Aloha, welcome to the 31st session of the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use and Economic Development.

Today is Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, and I'm calling this meeting to order at 9 a.m.

Present for a committee are committee members Heather Kimball, Michelle Galimba, Rebecca Viegas, Matt Kennelly E.

Kleinfelder, Holaka Inaba, Fresh O'Nishi, Jennifer Kagiwada, James Houstis is joining us momentarily.

My name is Ashley Kirkwitz, Chair and Presiding Officer.

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilmember Houstis is joining us from Kona.

I see you there in a blue shirt.

Okay.

All members are present for committee.

At this time, we will be taking up statements from the public.

Mr.

Ariselli.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

We do have a couple testifiers here in Hilo as well as some via Zoom and Kona.

So what we'll do today is we'll take our first two testifiers here in Hilo, transition to our testifiers in Kona, then do a couple via Zoom before rotating again.

So with that being said, Chair, your first two testifiers are here.

The first of which is Robert Golden testifying on Bill 147 to be followed by Dell.

And I'm sorry, I couldn't read the last name, but Mr.

Golden, when you're ready to begin, if you could introduce yourself, turn that mic on by hitting the green button at the base of the mic.

And we will begin whenever you start when you whenever you state your name, sorry.

Three minutes.

Aloha, Council Representatives.

It's an honor to be here.

I could have gone to the local office in Bahawa, but I actually wanted to look you in the eye rather than through a Zoom connection.

I already have submitted my testimony regarding Bill 147.

And it's obviously very dear to my heart just to come in here and to speak to you personally.

For those of you who don't know me, I moved here to Leonia States with my partner in in 2013.

And I stated this emphatically, I state this emphatically that I plan to be buried here.

And I feel home here.

And I've come here, I've dedicated myself to the uplift of my community.

I've founded helped to co-found an organization now called Puna Rising Ohana, 501c3 organization that's been here thanks to the initial grant from the county in 2021.

And my partner and I operate two Airbnbs, one on an adjoining property.

I mean, I've submitted this testimony, but I just personally wanted to come here just to show the real person behind that testimony.

And this work here we do in Airbnb, it provides us with income that enables me to do all my work pro bono.

And I just feel the special calling.

I don't know why, but I've been called here to be here.

And I just ask you to use this opportunity.

People who do short-term vacation rentals need to pay their taxes.

There's just no question about it.

And that there needs to be appropriate legislation to to make sure that happens.

And we have paid our taxes on both properties.

One that it is uh has a non-conforming use certificate, and the other one is in our home, where there was no need to register when the legislation went through a number of years ago.

But we still we pay our taxes on both.

Um but I just want to remind you that you hold within your hands the ability to make this easy for people or to make this difficult.

Wow.

30 seconds.

So simply put, you know, please remember that I really think the bellwether of the health of this county lies in zip code 96778.

It has an hour's numbers of 70%, which means that 70% of the population is at risk.

And the more we create opportunity, the more we can create income here.

And the economic studies show that the Airbnb's vacation rentals are one way of creating income for people here, local people here.

So just thank you.

And um, it's an honor to be here.

Thank you so much.

Chair, your next testifier is Del Otsuka testifying on Bill 147, and then we can go to Kona for the two testifiers following Dell.

Dell, when you're ready to begin, please introduce yourself and you'll have three minutes.

Good morning, Del Otsuka.

And like Mr.

Golden, I come before you, like I've done in the past, because it seems like written testimony isn't enough.

So I'm here on 147, and I just want to say if you haven't written my test my testimony, you'll understand what I'm saying now.

And it's not to penalize anybody or say anything negative.