Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs Meeting – March 3, 2026
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Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs Meeting – March 3, 2026
The committee met at 9:00 a.m. in the Hilo County Council chambers, with Chair Jen Kagiwara presiding. Councilmembers joined from Hilo and Kona. The agenda included approval of Hawaii State Association of Counties (HSAC) minutes, two nominations to the Veterans Advisory Committee, and a resolution authorizing temporary parking at Gilbert Carvalho Park for Hilo Benioff Medical Center. No public testimony was offered. The meeting adjourned at 9:34 a.m.
Consent Calendar
- Communication 40.6 – Hawaii State Association of Counties Executive Committee meeting minutes from December 11, 2025, submitted by Councilmember Heather L. Kimball. Councilmember Kimball provided an update on the National Association of Counties (NACo) legislative conference, including progress on FEMA reimbursement model changes, surface transportation reauthorization, and farm bill amendments. Councilmember Onishi added an update on a resolution to add a reservist checkbox to the federal census. The communication was closed and filed with 9 ayes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public testimony was received.
Discussion Items
- Communication 750 – Nomination of Edwin B. Guzman to the Veterans Advisory Committee: Mayor’s Executive Assistant Mike Alameda introduced Mr. Guzman, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran with over 20 years of service and 35 years of work with the Department of Veterans Affairs, including PTSD counseling at Tripler Army Medical Center. Mr. Guzman shared his personal mission to help combat veterans reintegrate. Councilmembers expressed condolences on the recent passing of his wife and praised his dedication. The nomination was approved with 9 ayes to be forwarded to the full council.
- Communication 751 – Nomination of Reginald G. Alexander to the Veterans Advisory Committee: Mr. Alameda introduced Mr. Alexander, a 26-year Navy veteran who served as senior advisor to Navy Region Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force, and later worked for the Veterans Benefits Administration in Hilo. Mr. Alexander emphasized his goal to connect disparate veteran service organizations and improve information flow. Councilmembers noted his extensive community work. The nomination was approved with 9 ayes to be forwarded to the full council.
- Resolution 474 – Intergovernmental Agreement with Hilo Benioff Medical Center for Parking at Gilbert Carvalho Park: Parks Director Homa explained that the temporary parking (gravel lot with ecology blocks, available 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) would be used by hospital employees during construction. The hospital would maintain the site and provide security. Councilmember Onishi provided historical context, noting the lot was originally built for park users. Councilmember Houstis noted a typo in the resolution. Chair Kagiwara indicated she would bring an amendment to extend the agreement to December 31, 2027, and fix the typo at the full council meeting. The resolution was approved with 9 ayes.
Key Outcomes
- Communication 40.6 (HSAC minutes) – Closed and filed.
- Communication 750 (Edwin B. Guzman) – Recommended to full council with favorable recommendation.
- Communication 751 (Reginald G. Alexander) – Recommended to full council with favorable recommendation.
- Resolution 474 – Approved with amendments (date extension and typo correction) to be made before presentation to full council.
- All votes were unanimous (9 ayes).
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 29th session of the Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs. Today is March 3rd, 2026. The time is 9 a.m. We're here in the Gilo County Council chambers. And I believe we may have somebody over there over in Kona joining us as well. But right now I just wanted to say I'm Jen Kagiwara. I am the chair of this committee. We're going to be getting started in a minute. Here, oh yeah, there we go. Over in Kona, we've got Councilmember Viegas joining us. And over here in Hilo, we've got Councilmembers Kimball, Golimba, Inaba, Onishi, Kirkowitz, and Houstis. Councilmember Connie Lee Kleinfelder will hopefully be joining us shortly. So we're gonna go ahead and get started. If we could see if we have any public testimony, please. Good morning, Madam Chair. So far we don't have any testifiers at our physical locations or courtesy sites, but I'm gonna just make an announcement out there if anyone on Zoom or in the universe would like to testify for communication 40.6. Please speak up now. Hearing on communication 40.6, Hawaii State Association of Counties, December 11, 2025. Executive Committee meeting minutes from Councilmember Heather L. Kimball, dated February 3, 2026. Motion to close violent communication 40.6. I have a motion by Councilmember Kimball and uh uh second by Councilmember Connie Lee Kleinbilder who has joined us. Um thank you. Uh Councilmember Kimball. Yes, um, just asking for everyone's approval to uh close this communication. I did want to offer the opportunity to just share um any feedback from the National Association of Counties Legislative meeting. I will say that there is some significant progress being made around FEMA and um potential uh amendments to how that organization operates, particularly moving from a reimbursement model to um the FEMA providing the funding upfront to counties. Um we also advocated around the uh surface transportation reauthorization funding for mental health and substance abuse, as well as some amendments with regard to how Medicaid is used for reimbursement for uh inpatient services with with housing. Um we also talked about the farm bill, and um that is still being worked on by the Congress, but um we are hopeful that there will be some amendments made with regard to SNAP and some of the other benefits that have been under threat recently. And I invite my colleagues, Councilmember Onishi and Councilmember Kagiwada to add anything else of interest that's thank you, Councilmember Kimball. Councilmember O'Nishi, would you like to add anything about the NACO legislative conference? Yeah, thank you, Chair. Um I did put in a resolution, and this is in regards to the federal census um that they do every 10 years, and we I got support where we're gonna have well, hopefully, after it passes the annual, have federal government to add in for reservist. Corps right now on the census, it's only about military, retired or active, and there's no checkbox for any reservists for our national guards who didn't do any active duty or called up to active duty. So by having this, that can help with knowing how many members are there out in the public or with the it's hard to hear them. Can you speak right into the mic, please? Okay, can you hear me now? Sorry, I didn't realize my mic was on. I was talking to Scott. It's very hard to hear you guys. I barely heard one out of three words from Heather. So you guys can lean in or um lean in and speak. Okay, thank you. I thought I was gonna speak loud. Yeah, go ahead. Lean in, lean in, keep the mic. So it that so it did go through the policy uh committee and it got passed, and then it went to the board and it passed. So now it's gonna go to our annual conference at the next board meeting there, and hopefully I'll have the total support. What was interesting was that the counties when I mentioned about this, a lot of them didn't even know about it.
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