Hawaii County Finance Committee Meeting - March 3, 2026
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Hawaii County Finance Committee Meeting - March 3, 2026
The Committee on Finance convened on March 3, 2026, at 11:48 AM in the Hawaii County Building in Hilo, with Councilmember Kagiwara, Hustis, Kirkowitz, Inaba, Kimball, and Chair Kleinfelder present. Councilmembers O'Nishi, Galimba, and Viegas were excused. The meeting focused on Resolution 475-26, which would authorize leasing eight residential properties for permanent housing for underserved populations, and also addressed a SAFER grant for firefighter positions and several routine communications.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Resolution 475-26 (76 Makani Circle): Over 20 residents testified, most in opposition. Key concerns included lack of community notification, safety fears for children and kupuna (elderly), potential for increased crime and traffic, and perceived lack of transparency about the county's purchase ($809,000) and the planned use by Going Home Hawaii. Testifiers like Luana Cavelu, Carolyn Tabor, and Bruce Tabor described the neighborhood as a multigenerational, safe, single-family residential area. Several former police officers (Dion Santiago, Joseph Botello Jr.) shared negative experiences with halfway houses. A few testifiers, including Christina Pineda, who lived next to a Going Home Hawaii facility, reported no negative incidents and supported the program. Ron Mush from Holly Keepa also testified in support of the resolution, noting their own transitional housing program for youth.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 475-26: Office of Housing Administrator Keiko Costa explained that the county used $8 million in federal ERA2 funds to purchase nine properties (including Dolphin Bay Hotel) to create long-term affordable housing. The property at 76 Makani Circle was one of eight residential properties. The RFP process selected nonprofits, including Going Home Hawaii, to lease the properties for $10 per year. Costa acknowledged that the community engagement for Makani Circle was insufficient and that the county was willing to remove that property from the resolution. Councilmember Kagiwada proposed an amendment to remove 76 Makani Circle (TMK 3-2-5-9-44) from the list, which was seconded and passed 9-0. The resolution was then postponed to March 17, 2026, for further discussion.
- Resolution 478-26 and Bill 133: These measures authorize a SAFER grant from FEMA for $2,678,274.60 to fund 12 temporary firefighter positions for three years in Waimea, North Kohala, Waikaloa, and Pahala. Councilmember Kirkowitz led the discussion, noting that the fire department has not added permanent positions in 22 years and that call volume increased 25% since 2020 to over 31,000 calls in 2024. Acting Fire Chief Daniel Volpe supported the positions and confirmed the department's need for permanent staffing. Councilmembers expressed support and urged the administration to convert the positions to permanent. Both measures passed favorably to the full council.
- Bill 134: A budget amendment reallocating $16,100 in housing production program income for contractual services. Passed favorably.
- Communications: Communication 23-30 (fund transfers) and 118-4 (reallocation report) were closed. Communication 734 (annual revenue report) was tabled briefly, then removed from the table and closed after the deputy finance director noted discrepancies and planned to resubmit.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 475-26 was amended to remove the 76 Makani Circle property and then postponed to the March 17, 2026 committee meeting. The Office of Housing will conduct additional community meetings.
- Resolution 478-26 and Bill 133 were forwarded to the full council with favorable recommendations (9-0 votes). Councilmembers urged the administration to make the 12 firefighter positions permanent.
- Bill 134 was forwarded to the full council with a favorable recommendation (9-0).
- Communications 23-30, 118-4, and 734 were closed.
- The meeting adjourned at 3:05 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha, welcome to the 30th session for the Committee on Finance. Today is March 3rd, 2026. It is 1148 a.m. Today's meeting is being held at the Hawaii County Building here in Gilo, and we have uh Miss Viegus joining us in the corner chambers in West Hawaii. Here in Chambers Today, we have Councilmember Kagiwara, Hustis, Kirkowitz, Inaba, Kimball, and myself in the Hilo Chambers. And Miss Viegus. I think you're in our Kona Chambers. Nope, okay, not at this time. She'll be back shortly. Mr. Kirk, we have one, two, three, four, five, six members in attendance at the start of our meeting. Council members O'Nishi, Galimbo, and Viegas being excused for the time being. Can we please go to public testimony and start us off? And then I believe there are a number of you here for resolution 475-26. Just as a note for those here testifying, this is uh committees. This bill, sorry, this resolution has two hearings, one at committee level and one at council hearing. That's just public information. So there will be a two-week gap at least before the next hearing if it does move forward today or not. Um, just information for the public as you consider your testimony, and thank you for being here today. Uh Mr. Kirk, if you could go to public testimony to start us off, and then we'll go to our first order of business after that. Thank you so much, Chair. As you noted, we have a number of testifiers here in the Hilo chamber. We also have a couple via Zoom and in Kona. So, what we'll do is we'll start with our testifiers via Zoom. Uh transition to Kona before ending it with our Hilo testifiers. With that being said, our first testifier is Luana Cavelu testifying on resolution 475 to be followed by Bruce and or Carolyn Tabor. Luano, when you're ready to begin, if you could just introduce yourself, you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Um I want to thank you for allowing me to testify on Zoom. Uh, this is a busy time for us. The stage is up, the festival is little over 30 days away, and we're so busy. So thank you, thank you very much for letting me testify. My name is Luana Cavelu. I've been a resident of Makani Circle since February 1970. When we first built our house, it was a safe and secure community. We knew people there, most of them were working, working families. Um, but a lot of the people there now, living there now are kupuna. They're retired. Uh we have maybe three, at least three, maybe four kupuna who are in their 90s. A lot of us are between 75 and 90 years old. So um, after much soul searching and trying to think of what is best for everybody concerned. I have come to the conclusion that I don't think this halfway house is a fit in our community. I wish that the county house, the people at the county housing had been more forthright with the community to let us know and to give us a chance to question them and find out what is going on. I have questions that I asked the people who gave the flyers out. I actually found about this Saturday afternoon when I got the flyer. So it didn't really give me much time. I wanted to know how many released convicted individuals will be living in that house. I don't know if anyone of you know the answer to it, but it's important to me. Those who are going to be living there, what were their crimes?
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