any remote testifiers Mr Clerk Mr chair we have none okay we're in discussion members say none Mr clerk call the roll council member Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kiana aye council member okimoro I council member C I council member talba council member to Polo aye councilmember wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you cr223 has been adopted in Bill 38 cd1 has passed second reading from the committee in housing sustainability and health council member wire all the chair I moved the committee report 22 be adopted and Bill for cd2 as amended past third reading second it's been moved and seconded council member wire for the explanation it's relating to the adoption of the Hawaii state energy code thank you Mr Clerk you have any testifiers um Mr chair of one person signed up Mr Mark Glick I'm not sure if he's remote or in person Mark Glick from Corporation Council State Energy Office State oh apologize hello welcome thank you Mr chair Vice chair my name is Howard wig Hawaii state Energy Office on behalf of Mark Glick in the strong support of this this is a bill which if adopted will make Hawaii's or honolulu's contribution to reducing the production of greenhouse gases plus there are a few Provisions here which actually reduce the cost of construction while reducing energy use number one the model code requires for concrete or masonry homes and buildings that there be an exterior insulation and we have eliminated or made that an option and we've uh instituted no cost or low-cost means of keeping the sun's heat out of the buildings and we're just taking advantage of what is very very mild climate number two in the lighting category if you you always want or you must have daylighting in commercial buildings and we have eliminated that and just said reduce your energy use and you be saving more money we have increased the definition of efficient lamps and at no cost taxpayer or the construction and we're saving energy at the same time thank you thank you members any questions for the testifier saying none is there anybody else would like to testify all the energy codes Mr clerk is there anybody remotely tuned in who wants to testify on the Mr chair we have none energy codes okay members we're in discussion council member Los Santos Tam followed by say then wire thank you chair I want to commend um committee chair wire for his hard work on this I know that this is a very difficult topic um and through his leadership we're able to you know bring together folks from all different angles from the construction industry to folks you know advocating for environmental concerns and I think that this really provides a good path forward and I just want to thank him for that thank you council members say Mr chairman Mr wigger question oh yeah of course Mr wig this is just this is just a simple practical reasonable question how come Skyline doesn't have any sort of a take on their stations which costes us so much money in electricity did you first get involved in the discussion in the design and plans not to my knowledge no well that's where the city will be losing a lot of money as far as paying for the energy costs correct I am not a subject matter expert on that okay I'm sorry but you're with the State Office of energy thinking that you would help us say yes come on plans and Designs if you'd like me to look into that I would be delighted to do it well I don't know it's a little too late but uh thank you very much okay thank you councilmember wire Mahalo chair um just wanted to extend my thanks to the committee members and to all the stakeholders that participated in the conversation um you know as councilman Santos Tam mentioned uh folks from all different um you know backgrounds and areas of expertise I really came together spent time diving through the details and really grateful for the time that they invested from you know the the building industry stakeholders to ccsr to our staff in our office so I just wanted to say Mahalo and do think that the code updates reflects the movement forward we need to have in terms of Energy Efficiency but also contemplate the reality we're facing in terms of our housing crisis and don't exacerbate that so thank you thank you appreciate your hard work on this measure any other comments members sing Nan roll call Mr Clerk council member Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia aye council member okimoro aye council members say council member talba aye council member dupola hi council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you cr222 has been adopted and Bill four cd2 has passed third reading now to the top of page 15 first reading items Vice chair Kia Aina I moved that the first reading items listed on page 15 of the agenda past first reading second it's been moved on seconded Vice chair Kiana for the explanation Bill 45 relates to human resources Bill 46 relates to flavor tobacco products thank you Mr clerk do you have any registered testifiers um Mr chair we have MS iwasa for Bill 45. thank you please proceed thank you chair Waters council members Natalie Wassa for the record I just have some comments on this um I know some of you may know that vacant funded positions have been an issue um between the council and the administration for at least the last 12 years maybe 15 years so I appreciate this I ask you to consider well the bill actually requires the HR department to work with other City departments and determining what the statuses of these various bacon positions and requires annual reporting so I'm wondering whether you know if you folks have priorities in those departments that seem to have the most vacancies I think that should be listed in here or at least considered to be put in here as part of the intent behind this and then should this bill be sunset after a certain period of time I mean I'm assuming that after all the Departments are gone through that the the issue will be resolved one way or the other and that this potentially would not be needed after that whole series is done so just those comments thank you very much thank you very much anybody else would like to testify on Bill 45 or 45. see none Bill 46 I think there's a number of registered testifiers starting with Jamie Rojas is Jamie Rojas here or Jasmine Rios Jasmine Rios Joshua ching hello Mr Jing thank you for joining us thank you for waiting patiently please proceed to chair Tommy Waters Vice chair Esther Kia Aina and members of the Honolulu City Council on behalf of the Coalition for tobacco-free Hawaii's youth Council we are in strong support of Bill 46. the youth council is a nationally recognized group of youth leaders fighting to Envision and create a Hawaii centered on uplifting Community Public Health beyond the reaches of big tobacco our Council comprises over 80 middle high school and college students with representation from across all of Hawaii's counties our Council has submitted written testimony which I stand on and proudly affirm but today I want to share with all of you I'm here on a Wednesday afternoon and why I got into this fight I was a kindergartener at Kamehameha schools when my dad first signed me up for baseball it came off the heels of a failed attempt at soccer coupled with the magnetic pull that Sports League seemed to have on Hawaii's parents most days after school until I was in sixth grade my popo or my grandma would pick me up from Kamina kids and drive me out to town for practice and all the way back home to Waipahu when it was Paul she'd always show up with a ham or turkey sandwich tightly sealed in a Ziploc in a homemade smoothie that she takes sips of on the drive over I love my popo so much and would always look forward to those drives during the week in those car rides we talk about my school day how much my sister and I reminded her of my dad and my uncle or about her life in the good old days one day she decided to talk to me about her health my goal is that I get to see you and all of my mo'oupuna graduate high school before I pass away she sat as her eyes scanned the road I was confused because she's pretty young and asked her what she meant a lifetime of smoking cigarettes catches up to you even after you quit she explained and with a voice no louder than a murmur she uttered I have a hole in my heart with those words my heart sunk to my stomach she explained how dangerous smoking was for cardiovascular health about surgeries heart muscle scarring as I sat there fighting back tears it was lost on me how anyone could create a product that would hurt my pupil just to turn a quick profit into this day I still feel the weight of her words it's been five years since I joined the youth Council and in those years I've met with legislators Community organizers to Rally support for abandoned the sale of flavor tobacco products which has become the primary Catalyst to addict a new generation of smokers but in that time we're effective and all-encompassing flavor bans have failed to pass at the state level I've watched some of my closest friends get addicted to these products often coping with personal struggles anxiety even body dysmorphia through the Temporary Bliss of a few Puffs from an e-cigarette I fear that the story my grandma told me will become ones they share or they'll join Over the over twenty one thousand Hawaii youth alive today who will die from a tobacco-related illness if no policy action is taken this is my Ohana these are my friends the industry however won't go down with a fight spending 26 million dollars annually on marketing and hundreds of thousands on lobbying in Hawaii alone the tobacco industry's Relentless presence in daily life on the islands isn't an accident it's intentional it's a primary reason that the Honolulu city council is presently prevented from regulating the sale of tobacco in this County a consequence of a 2018 gut and replace law passed behind closed doors big tobacco has not only attempted to assert control of our over our people our vulnerabilities our culture but has actively come into our home and dictated the duties and functions of our own government moreover as a kanaka Mali the Deep the deeply troubling and Colonial history of native Hawaiian labor exploitation on Tobacco plantations bastardization of hula girls for cigarette advertisements and now weaponization of local flavors for e-cigarettes all at the hands of an industry profiting off of addiction is deeply personal and pineapple orange are just a few of the over 15 500 e-cigarette flavors often designed specifically into to entice local people lining store shelves flavors then are the Pinnacle of big tobacco's modern design for Hawaii creating devices that specifically Market to and addict the communities whose systemic vulnerabilities are a direct consequence of the history of exploitation they participate in Banning the sale of all flavor tobacco products at the county level would work to end this deadly cycle of addiction the manipulation and exploitation despite the fact that the state preempts the County's Authority in regulating tobacco sales passage of Bill 46 would be an unwavering expression of defiance against the financial influence of the tobacco industry and to signal to other elected officials the people of Honolulu are ready to fight the youth vaping epidemic now we strongly urge that bill 46 be passed and referred to the appropriate committee it's time to put people over the profits of big tobacco it's time to protect our keiki mahalo thank you well said members any questions for the testifier seeing none I also have Pedro Haro this is the test device not logged on is Peggy mer MERS hello sorry if I didn't get your name correct okay good afternoon Peggy Mirza with the Hawaii public health we stand in strong support and really thank the council for considering the measure I believe that Josh has hit many of the points and told us a wonderful story I do want to just point out that 79 of registered voters in a while in Oahu on Oahu um support ending the sale of flavor tobacco and we found that out through an independent Ward research poll in December 2020 so thank you and they thank you too for considering thank you for your testimony next is Tina yamaki retail Merchants Mr chair that this the fire is not logged on okay Lola Irvin Department of Health so chair the testifies also not locked on okay are there any other testifiers on this measure please come forward anymore Aloha chair Waters members of the council my name is Don Weissman I'm with American Heart Association I've got written testimony which I'll provide to your team your staff after we I'm done but um I just want to reiterate some of the previous comments that from a cardiovascular standpoint E-cigarettes are no are not safer than cigarettes we present many of the same health issues as traditional tobacco use and I also want to point out that this is not just about e-cigarettes this is about all tobacco products and we want to make sure that this is a comprehensive Bill to cover all tobacco products because it doesn't just affect kids it affects all of our smokers in our state many of whom would like to quit and find it very difficult the flavors are one of the things the industry uses to make it difficult to quit especially Menthol it takes away the harshness it takes away the detriments of smoking makes it seem like it's it's okay and makes it even flavorable and enticing to kids but um flavors are the trick that the tobacco industry uses to lure people into addiction and then keep them addicted so this is a very important bill we we ask your support for it and if you have any questions I'll be here thank you thank you any questions for the testifier members see none thank you I'll go ahead Angela please proceed Aloha Angela Melody young for the record on behalf of cares in strong support and congrats to the Hawaii Public Health Institute and their work they got an award that the award show for her Hawaii Children and Youth um I think for their work in Vapes because nicotine poisoning is a very passionate subject matter to advocate for so um care is also advocated for this subject matter at the state this season and drafted and proposed a bill and a resolution House Bill 1492 and Senate resolution 212. smoking causes addiction nicotine poisoning a series of health risks and concerns and cares worked with representative Rose and actually Senator favela's office to work on a bill and the resolution each house bill 1492 seek to amend the Hawaii revised Statute chapter 302 a the chapter relating to doe public schools and the education system and smoking at schools the law needed an upgrade in language the law currently says and I'll read it verbatim all public schools within the state from kindergarten through grade 12 shall prohibit the use of tobacco at public schools at Public School functions to simplify the Lawless Lane smoking tobacco is prohibited at schools and at school functions so our proposal was to upgrade the word tobacco to tobacco products for further clarification about what a vape is one word determines the statutory discretion of whether or not the law was offended the FDA sets the standard of defining Vapes it is a tobacco product and not tobacco because it is a product derived of nicotine the chemical in the tobacco plant which causes the addiction because Vapes is an evolved version of tobacco it is a tobacco product that technically not tobacco for statutory purposes and so this debate and discussion about Vape legislation it's about tax parity and Technical changes to the law but the core of this issue is a grave concern about health in its most simplified form this discussion is about getting students to stop smoking vase Vapes because smoking is bad for children and nicotine poisoning is bad for you and the children are passionate about it can you wrap up please okay in conclusion this was one of the priorities that the Hawaii Children and Youth Summit supported and that is the summit that proposes to um the legislature in regards to um the children and their priorities so therefore we really support this um thank you thank you Mr Clark is there anybody else who'd like to testify senator favello welcome thank you thank you Angela you're always doing a good job um 100 for this bill we need to do more in legislation I'm going to learn a lot from Mr Kelvin C who always see whatever Calvin says anyway going forward this thing right here we just kind of not only tackle the flavored tobacco products but just in general of the commercials um I don't know how we can regulate uh on the internet but it's all over the place you know they said that they can advertise on TV but they're all over the internet they entice the kids and they are interesting the kids you look at the commercials it's not me for kids I mean for adults kids who's going to look a little cartoon characters running around with one flavor tobacco and orange on pineapple no adults here for the kids and they should be sued or they should be going in jail for having stuff like that promoting and pushing our kids I was always against it because of what happened to me um at my school at ever Makai middle I'm not going to say what grade the students was there's vaping at Ewa Beach McDonald's at the laulani and um they both of them went into cardiac arrest and they got to go to Queen's Hospital they didn't know how much nicotine was in The Vape and they overdosed on nicotine so people think it's a joke it's not a joke it's very serious and that's why we need to do more thank you guys hopefully we can do more at the ledge this year working with Angela and Senator Rose to get more things done that we can make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else thank you again thank you guys for your time thank you Senator so we we actually do need your help the counties are prohibited from regulating this and it's prohibited by the legislature so we need your help in allowing the counties to do this because once you folks change the law this law come assuming we pass it comes into effect so thank you in advance I do see a few hands up for remote testifiers Mr Clerk Aloha Council my name is Jasmine I'm commenting as a supporter to our small business owners in Honolulu I'm here to comment on Bill 46 prohibiting the use of lower tobacco products this motion if passed will have adjusted effect on community business a flavor van is unnecessary and unhelpful and we strongly urge Council to hold on moving forward an adult smoker I use labor Vapes to reduce my use of cigarettes and by passing a band like this you're not helping me get off of tobacco I respect the need to protect the youth but retails do not sell tobacco products to anyone under age because it is already illegal to sell to anyone under the age of 21. the city needs to enforce current regulations and not add unnecessary and burdensome ordinance in an already highly regulated industry I agree there should be some action on the flavored disposable Vapes and enforcement should focus on that bands like this shift sales from law abiding real real tillers in a regulated environment and increase Black Market activity which is more dangerous to our youth now more than ever local businesses are backbones of every community and are the ones that that are going to be financially affected in this ordinance season number four were built 46 I appreciate the council's consideration and hope that facts over emotions will prevail and stop being the flavor band mahalo thank you very much members any questions for the testifier see none I see another hand up is that Jamie Rios good afternoon mayor and council members my name is Jaime Rojas with the National Association tobacco outlets and representing the retail retailers and convenience store members of the city of Honolulu our association retailers support traditional tobacco retail licensing but further restrictions are necessary because Honolulu retailers have a 97 past passing success rate in retail tobacco compliance checks conducted in the past three years by the FDA and located on its website in local sting operations retailers are doing their jobs why Implement new ordinances that we can't even enforce current regulations we need to use tobacco tax dollars to fund local enforcement the city council should focus to address other issues like stopping tobacco online sales to youth penalizing individual adults who gave or sell tobacco products to Youth and improving education School resources regarding youth vaping and School curriculum our Honolulu retail members are doing their part to keeping tobacco products out of the hands of persons under 21 years of age it is already illegal to sell to anyone under the age of 21 Across the Nation and in Honolulu compliance code enforcement and education work youth usage of traditional combustible cigarettes are an all-time low of under three percent in 2018 as we know the Hawaii legislature clearly expressed its intent to regulate these products uniformly and exclusively Banning the sale flavored version of these products isn't an action outside the Honolulu City council's Authority for these reasons we asked that bill 46 be placed on hold on this agenda we thank you for your consideration thank you Mr clerk I see someone else with their hand up yes we have um Jun James and then two other uh in-person testifiers okay please proceed aloha I just wanted to make a quick comment you know with all due respect to the business industry we understand that it is business but I I honestly and sincerely think that we must put the public health we must put the the um our most vulnerable population our younger population from this type of a very slick very sophisticated and money powered Enterprises such as vaping it's as simple as that I think at that bottom line is do we want to be engaged in exploitative commercialism or do we really want to put the health and the welfare of our most vulnerable population I I just do not think that it's it's a honest and moral thing to make money out of something that is going to hurt a lot of the population thank you very much thank you anybody else wishing to testify Natalie Wasa please proceed future council members Natalie Wassa for the record I oppose this and it's not because I'm not concerned about the health of people and personally I hate the smell of Vape but you have no authority to make this ban the state has been clear so um I I understand your your position but it I just oppose it because you you're not it's not going to do anything unless the state changes their law so thank you for allowing me to make these comments thank you we have one other 10 person testifier please proceed good afternoon chair and council members Lola Irvine got pulled to another meeting so Joe Thomas here on behalf of Dr Fink at the Hawaii State Department of Health thank you so much for considering this measure it's very important it's the ninth year that it's been taken up at the state level but not past and so we appreciate the County's consideration of this measure we know that 85 percent of Youth who say they use e-cigarettes say that they started because of flavors we also know that menthols are really huge problem it disproportionately affects certain communities we know our native Hawaiian community in particular has a really high use of Menthol Menthol also makes it we know that tobacco industry knows that Menthol is used to make e-cigarettes tobacco products more palatable and it's also more addictive so we stand on our written testimony in support of this measure thank you thank you very much members any questions for the Department of health scene done Mr Clark anybody else wishing to testify I'm sit here there are none thank you members we're in discussion say none are there any objections or reservations to any of the matters noting no objections or reservations the first reading items on page 15 of the agenda have passed first reading now to the top of page 16 thank you from the Committee on Public Safety Council member okimoro thank you chair I move the committee report 194 and resolution 23-165 be adopted second it's been moved then secretary council member Okimoto for the explanation relating to the construction of a sanitary sewerage system in the Eva District to be known and Hereafter designated as ever Beach sewers section 4 in accordance with the Improvement by assessment ordinance thank you very much I note that we have one registered in-person testifier Senator favela okay sorry I took off my glasses too early you never stopped my timer anyway well you know I smell something that's not too good and it's not coming from Ewa Beach ever States I oppose this resolution I've been working on this for over 30 years when they tried to do this back when I was neighborhood board chair we're against it then and we're against it now the Clean Water Act shows there is no no risk to our drinking water and I want to see if they're worried about anything EMV should worry about the leakage the kayaking I had left that is continued from the sewer treatment plan into herbush how I know that the sewage not damaging are marine life because the University of Hawaii tests is the outfall from the outfall to how Bush to Pearl Harbor and guess what the content is zero only where the area that was leaking till now so Eva stage is more caused by Iroquois playing across that area so I want somebody to take my DNA and a one week later see if it's in the ocean you guys are you guys are trying to overstep something that you guys are not really you guys are going to step in something it's going to be number two first of all my community is aging okay that's the reason why they didn't do it 20 years ago or 30 years ago because even the access to their Cesspool to tie it in if you want to tie it in to the sewer system some of their cesspools are in the back of their house it's going to be costly to them costly to the city and it's not necessary so and somebody can give me some scientific data that a cesspool in my auntie's house day is leaking into the ocean and hurting our marine life I want to see that data and that's 30 years ago guess what chair haven't seen it yet so we're going to spend 50 million dollars of taxpayers money for something that is not endangering nobody I say leave it alone or we're going to have a lot more people at this city council meeting if this keep going forward I don't appreciate when I leave schools for some certain Council people to call me when there's anything in my district and I'm seeing this again on record anything in my district I represent my whole District previous people like was my position maybe they didn't care but I care and love my community and it was at the neighborhood board in hundreds against this the quarterbacks sneak this now and nobody in my community really knows about it it really upsets me and I tell you right now if you guys move with this going forward I guarantee you if we get hundreds of people right in front of City Hall and certain people that made this thing they're gonna have their names on the signs thank you thank you chair thank you members any questions for the testifier council members say so Senator Senator favalo yes sir I'm just following Act one two five of 2017 which is the session laws of Hawaii it's the state legislature that adopted that measure and maybe you had your objections but we have to follow the law of the state and they've mandated the City and County of Honolulu that we get these particular private homeowners on the pl you have a plantations to replace their cesspools with a tie-in to the sewage treatment plan if I'm not mistaken Mr chair Honolulu I can understand because now we are going to be asking the administration to designate that particular area as an improvement district and there will be assessments and I hope that the Department if they're out there I hope you do your Outreach because you know I think what the senator is saying if it is true it's going to cost the taxpayers of Oahu another 50 million dollars and you're correct 50 million on top of the assessments of all the private land owners I did ask the question if he can't be cesspools why not septic tanks but the department stated for the record that they would like to go and connect it with the sewage treatment plan at Honolulu and the city will provide the main line on the road and then the laterals will be paid for by the private landowners and I believe the private landowners would have to dig those cesspools out of their particular properties so but but what the state law is Mr chair if the state law is not in existence that we have to comply by 2050 I don't care I really don't care because I think we've never gone out to the residence to see are they in support of this particular legislation and for Senator Favela if you if you feel that way introduce a bill to repeal at one two five and that's what I'm doing so just just to give you an update 2017 is when they brought up this rubbish to our community and that's when we I was the chair and that's when the community came out strong what I'm saying is 2017 the bill passed for this cesspools what this what is the date today 23 how many years was that so now you think the people in every Beach that when putting the septic tanks because the Department of Health and the city mandated them if they was going to build another broom or another house or another restroom you know in their house extension they have to put in septic tanks those septic tanks wasn't cheap so are you guys going to exempt that have a Beach Road they build all those monster houses that was allowed by primarily and permitting from the city they got septic tanks are they going to convert there's a lot of equations and I understand the state did them I wasn't there because if I was I would have voted no and my voice would have been heard loudly that is very inconsiderate if they cannot prove the fact that that is happening in the community if we really are endangering um the sea level the sea life in the ocean if you guys so worried about the sea sea ocean get rid of the cats they're making urine all over the place and killing our sea life anyway did it was actually was proven that they're killing our sea life but what we do house them trap them kiss them love them yeah saw that good stuff put them in a nice beautiful new place in Ewa Beach but anyway chair thank you guys for your time but you are you're right uh councilman saying I will have my city appreciate it God bless you but I love you thank you anybody else wishing to testify on this matter please proceed Aloha Angela Melody young I'm testifying about the new sanitary systems um so it's gonna cost one million dollars for the treatment plant and people don't want to pay that um the system of the things that I was told while researching about this subject matter and it's a secondary treatment is mandated by the EPA but the community doesn't have dirty water and the Cesspool as is is not bothering anybody so um you know perhaps a solution can be that Doh can provide kids to get more water quality samples it can be a solution um and if the water is clean then there is no need for a new sanitary system so at the state the house concurrent resolution 94 um about the polkai bay cleanup talked about managing these resources and it really requires the state city and Community organizations and volunteers to work together um please [Music] um conclude your remarks oh okay so I'm in support of it thank you I mean I'm not not a support I'm I just wish to comment yeah thank you thank you Mr Clark any other testifiers on this matter um Mr chair there are none I do note the presence of Wesley yokoyama division Chief Wastewater engineering and construction members if you have any questions let's start with council member Cordero then council member talba are you doing uh clarification on the resolution because this resolution doesn't actually enact any action does this resolution request for the investigation and data forming and and and all of that and does that include Outreach press the on off button okay thank you um so this is the first of many actions that we're going to interact with city council so this is a resolution of intent and it starts a three or four year process in order to get sewers to the last area that's unsured in Ewa Beach so it's just the start of the process um the next step is that we need to provide you a report uh that shows all of the planning that we've done along with the design and that goes to the pit committee first for review and scrutiny and then for city council the whole Council to vote on so there is a process and we've just started that process oh sorry thank you okay so um and is there a timeline for such report and investigation to be pal by I mean yeah um no it's there's no timeline but um we need to keep this thing moving because um and I wish I had um our presentation that we gave to the committee but um it's a many-step process I mean many I I think it's like maybe uh like three 30 steps that we need to go through in order to get the ID completed okay so with this resolution what can be expected what is the initial action that can be expected we will submit that report that has the planning study as well as the design and that's going to be submitted officially to council for review and we're going to be on committee we're going to go to the pit committee and make a presentation and there'll be discussion there and it'll be referred to the whole Council um if you know it's it's adequate and does the will this resolution that then prompts the investigation and then the report to the council include Outreach and discussions with stakeholders and Neighbors that's part of our um design process so we will you know do Outreach and we promised that when we did the committee presentation also thank you council member told council member Cordero asked my question thank you sir council member wire followed by dos Santos Town um just quickly um just wanted to clarify so in standard practice are um if someone already has a septic or has already converted I think they typically allow to maintain that or is the standard policy once sewer goes in everyone has to do the connection I I believe that um Doh you know regulates cesspools so I I think the state law is by 2050 all cess booths need to be um they need to be taken out yeah so if septic systems are allowed by Doh and people have upgraded to that I think that's a solution you know to the Cesspool deadline we're going to provide sewer connection and it's really up to the landowners when they do that connection because they have till 2050. but we feel you know it's Our obligation to provide the infrastructure to allow residents to meet state law thank you councilmember Santos down thank you I want to dig in a little bit more on that question because Senator Favela brought this up in his testimony to us so specifically those people in this improvement district who have knew that this uh that the Cesspool ban is coming upgraded to septic are they going to have to contribute to uh the sewer Improvement for the entire District even if they've already made a huge investment in septic for their property um no I don't believe so if Doh allowed them to upgrade to septic um they they will not be part of the sewer system you know they'll be not part of the city system but um I think most of our um our initial look I don't I don't believe there's too many septic systems out there there's largely cesspools if we could get a little bit more information on that I think that would be helpful I know there's other areas that where many people are converting from Cesspool to septic and I think it would help those people plan ahead if we had some more information thank you members of council memory to Paula uh thank you Mr nice to see nice to see you too yeah your expertise is always very welcome here um I get I guess one question just because I know some of the guys in my district are concerned about this I I believe shortly after the law was passed the city past the exemption to allow for 30 years of not paying Wastewater fees for those who convert from cesspools to septic tanks and this particular section would that apply uh yes so I guess you know what the senator is saying and what I'm feeling in my heart is that I always move with my community and my neighborhood boards and I don't see enough people here from Eva in order for me to know that those people who will be affected understood that and I appreciate the Outreach that's going to happen however we do know that the Outreach that happens always does have a little small Gap area and you guys never have to face the backlash we have to face the backlash yeah because the community say oh you never told me I never heard about this so it's always good to partner it's always good to partner work with the department and say hey we'll host the town hall we'll get the word out we'll try to bring the community together to bring in all the small pieces of an understanding from the day the law was changed to the amount of exemption the city is offering to what's the plan moving forward and I would much rather move together with the community seeing as though we have till 2050 and I'm not saying we wait another five years or anything like that but unfortunately you know this wasn't hurt in pits which is the committee I chair and it was in a week that I was actually here on eyelid and so I guess I'm just respectfully asking I know the department probably asked the chair to introduce this but to just allow us to move with our community when I say us I just mean council member Toba and I because we are the ones that have to face the people of Eva and we want to stand joint with our other elected officials and with our neighborhood boards and saying hey we did as much Outreach as we could and this is a good path moving forward so I hope that makes sense it does and actually we we usually do give the area council member and the committee chair whoever is handling our um you know our reso um just a courtesy presentation but I think especially council member Toba apologies I I think you were off Island and we weren't able to schedule that um so in the future we will do that and um you know I think um I'm not positive I kind of glanced at it but I think there's some testimony written testimony from the Eva neighborhood board I'm not sure oh I'm not sure either I I can look that up but yeah seeing as though he and I didn't get that presentation both of us were kind of blindsided by this so you know I'm respectfully asking to differ so that we can get on the same page with you guys make sure that the community the neighborhood board is aware of this we don't need to be walking into a neighborhood board and getting blown up for something that we really didn't have any information on and that we actually didn't even discuss in committee or invite the community to come and discuss with us um again I just think it's going to be good for the Department I love Envy I'm just going to be honest EMV is like awesome every time I call they help me with everything I need so I just kind of want to keep moving and lockstep with you guys because there's nothing that's Wastewater or trash related that you guys don't help our community with and to be honest we host almost all of the facilities within that West Side so that's why we need to work well together and I don't want anyone to have any hard feelings towards the department for something that maybe they just don't have all the pieces yet right because even that small piece of the exemption some people know about it a lot of people don't so maybe that would alleviate it but I don't know I think we should openly share it a little bit more your thoughts yes um totally agree and and accept that offer you know to to uh team with you and council member Toba to get out to the community okay thank you thank you chair thank you just as a follow-up you know reading the resolution rereading the resolution obviously this is an Administration priority right I introduced the bill by request of the administration this is something the administration wants to do right that's correct yeah and the city council did not initiate this although it's odd the city council asks the mayor to direct the director of Environmental Services to investigate a report preliminary data concerning the necessity and feasibility of this why do you ask us to ask you to do something I'm not sure I'll have to go back and ask whoever drafted this okay um thank you very much look forward to more discussions on this in committee council member Okimoto thank you chair I just wanted to extend the Mahalo I know that there's a lot of discussion but I do want to give credit because in the committee that we did have you and the department director about Puck were we are all here and you had a team and you did actually give a lot of information that day so it's unfortunate that some of the members weren't able to hear it but I didn't want to um I disregard the efforts that you guys have put in thus far to inform us um of what the plans are based on the Mandate that is given to us from the state so I just want to put that out there I I do appreciate you coming to the Public Safety Committee and and giving the the slideshow and the presentation that you did that day thank you thank you chair thank you thank you oh just to further qualify that state law requires the city to comply with the conversion from Cesspool to either hooking up to County sewer system or septic tank right well it requires really the landowners to do that the city is trying to provide where it can because some places you can't gravity sewer so um we're trying to provide the infrastructure where we can um some some places like the North Shore it's been recommended that um Community or individual wastewater treatment systems be put in in lieu of gravity sewers so um you know it depends on the area and that's why the feasibility needs to get done okay thank you any follow-up questions members sure at the perfect time I like to make a motion sure any further follow-up questions numbers council members yeah Mr yokoyama thank you very much I was there at the meeting and I really appreciated the presentation by your staff and yourself and you know I think director Babcock was very candid in his responses but as a council member I'm a little worried as far as the department because of the priorities of where we headed for and for me personally I stayed for the record that I was concerned about the second phase of Sand Island treatment plan the impact that it will cost the residents of Oahu and I just wanted to just share that with you because on top of the Sand Island treatment plan you've got Honolulu you got the Kailua Etc but more importantly how do we get the message out to the state legislature to at least assist the counties it's a state mandate you know that's what I was complaining all day today already more and more mandates from the state are putting put on the city and we are being held responsible for it that's why I asked Senator favela if you don't like it you just go back to the legislature to repeal it but I don't think he's going to get the votes Department of Health is not going to support the repeal and if I can recall I'm very very sorry that I should have earmarked some of that 50 million when we started off on the replacement of uh cesspools Mr chair because a lot of people who use the cesspools or the super rich that had the money on the coast Alliance overall think about it because that's how they got the tax credit later on you replace accessible with the septic and then you get the credit so you put the money up front and you get it back later most of us local residents we cannot even put the money up front and that's the concern I have whereby the Outreach will be very important as far as how we approach it as far as the Optics and in closing I can see the concerns that will be brought up by the residents because oh yeah I put in that says I put in these you know Italian with your main line the lateral that is coming from my property who but now you're charging me for my sua fee the one that we pay more than our Water fee that's the concern I have how do we address it properly and honestly and sincerely today's discussion is tremendous Mr chair about all the other measures and now I think the members are beginning to maybe understand that the choice that we make is going to be so important in the out Years also and I just closed by saying thank you very much keep up the great work I see your staff all here that I did say thank you very much for their presentation also so thank you Mr chair thank you any further discussion council member wire thank you just briefly um you know giving council members his comments I just wanted to Echo that because I noticed I think it's in good faith but you talk to some people at the state and they seem to think that it's purely accounting responsibility and I think even the Doh working group recognize that it's uh you know County state federal collaboration that's going to solve this Cesspool issue um since we have Senator Favela here I don't know um if there's potential to re-examine Pacer uh because I'm you know as we talked about in committee the residential part was pulled out of that but I think that would have been a really great pathway um for our community with I think what's in 2000 cesspools needed to needing to convert so I don't know if that's an area that the city can push on over the legislature with allies but um and I know before we've talked about whether there could be some type of utility model um I don't know if you have any insight on that like is there potential for books that don't have capacity or the ability to connect to sewer is there an opportunity for like a utility type septic model where the city does the maintenance and folks pay like a fee just like the sewer fee but it goes into the that part of the utility um I know director Babcock is looking at that we had some initial discussions on that and of course that has to be worked out right there's a structure to it and who owns what and who maintains what so um but director Babcock is looking at that appreciate that while thank you chair thank you councilmember Toba thank you chair I really do appreciate you guys uh coming back to like uh do the presentation for myself and council member uh tupola uh I think I too move in this in in the voice of our community so I would like to see you know uh maybe we put out a measure before and get area Representatives involved in the process and and maybe getting involved um getting this in front of the neighborhood board before we move forward thank you sir thank you any further comments council member to Paula oh thank you chair um I want to make a motion to defer this resolution until we're able to meet with the community I think I've respectfully asked Mr yokoyama if we could work together on this and I also don't want to go against the area Senator I want us to work together because that's when we're really successful in the community we want to make sure that this is something that the residents understand that the city is trying to help with and not be punitive about and I don't know if that message is clear but we want to make it clear so I I moved to defer this motion thank you chair is there a sec I was sick in that would you like to defer or send it back to committee let's send it back to committee thank you so the motion on motion to send back to committee a second okay we're in discussion oh Mr clerk do we have to take public testimony on the motion to defer or sit back to committee no okay um discussion council member wire chair um I just wanted to check if committee chair had any preference on that um if no preference I'll defer but follow okay council member said yeah Mr chair I'd like to incorporate your statement that it shouldn't be is it us now directing it to the director or is it you know the mirror telling the director this is what we should be doing during the next six to eight months in regards to the whereas at the council by resolution sale requested not that but prepare a preliminary report to the council prepare and finish all necessary preliminary surveys Maps plans that's what I think they should be doing at this point in time rather than deferring the resume I agree um any further discussion seen on any objections or reservations for the motion to direct back to committee seeing non-so orders okay we're at the bottom of page 16 members from the committee on budget council member Cordero I move that committee report 200 and resolution 23 166 cd1 as amended be adopted and this resolution approves a request to compromise certain claims concerning the taxation of real property second it's been moved and seconded um Mr clerk do we have any testifiers I'm so sure there are none okay members were in discussion say none any objections or reservations not in no objections or reservations cr200 and resolution 23-166 cd1 has been adopted now to the top of page 17 council member Cordero remember that County report 201 and resolution 23-169 be adopted and this resolution authorizes the director of budget and fiscal services to issue and sell not to exceed 225 million dollars of a principal amount of Wastewater system revenue bonds senior series 2023 and related matters second it's been moved and seconded Mr clerk do we have any testifiers um Mr chair there are none thank you members were in discussion saying none roll call Mr Clerk councilmember Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia Aina aye councilmember okimoro aye council members say council member talba aye council member to Polo aye council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you Sierra 201 and resolution 23-169 has been adopted council member Cordero move that committee report 202n resolution 23-175 be adopted this is a transfer of funds within the Department of Community Services second it's been moved and seconded Mr clerk do we have any testifiers um Mr chair there are none okay members were in discussion so you're not in any objections or reservations knowing no objections or reservations cr202 and resolution 23-175 has been adopted now to the top of page 18 from a committee on Executive matters and legal Affairs council member dos Santos Tam chair I moved that committee report 180 be adopted and resolution 23-120 be adopted uh second it's been moved and seconded council member dos Santos Tam for the explanation sure this provides for the acquisition of easements for public use for the rehabilitation of new mono road bridge over Kalihi stream Bridge number 129 located at Lai Lai Kalihi Valley Honolulu Oahu Hawaii and determining and declaring for the necessity of the acquisition by eminent domain thank you very much Mr clerk do we have any testifiers Jeremy I uh asked for clarification that we're just moving the resolution as we already adopted the committee report yes that's correct can we make can we make the okay uh sure let me uh amend my my motion so I move that resolution 23-120 be adopted second okay Mr clerk do we have any testifiers Mr chair we have none okay members are in discussion Mr Clerk council member Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member aye council member okimoro aye council members say council member Toba aye council member dupola aye council member wire aye chair Waters hi Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you resolution 23-120 has been adopted councilmember though Santos town sure I move that committee report 206 and resolution 23-186 be adopted second it's been moved and seconded council member dos Santos Tam for the explanation chair this is to retain the legal services of fukunaga marioshi ching and Khan Herrera llps special counsel to represent defendant Grant rebelo in the related legal actions entitled the estate of Dana okay County of Honolulu at all civil number one two one CV 00474 HG kjm U.S District Court thank you very much Mr Clark do we have any testifiers um Mr chair we have none thank you members are in discussion saying none any objections or reservations there are no objections or reservations cr206 and resolution 23-186 has been adopted moving to the top of page 19 from a committee on zoning council members say Mr chair move that company report number 211 resolution 23-62 committee draft 1 as amended be adopted second it's been moved and seconded council member save for the Excellence this is approving a conceptual plan for an interim planned development Transit project for the 1538 capilani Tower mixed-use development thank you very much I note that we have two registered testifiers first starting with Nathaniel Kinney followed by Benjamin Sadowski uh Nathaniel Kinney for the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters were in support of this project as it will add to the affordable housing stock in the urban core and uh appreciate you guys for how much work you guys are putting in today thank you thank you members any questions for Mr Kinney seeing none next we have Benjamin sadoski Alam Mr sadoski welcome thank you for waiting patiently all day thank you chair and members um we will try not to repeat our previous written testimony much but uh I just wanted to say you know the developer of this project is also the developer of the sky Ala Moana project the star Advertiser ran an article Sunday about the difficulties that developers having marketing the units in that project and that's directly directly relevant to the 1538 copy lining project in the article the developer is quoted as saying we're working with the city on some rule changes to allow more individuals and families to qualify for these units we believe the public deserves to know what rule changes are being contemplated and we have a concern if the developer is not finding themselves able to sell these 290 square foot units where parking costs an extra 38 000 maybe they should discount the units um instead it sounds like they're exploring changing the already uh in our estimation far too minimal conditions that they agreed to when they got their permits for Sky Ala Moana five years ago in other words they're wanting more from the city and really that turns the question to should the city in effect subsidize the private developer by absorbing the risks of doing business surely other developers will want to know and I think the public will want to know who gets to decide will there be public notice will there be a hearing will it go before Council unlike Sky Ala Moana at 1538 capilani there is no timeline for when the units have to be finished for Sky Ala Moana completion of those units as a precondition for getting a certificate of occupancy for the condotel units that was in the permit and so we would just you know say again we believe that there should be such a condition for the 1538 kapiolani project especially since those units are being developed off site and I know that there's uh you know if this moves through there will be an affordable housing agreement that the city has to come to so you know hopefully that'll be another uh possibility of a place where they could put it um so thank you thank you very much members any questions for Mr Sadowski saying none thank you um hi Jody please proceed with the Knight here local five and we feel that relying on private developers to build affordable housing is not working and is not likely to work this developer has two projects 1538 kapiolanians and provide that provides examples for that we just want to say that like 1500 Kapil money also known as Mana Olana Place 2 got its permits in 2017. 68 affordable units to be built by a third party six years later the project has not started and developers will need city council approval to for the extension of time Hawaii Ocean Plaza and Hawaii City Plaza those projects were supposed to have 33 affordable units each approved in 2017 and 2018 the developer closed the existing business and locked down existing buildings and nothing has been built yet manolana Place one the future Mandarin Oriental approved in 2016 the developer was supposed to develop or provide 20 affordable housing units or pay three million dollars in Luffy I'm not sure of the status of that one but business is closed buildings were demolished and yet the project itself has not been built so just wanted to add that too testimony before thank you very much members any questions see none please proceed good afternoon uh thank you chair Waters council members I'm Jeff I represent four Labor Management cooperation funds those are construction unions and their signatory contractors so those would be the painters union the drywall tapers the glazers and the carpet and soft tileers uh chair we've submitted written testimony and strong support of this measure I don't have anything to add to that we just like to stand on our written testimony and ask for your support of this measure thank you thank you very much Mr clerk do you have any other testifiers Senator favela this time you know we've been hearing about the housing crisis and you know I get you guys don't get mixed feelings on certain development in certain projects but if we don't move projects forward especially with these kind of mixed-use project then the only people that's going to suffer is our people right now we have nothing I'm still waiting for a total against someone I'm still waiting for Westlock you know the cities was that built that affordable homes they gave the land nothing was being done didn't build it on a project on the same property but we have the developers really to step up and they need a little assistance then I'm for that um whatever we need to do to try to get the mixed use going and um I just thank you guys for this and thank you guys for your good support for this thank you thank you is there anybody else who'd like to testify on this matter on this side saying non-members or in discussion council member Kia Aina thank you I wanted to uh Mahalo zoning Chair say for his leadership on this measure he negotiated an extensive period of affordability and 80 Ami maximum for the 101 rental units whereas the applicant originally proposed 87 units at 80 percent Ami for 30 years and 14 units at 100 percent Emi for 15 years the current draft before us today would require all 101 units to be 80 Ami for 60 years and he also prohibits the developer under this measure from applying for City Grants for these projects under the city's rental housing program so I heard from both sides throughout this process and I concur that it's very challenging to make decisions for these projects but we do have an objective to increase the number of affordable housing units for the people of the City and County of Honolulu so I just wanted to Mahalo all throughout this process but in particular zoning church say thank you thank you very much members any further discussion councilman dos Santos town thank you chair I want to Echo Vice chair Kia aina's um praise for our zoning committee chair for shepherding this through I also want to acknowledge the testifiers um who have been you know here through this and there was a lot of testimony on this project um one point that I think was really important that uh Jolie from local five just made is you know we keep relying on the private sector to deliver affordable housing units and you know that is one piece of the puzzle but I think the city needs to be doing more I know we put in 170 million dollars in the previous budget I'm not quite sure how much of that has been spent you know we've also been working on a number of other things to help incentivize you know the city to take a much bigger role and I think that's something that I hope my colleagues and I will keep working on I also want to make one more point about this development is the they're doing something very novel which is taking an office building on Amana Street and converting that into residential and I think that this is something that's going to happen more often certainly in my district in downtown and this is something that we you know need to pave the way for because this is a way to create housing that doesn't create displacement it helps us deal with our you know very uh soft office market and this is something that I hope we can work on before the end of the year is is coming up with strategies to help incentivize the office to residential conversion thank you very much any further discussion members um I just have one for DPP it's DPP here thank you if for whatever reason the developer is not able to convert the office building to residential for whatever reason if the plumbing isn't able to go in or whatnot what happens to that requirement of building affordables for rent I don't know I mean I think we had we'd have to look at what the options are at that point um would we require them to build it someplace else I think we we could I think that's an option what happens if the the market rate units are built first and then don't deliver on the affordable units what is our recourse um I'm not sure at the exact I have Jordan our planner you can provide what the exact recourse is for this project okay I'm just hearing things that it's difficult to convert on apartment building to to residential so thank you go ahead sure Jordan doody staff planner and gpp so if they if they can't um or let me say it this way they can't build the market rate units without first providing the affordable units so the affordable units have to come first okay perfect thank you members any follow-up questions seeing none thank you again any further discussion members saying non Mr clerk please call the roll councilmember Cordero council member dos Santos Tam hi council member Kia Aina council member Okimoto aye council member say hi council member Toba council member tupola aye council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there eight eyes one members absent thank you cr211 and resolution 23-62 cd1 has been adopted council member save thank you very much Mr chair I move the company report number 212 and resolution 23-132 committee draft one as amended be adopted council member dos Santos Tam for the second second it's been moved and seconded council member save for the explanation it's amending resolution 19 if members understand it was adopted in 2019. and it was 225 resolution committee draft one to extend the deadline to obtain a building permit for a planned development Resort project for the Redevelopment of 4.153 Acres with mixed-use Resort and Retail uses in Waikiki Oahu thank you very much I note that we have a number of registered testifiers starting with Cade Watanabe from Unite Here if not Kade Mr stosky would you like to testify sure thanks Ben Sadowski with Unite Here Local five um we'll just stand on our testimony we've been in support of this extension we think that the project is good because it's all hotel and replacing an existing Hotel so we're we're very hopeful about it thank you thank you very much is Rick eggett available Mr Clerk Mr chair we have no remote testifiers logged on so okay next is Nathaniel Kinney followed by Jeff masasuku uh Nathaniel Kinney Hawaii Regional counsel the Carpenters and the interests of time we are in support of this project for very many for a lot of the beneficial regions that it'll have for the area as well as revitalizing our economy after covid thank you thank you very much hello welcome again afternoon again council members I'm Jeff masetsugu again I represent the four trades painters tapers glazers and floor layers again we're strong support of this project I've submitted written testimony and we'll just stand on that testimony thank you thank you very much is there anybody else who'd like to testify senator favello model for that are my supporting this resolution um just so we had a very uh great Wham tour in Maui and that's what we're doing right now in one of uh an old a hotel that turned into a missionary school I mean kieh and um they're gonna make it into a mixed use uh facility meaning for uh First Responders and their families that only have and and it's great I mean the concept is great I think this concept is going to be great and we got to think of doing more of these um here in uh the Honolulu area especially the Waikiki area I put in a petition so that we can um condemn Trump Towers and uh maybe we can build it into a mixed use of water bombs thank you thank you chair thank you very much is there anybody else who'd like to testify seeing non-members or in discussion councilmember Kia Aina uh thank you chair I I just wanted to commend the developers of this project you know as we hope to revitalize um or renovate uh some of the older hotels it's so important for us to hence have a sense of awareness and to recognize the his uh cultural and historic significance of these sites so uh the fact that this hotel's location uh was once the beginning to the Idaho property which was where princess kaiolani lived and the proponents are also going to include a uh princess kaiolani Legacy Library I deeply appreciate it and I'm hoping that as more developments occur uh in the Waikiki area that they don't forget the importance of this place for the native Hawaiian people prior to westernization Malo thank you Council memory tupola uh in support just wanted to also thank the the developer and the presenters because specifically with the community benefits package I thought that it was something above and beyond everything that they shared I believe surpassed what the council was asking and and showed that they truly have tried to integrate their whole design into the community and into the culture of this place that we call home thank you thank you any further discussion members seeing none any objections or reservations noting no objections or reservations cr212 and resolution 23-132 cd1 has been adopted now to the top of page 20 council members say Mr chair move the committee report number 213 resolution 23-140 committee graph 1 as amended be adopted second it's removed and seconded council members say for the explanation it's granting a special Management Area use permit to allow repairs in addition to an existing single-family detached dwelling and related site improvements at 1508 vocalua Drive in Lanikai thank you Mr clerk do you have any testifiers Mr chair we have nowhere to testifiers okay is there anybody in the audience who'd like to testify seeing none members who are in discussion council member Kia aino thank you so much chair I wanted to note for the record that there have been a few concerns raised by uh neighbors regarding this particular development so I appreciate that the applicants presentation and dpp's response to my questions at the zoning committee provided Clarity on the scope of this SMA application versus the applicant's existing SMA permit and Clarity on the proposed footprint and new floor area so DPP if you could step forward I wanted to confirm my understanding about a couple of things that I previously mentioned but I just need this for the record that the applicant already has an SMA for repair work to the main property in addition to the guest quarters that the footprint expansion is only related to enclosing an existing paved Courtyard that already exists and connects the properties to wings that the that the floor area increase is a result of the enclosure of the courtyard as well as additions for the second floor the latter which will not increase the footprint and lastly that no new development will occur within the shoreline setback is that accurate yes I also understand that DPP agrees that including a condition related to a private agreement between the Lanikai Association and the applicant may not be appropriate but that the applicant is nevertheless working on a private mou or a memorandum of understanding with the Lanikai Association is that also correct yes that's correct thank you so much thank you thank you chair thank you any follow-up questions members seeing none any further discussion saying none roll call Mr Clerk council member Cordero I councilmember dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia Aina aye council member okimoro aye council member say councilmember talba aye councilmember dupola aye council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you CR 213 and resolution 23-140cd1 has been adopted council members say Mr chair I move that company report number 214 and resolution 23-160 Community Drive on as amended be adopted second is Council Members say for the explanation authorizing exemptions from certain requirements relating to the halei affordable rental project for native Hawaiians in moile Oahu thank you very much I do note that we have one registered testifier Nathaniel Kinney I do want to note the presence of the director of dhhl who was here earlier but he couldn't stay in strong support of the measure Mr Kinney oh yes Nathaniel Kinney for the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters uh this project is completely worthwhile and I do know I spoke to Kelly Watson earlier he actually did want to be here to give a presentation I mean it is uh first of its kind vertical development for our dhhl uh beneficiaries but we're in support of this project thank you thank you very much is there anybody else who'd like to testify Senator favela all right thank you um so you guys know if you guys ever watched the news being Cali was a head to head but I like this project we have to do something for our people and we'll move ahead something different we have to think outside of the box and I'm glad that um you know everything that we had worked through at uh at the state level that we're working with dhhl to move forward in trying to think outside the box and um you know my hats all to him yeah he was here earlier I seen him he really wanted to testify while I'm hearing support of this project and I think it's going to be great for people so thank you guys hope you guys support thank you very much please proceed Aloha chair Vice chair and city council Angela Melody young testifying on behalf of cares in support of the Hawaiians um so in January of 2023 in the beginning of this year hearing the hearing at the Senate and House housing committee led by the Senate and House housing chairs was a discussion about the housing priorities for the state and outlining the discussion of the state is critical to enhancing an integrated housing plan for the state's most critical collaborators the counties housing is needed in a 2019 study conducted by hhfdc the results showed that Hawaii will need 50 000 housing units between 2020 and 2025. most of the units are those for most of the units are for 140 Ami a year Governor ige claims that we have produced 13 000 500 units in the past eight years and the housing the House Majority is committed to affordable housing it continues to support funding for affordable rental and although there are a lot of discussion about housing and the various projects we don't hear a lot about dhhl Hawaiian housing um like the one that we are discussing here today the resolution 23-1600 um can you wrap up your testimony please um I support it um and because of the recent discussion about act 207 the appropriation for 600 million dollars for Hawaiians and the proposals for that um I also support that and also this resolution because it supports the native Hawaiians thank you thank you Mr Clark are there any other testifiers um Mr chair there are none seeing the members who are in discussion council member Kia Aina followed by say uh thank you chair I just wanted to say I uh fully support this project that will further the state of Hawaii's trust obligations to Hawaiian Homeland beneficiaries and I'm excited uh that the city will play a small role in this project as we have important cleanna as well uh Mahalo to Stanford Carr for this project for planning this uh project and for the Department of Hawaiian homelands for moving this project forward I will say this to state and city agencies that have lands that are suitable for Hawaiian Homeland beneficiaries the state and city governments use Hawaiian homelands either for no money or for pittance and I would like to think that this type of project could be replicated on public lands because you are using Hawaiian homelands and those lands are are clearly off the tables for our Hawaiian Homeland beneficiaries so why don't you help the department of Hawaiian Homeland by identifying properties where they could continue to do projects like this whether it be for rental or for long-term home Homestead leasing thank you thank you council member say yes Mr chair this particular project I'm in support is in the district that I do represent but more importantly to give the members and the general public a historical perspective as far as this particular property was part of the overall State settlement when the department of Hawaiian homelands the journey starts maybe 15 to 20 years ago and it's now bearing its fruit that's why sometimes when I reflect about how State and County government operates we're very very slow we could have got people in those units 10 20 years ago maybe but the point of the matter is that I'm very happy that the developer along with the land owner which is Department of Hawaiian homelands has worked out this project for the betterment of our native Hawaiian lesses so in closing Mr chair may I submit uh a correspondence from the state attorney general and this is for our record and for the record of our department of planning and permitting the director has the authority to Grant the general excise tax exemptions and if and if you don't mind me I just read the summary of it very soon based on the above a county has the authority to certify a get exemption without further action by hhf DC hhftc for the general public is the Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation and for the sitting County final noodles specifically application for get exemption certification must be submitted to an approved by the department of planning and permitting not the city council we conducted our review of honolulu's ordinances and rules during the short time allowed by your request we will therefore revise our response to address any City authorities that may become known as to us as appropriate thank you very much this is for the record thank you Chair say members do you understand what he just said basically on the 201h projects the director of Department planning and permitting can waive g-e-t requirement the general excise tax and that will help excuse me may I be recognized yes please council members that will help to lower the cost of the overall development for our future affordable renters okay so we don't need to send it back to committee to do that we can just ask the director to do it okay I see Stanford car here does anybody have any questions for the developer as well thank you for being here as well um if there's no other discussion members any of further discussion seeing none miss the clerk please call the roll council member Cordero aye councilmember De Santos Tam aye council member Kia aino aye council member Okimoto aye council member say council member talba council member to Polo aye council member wire chair Waters aye Mr chair there are nine eyes thank you cr214 and resolution 23-160cd1 has been adopted now to the top of page 21. when the committee on Parks Enterprise services and culture in the Arts culture council member talva a move that committee report 215 and resolution 23-130b adopted second is councilmember Toba for the explanation accepting the gift of five thousand dollars to the city of the farm from the friends of Hawaii Charities for the upkeep and maintenance of Kahala Community Park thank you very much Mr clerk do we have any testifiers um Mr chair we have no testifiers okay is there anybody in the pub uh audience that like to testify seeing done members are in discussion noting no discussion any objections or reservations noting no objections or reservations to cr215 and resolution 23-130 has been adopted councilmember Toba a move the committee report 221 and resolution 23-176 cd1 as amended be adopted second it's been moved and seconded council member tolba for the explanation accepting the gift of an interpretive sign valued at 1 638 to the city from hiku hanana for kamanelle square thank you Mr clerk do we have any testifiers I'm sure we have no registered testifiers okay is there anybody in the audience that like to testify in this matter seeing none members are in discussion no no discussion any objection or reservations nobody no objection or reservations cr221 and resolution 23-176 cd1 has been adopted remember is moving to the top of page 22 top of page 22 council member Toba I move that committee report 216 a resolution 23-134 be adopted second it's been moved and seconded council member for the explanation authorizing the director of budget and fiscal services or direct exactly to enter into a concession agreement for a term up to 10 years to provide food and beverage retail and ticketing concession services at the Honolulu Zoo managed by the department of Enterprise Services thank you very much Mr clerk do we have any testifiers I'm sure we have no reason to testifiers okay is there anybody would like to testify from the audience see non-members I do note the presence of the director designee for Enterprise Services as well as as well as the deputy if anyone has any questions members were in discussion seeing none Mr clerk call the roll council member Cordero aye council member dos Santos Tam aye council member Kia Aina aye councilmember okimoro aye council member save councilmember talba council member tupola aye council member wire aye chair Waters aye Mr chair there eight eyes one member is absent thank you CR 216 and resolution 23-134 has been adopted on the bottom of page 22 from the committee on housing sustainability and health council member wire thank you chair and move the committee report 227 resolution 23-174 cd1 is amended be adopted accepting a gift of tuition travel and related expenses to the city from the American Association of Motor Vehicle administrators valued at two thousand one hundred sixty dollars for a supervising driver license examiner the department of customer services to attend the commercial driver's license train the trainer class in Salt Lake City Utah thank you very much councilmember Kiana second thank you it's been moved and seconded Mr clerk do we have any testifiers Mr chair we have no registered testifiers okay is there anybody from the audience who'd like to testify on this matter saying non-members were in discussion say none any objections or reservations noting no objections or reservations cr227 and resolution 23-174 cd1 has been adopted now to the top of page 23 council member wire oh all the chair I moved the committee report 225 resolution 23-167 be adopted urging the city Administration to provide Hazard or premium pay to eligible independent contractors and eligible employees of firms contracted by the city who performed essential and hazardous work during the covid-19 public health emergency second yes we moved and seconded I believe we do have a number of registered testifiers starting with Kodi suloff thank you very much for being patient and waiting good afternoon good morning and good afternoon chair Vice chair members of the council thank you guys so much for uh being here and allowing me to testify my name is Cody Sul I'm the former government Affairs liaison of 2996 I just want to clarify today I am coming to you as an individual as a bus operator and I just think that this uh bill or this resolution is uh long overdue I was introduced a few years back where it was tabled almost immediately there's a lot of pushback from the administration because it was during the pandemic and the frustrating thing was a lot of the money for this came from the cares act which was supposed to be to help essential workers provide Hazard pay and other necessities that they needed so the time when we really needed it and the members really needed it providing service on the streets the handyman operators picking up people still taking them to their appointments and uh I guess all the challenges that they face whether it was let's put a mask on we need more protection let's put a shower curtain up we need social distancing let's put tape on the floor with all of that the bus operators and the handy van operators it caused them a lot of anxiety a lot of them you're going to hear some stories but a lot of them they wouldn't go home they have to change their clothes before they go to go home they would sleep at somebody else's house because they were exposed to the public and they had at-risk family members and when it was needed it was just tabled and so I'm happy that it's been reintroduced but I think it's long overdue and I thank you guys for your support because bus operators and the handyman operators really they're one of the overlooked people as uh essential workers a lot of people recognize the police the healthcare workers EMS and that's fine they should be the only time they recognize the bus operators and handy van operators is when they're in front of you right you're trying to people trying to get him in front of the bus so it's time that they they were allowed to finally be recognized for the work that they did because the only other time that they recognize is if the bus or the handy van is illegal all right so they kept the city working throughout the time people needed to get groceries people needed to get to doctor's appointments dialysis you name it the bus operators and the handy van operators are always there to provide the service I just ask that you guys please be there for them today thank you thank you [Applause] next have Joelle Hussey aloha I come to you as an individual who worked for the bus during kovid and also now who is a secretary treasurer of Hawaii Teamsters Local 996. one of the things that I first noticed when I walked in here is that emblem that as bus operators and anybody employed at OTS where's is our badge with that symbol and we wear it proudly the things that they had to endure in the front lines can't be felt by just an individual that went through copied when you're actually having to provide service during that time for essential workers not only the nurses we at local 996 oversee nurses that um sorry at kapiolani we have also people that work at Queens if you look at any of the bus stops early in the morning and in the afternoon all of these transported most of them coming off of the bus you'll see a Congregation of them who still had to endure covet as well but as they rode with our operators through this time many of them are my age so we're caretakers as well caretaking their families when they get home having to make other arrangements because they couldn't burden the fact of going home and maybe having somebody contract covid not knowing every day whether you're catching it or not people have to endure that innate sense a vulnerability and that in itself is such a tool they are so deserving and as codisula said they took care of us in the hardest times and if we can find a way to take care of them mahalo [Applause] thank you that's all I have as registered but I know there's much more of you are here so I'd like to give you all an opportunity to testify um is there anybody else who'd like to testify my name is Kenneth Lowe and first of all thank you chair Vice chair and City Council Members um I've been employed at the bus company for 44 years and we've never endured what we've done this last past um coveted situations that we had but let me just say first first of all we all get labeled as essential workers so that comes from police the city core product that that we do provide the service for we all Stand Together but I'm here to give you one example of what I've have to go through I did trouble calls for the for the city bus so I did anything and everything I did that I was like the ambulance for the city bus Transmissions inside work uh in in the bus and I did it for 35 years I was called to a trouble call and the person that was on the bus was sick they claimed they had covet and so they had to bring the ambulance out and transport them but I'm the guy got to drive the bus back so I'm I'm suited up I'm I'm got my uniform on I'm with my face shield everything just to protect myself annoying I still got it so we put ourselves on the line I can only imagine what these drivers are going through not being as productive protected as I am and so I commend them also for what they've done but uh I just wanted to be known that it was prevalent and it was out there and we asked for your support thank you foreign thank you yeah my name is uh Richard parmaner I'm an employee at uh mobile transit services I'm about ready to cry because of what I'm hearing the support anyway uh thank you chair Waters Vice chair and council members I'm 68 years old I've been in the industry for 42 years and I've never gone through anything like this I wrote something but I'm not even going to read it it was difficult each and every day when it first came out there was no masks so you were dealing with buses that were packed to the front there was no social distancing when the Mandate came in for Mass we had to enforce it didn't mean that we were going to literally make them put it on but it caused an issue to where the customer would spit on us get violent we are essential workers we were front line workers we went through the whole thing worried about catching it ourselves and worried about bringing it home to our families I couldn't see my grandsons I love what I do and we're second to none OTs we were trained fully we were also trained if there's a disaster were put out there to help those that need help we deserve the hazard pay we were pushed aside and now we need your help and I appreciate it 250 pound guy 6'3 crying thanks for listening [Applause] thank you sir hi my name is Lori Takashi and I've been with OTs for over 27 years in 2016 I was asked by my mother to if I would move home my father is 88 and he fell several times and the worst one was when he had a cut behind his head and needed Staples in 1992 he needed a a bypass and then he needed a valve replacement several years after that and during the covet pandemic I was terrified and stressed out just like everybody else was I was afraid that I might get it from one of my passengers and bring it home to my parents my mother has diabetes and she has a stent as well being that they're elderly and they have all of these health issues that made me more afraid um on January 2nd 2021 after getting both booster shot I mean both moderna shots and then both boosted shots after that I still got kovid from one of my passengers every day from the bin from the onset of the pandemic I would change my clothes and shower and everything outside when I got covered I slept in the garage because I had to take care of my parents and make sure that they they didn't get it my daughter I had written a testimony online but my daughter lives in Vegas aside from worrying about my parents and me bringing it home I had to worry about them my daughter was giving birth during the pandemic and then it turned out that they didn't have food they couldn't my son-in-law couldn't find food everybody just bought everything off the shelves that that they could find so aside from worrying about me getting it and I got it and giving it to my parents I had to worry about my daughter my new grandson and my son-in-law so today I continue to sanitize my bus you can ask everybody I go to work like two and a half hours early just to clean and sanitize my bus because I still it's still out there and I don't want to get it and I don't want to bring it home to my parents so both handy van and the bus we were needed as much as we all wanted to stay home we couldn't because we knew the public needed us we knew that the people that the traveling nurses and doctors that came in that they needed to get to the hospitals they were requested they came they knew the risks but they still came and we knew the risks when we signed up for this that some someday something might like something like this might happen and it did so with that handy van they needed to transport their patients because I know a few patients because they cash my bus that they need a dialysis and a couple of them needed chemo so regarding the hazard pay I really appreciate you starting this and you bringing it up for us um I just want everybody to know that we were all afraid just like all of you you got to stay home we had to go out there and work so thank you thank you all right hello Council my name is Desiree Kalama Kelly Cooley and I've been a OTS bus operator for 12 years when covid-19 hit it was honestly scary there is limited information about the virus how it would spread how you could protect yourself and your family and the information was constantly changing the only advice the public got to say was stay home stay home how the bus is the main Lifeline for people across Oahu which includes Frontline workers so day after day for over a year we did what we needed to do to ensure Oahu could still function people who get to their jobs people could get their medicines and their Essentials work days are on average over eight hours so we do our work while exposing ourselves to the elements to a virus that had already killed multiple multiple people in my family alone then come home to see the news account of how many people died how we're short on ventilators this virus has reshaped our lives daily lives and so affect us to this day as scary as it was we all still woke up every morning and continued to do our job so today I said before you in favor of measure 23167 thank you [Applause] thank you uh hello councilman uh chairman my name is Jonathan Johnson I am here to give my testimony to support resolutions 23 167. I've been a bus operator for four Oahu transit services for 16 years in the summer of 2007 the board of director and executive staff adopted Oahu transit services mission statement we are responsible to the city of and County of Honolulu to provide safe accessible efficient and dependable public transportation driven by by the Aloha spirit and that's exactly what I and my brother and sisters have done regardless of the circumstances when the pandemic was first declared by mayor carlwell in March of 2020 we did not refuse work or did not refuse to work we did not refuse to um uh service to passengers the bulk being the most vulnerable member of the community and we did not put our own fears ahead of the needs of essential service we provide in the early days of the pandemic there were not social distancing protocols passenger account restrictions or sufficient protections for the operators we spend an average drive time of eight hours behind the wheel in um in a confined space with ideal conditions for virtual transmission praying that we wouldn't be affected by anyone we're a fear for that every passenger we picked up baby infected because there is none of none of them wore a neon sign telling us otherwise uh we are in a bus with passengers coughing clearing their throats spitting into napkins or hankies we were terrified that doing our job will cost us our lives when you cast your vote I would ask you to remember we sacrificed stepped up showed up for people of the City and County of Honolulu thank you [Applause] thank you Aloha chair Vice chair and councilman thank you again for the opportunity to come uh before you guys and speak about the hazard or premium pay for City contracted workers um last time I was here and I was able to speak I spoke about how it affected me and not being able to see my mom during her cancer treatments and um we're going to stay away from that one right now um don't want to go back that way but like our our fellow brother Cody said um we had shower curtains to protect us that didn't do anything because the curtains here are fair boxes here and when they come in to put in money they're talking directly to us right um as CDC wrote out different guidelines and the mass came up people come on with their mask as soon as they pass us take it off which only would be more of an issue with us right we pull over how many times hey you gotta put your mask on they put it on we continue two minutes later looking at merits off um in the back coffee um one thing I am grateful for is that thank you guys the I know this um you guys opened up the hotels for Heroes for us and greatly appreciate it that shows that um we were looked as essential workers and top of the line for hazard right um you guys also in the vaccine finally rolled out uh we were in group one able to go right away uh so again for that I want to thank you guys because that made a big difference in how we felt and feeling safe in our working environment and that's all I need to say today guys thank you appreciate it thank you real quick just want to say I lost everybody's first time I'm in a situation like this so I'm not very formal but it's cool to see everybody on TV in front of me uh it's really cool uh just want to say real quick I've been a bus operator for nine years and I have an elderly mom at home she's 73 you know so during the time of the pandemic it was very tough going to work and going home because I was afraid of possibly bringing something home to my mom at the same time you know have my bills to pay and want to help support her so that constant fight was very difficult but obviously I chose to go to work and thankfully nothing happened to my mom nothing was able to come home but also I did catch Covey so I had to not live at home for a number of weeks because I had to protect my mom my mom is 73 years old Okay so looking at that it helped me really put everything aside and even though I put her at risk I still had to go to work every day to pay my part of the bills and make sure my house is still running the way it was so not take up too much of your time but I just want to say thank you guys for your support for this because those bus operators we do have a lot going on and having to bring stuff home we don't want to do that so if you guys can support us with this it'll be very much to us thank you thank you Aloha guys uh my name is Chris Roots I've been an operator for over 17 years I was an operator during the pandemic and it was a really rough phase for each and every one of us I had two little girls five and eight at the time and uh it was really hard to go to work every day because they kept crying and telling me Daddy don't go but I said I gotta do my part to save the world the people got to go out I got to take the people the nurses and doctors to the hospital to save the other people imagine putting 30 people in the bathroom closing the door and sitting there for eight hours not knowing if any one of those 30 people are sick we had to do that on a daily basis we never knew what we expected coming through that door every stop we sacrificed a lot our safeties our families safeties our neighbor's safeties anybody we came in contact as an operator we sacrificed and jeopardize everybody else's safety we gave so much back during this covet Imagine The Operators decided not to show up to work the city would have froze a lot more people would have died but we stood up we rose up and accepted the challenge so I'm asking you guys I'm humbly asking you guys to consider this and I thank you for your time thank you thank you uh Aloha my name is Kim I'm an operator for OTS for 16 years uh during the pandemic I put myself at risk I have asthma dealing with the public I had to go to work no one to pay my bills uh putting my health my parents health my nephew's Health at risk to do the job that pays me to pay my bills and we get the public some of them appreciated that he was there some gave us trouble and if we deal with that every day till this day and we just deal with it but at the same time like EMS firefighters HPD we have friends that have HPD they put their life so we put our life too and we lost co-workers because of Kobe one that were friends to all of us here but today we still go and do the dog and all we do is humbly ask we essentially just as everybody else gave us something to show us our appreciation for being operators thank you thank you uh my name is Philip bhutai I currently work for the bus as a Chinese supervisor and a training instructor um when kovich started covid-19 started like most people I like most people was consumed with fear due to the unknown government government businesses shutdowns compounded those fears for First Responders it was business as usual we here at OTS continued in operation despite the shutdown performing our mission statement to provide safe accessible Dependable public transportation driven by the spirit of aloha When government and business services resume are being limited for the safety of their workers they give they gave their workers the options to work from home remotely for her for us here at OTS we were never given that option you during the pandemic the bus handed them were called upon by the City and County of Honolulu to assist Monitor and evacuate people to evacuation areas again working side by side with First Responders responding to incidents accidents involving the bus operators and I worked side by side with First Responders as a road supervisor as a road supervisor for the bus I witnessed and investigated accident incidents involving the bus operators on a daily basis the pandemic made made it more difficult I witnessed a lot of the things that they say due to confidentiality I cannot discuss those it was hard for a bus operators and handy van operators I'm a road supervisor I might not get this uh Hazard pay I'm okay with that but for chilibox operators and handyman operators that would be said on your part if you deny them that has a pay again thank you for your time thank you uh good afternoon my name is as a Paratransit operator for 27 years a server crucial we're in assisting individuals with Mobility challenges providing them with the transportation services that are vital to their daily lives well I find immense fulfillment in serving my community the ongoing ongoing covid-19 pandemic has made me increasingly aware of my potential risk association with my work come to work every day to put food on my table I was blessed that I never get covered I work in the union now as a team's law Yer like even on to my family my family members in the office killed me it really hurt because I knew I was the one you know as operator I come to work every day you know and get this I just hope that you guys pass this this bill thank you thank you good afternoon chair Vice chair and also men and women my name is Felipe angiano I'm here to support Bill 167 23167 and I come to you as uh not only as a business agent for the 1700 members from OTS but also because I deal with other members who deal with the health care has somebody else in other people stated um as a veteran myself I handle a company who does the cleaning for the VA hospitals tripler and Schofield um that being said majority of our housekeepers all catch the bus obviously it's very important for them to keep the hospitals clean um because that's the only two VA hospitals that we have um just the transportation alone is is very important to keep keep the city going um also the support staff not just operators but the support staff because he goes all the entry goes all the way down without the buses on the road we wouldn't have the operators so I just want to thank everybody for their support thank you very much thank you good afternoon chair and members of the council my name is Kevin hole president and principal officer of Hawaii teams there's local 996 as well as a bus operator during coven 19. I'm wearing two hats today as a concerned Union Leader I am a firm advocate for compensation for the front line workers for the risks they endured during the covid-19 pandemic as a rank and foul bus operator I can speak firsthand about what I endured when my worst nightmare was lived out in 2021 I caught Covey I spent about three weeks in the hospital needing 70 liters of oxygen just to survive a few days later I awoke only to find out my wife was in the Next Room dealing with the same issue as I laid there all I could think about was my son my 10 year old son not knowing if his parents will make it out to come home it was hard to deal with that at that time um just that that whole incident at that time before catching covet I also was a caregiver for my parents um my mom was currently going through Cancer Treatments getting breast cancer going through cancer treatments and when I caught covet there was no one there to take her to her treatments but by the grace of God because that's where my heart lies on May the grace of God he delivered us from those things today I stand here so humbly ass we city bus operators Paratransit operators over 1700 members of the entire world transit services we showed up we showed I showed out now we're asking this time at the city can recognize that efforts that we gave to consider passing and adopting this bill resolution 23-167 I thank you for your time and on behalf of the rest of us in the city bus and our Hawaii team says we thank you all for your hard work as well mahalo [Applause] thank you very much thank you everybody I know you sat through a long hearing and appreciate that that I mean that just more testimony to your endurance and willingness to work hard um go ahead Angela thank you Angela Melody young testifying in support of the bus drivers who are third party contractors um but whether you are a direct employee from the city or independent contractor you represent the city when you drive the bus around so you should get your money for the safe and accessible transportation um that y'all have provided so Hazard pay means additional pay per for performing hazardous Duty or work involving physical hardship work duty that causes extreme physical discomfort and distress which is not adequately alleviated by protective devices is deemed to impose a physical hardship the fair labor standards act does not address the subject of Hazard pay except to require that it be included as part of a federal employee's regular rate of pay in Computing the employee's overtime pay money from the cares Act was to provide for these contractors and they continue to perform his or her duties during the public health emergency to deliver resources to the community so whether it's HPD fire department or the bus they should get their Hazard pay and cares is in support thank you thank you yeah technology thank you chair and council members I'm highly in support of this resolution I used to work for the city refuse department environmental services The Operators of the bus for handy van and the bus is the First Responders they always have been only during the pandemic I realized that there wasn't being compensated talk to my brothers and sisters that drive the bus I was kind of concerned this came up before on both sides not only here but in the state but bringing this back and having this come before is something great because when we need them especially during covet we have them doing a hurricane a natural disaster you guys don't think about it but they're the ones that leave their homes their families to go out there and rescue people on the beach especially from the west side this is an automatic for our city council our communities to recognize them as first-line responders first-line workers and you know I listen to them chair also members heart fail testimony every single one of them brought me to tears but why do they have to come before the council and I like use the word big but plead to understand what them and their families went through in the time of the pandemic I didn't have to go out and work I was blessing the fact that I stayed home but they didn't have that option they didn't have that privilege that we had so again I urge you guys to support this resolution thank you guys for bringing it up appreciate you guys love you guys a lot take care [Applause] anybody else wishing to testify no members are in discussion council member Cordero thank you chair um I really want to hollow everyone who came out today and especially all the people who even tried to push for it even in the height of the pandemic I know that this has been tried before when we didn't even know about the federal funding and the regulations of such Federal funding but now's the time to support them and we have always supported them I do want to also Mahalo because there's strong support from the Union as well I mean not only so as a staffer at the council I and OTS was in my current