Good morning with the committee on infrastructure, transportation and technology technology, please come to order.

I would like to welcome committee vice chair Okimoto and Committee members dosantos TAM and WIRE and Councilmember Tipola, uh Committee Member Tipola will be on her way.

Um pursuant to Section 92 3.7, the Hawaii revised statutes.

This meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by interactive conference technology with the following procedure in effect for the meeting.

Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda through two ways, remotely and in person in the council chamber.

Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed on the agenda when the agenda agenda items taken up.

As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the state of Hawaii, uh pursuant uh Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 1-13 of the Hawaii revised statutes.

Members of the public may testify in either language.

For oral testimonies offered in Olelo Hawaii, additional additional time as may be necessary, will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony.

For before testifying, each person shall state their name.

Each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item.

All persons who have registered to testify remotely via video conference or phone will be called upon first.

And when your name is called, please monitor your screen and activate your audio feed when prompted.

I'll then give persons who have not registered an opportunity to offer testimony.

Please then utilize raise hand feature on Zoom to be called upon.

For those who are speaking uh who are joining us by telephone only, please please press star nine to indicate your desire to speak.

When your phone number is called, please press star six to then unmute yourself when prompted.

And I will announce that later if necessary.

Some friendly reminders and tips.

Please video conference from a quiet location if possible.

If you're also watching the proceedings on Olelo, please mute your televis television at the time you're called to testify.

When the timer on the screen reaches zero, please conclude your remarks promptly.

Once all the remote testifiers have testified, we'll proceed to in-person testimony in the council chamber.

Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to speak following the oral testimonies of the registered speakers.

Pursuant to actually HRS section 92 3.7, it requires all votes at remote meetings to be conducted by a roll call unless unanimous.

Therefore, our first call for objections.

And if there are any, I'll call for a roll call vote.

For uh, if there will be any council members participating from outside of the council chamber in accordance with HRS section 92 3.7, uh uh the meeting will automatically automatically recess if we lose audiovisual contact with that member, and we will not be able to reconvene until we re-establish contact.

Therefore, I will ask the member if there will be any beforehand if they will be voluntarily signing out of the meeting.

Written testimonies, including testifyers' address, email address, and phone number will be available to the public as described on the opposite agenda.

As a courtesy, please turn off all cell phones.

Oh, silence or turn off all cell phones.

For action, uh we are now moving to agenda item number one.

Uh, this resolution is resolution 25-224, and it appoints Cynthia L.

McMillan to serve uh on the rate commission of the city and county of Honolulu for a term to expire on June 30, 2030.

Uh, with us, we do have the appointee here uh for our rate commission appointee here, Cynthia McMillan.

Uh we could if we could please welcome her up to the podium, and you can click the on off button, and then you uh may do a uh welcome or introductory statement.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, I appreciate this opportunity and and members as well.

Um I'm honored that Chair Waters would submit my reappointment to this rate commission.

You know, before my experience last year, I knew technically and theoretically the advisory nature of the commission.

But it's another thing entirely to take the public testimony and then have to make decisions and recommendations to give to the council.

And so I appreciate the opportunity.

I look forward to continuing to represent bus riders.

I'm not a handyvan user, but we did hear from many of them last year.

But I look forward to representing bus riders in this in this role if I if I may continue.

Um, before I conclude, I just want to give out a shout out to my council member Del Santos Tam, whom I met waiting for a bus at a bus stop a couple of months ago.

So thank you.

Thank you, members.

Uh we do you have any questions uh for the reappointment of our rate commissioner?

We have uh your council member, Councilmember DeSantos Tam.

Thank you, and and I appreciate seeing you walking around and taking the bus and um really living the car-free life, and that's really admirable.

Um something came up the other day uh in relation to the proposed um rate hikes, and that was the Fairbox recovery ratio policy.

Um as a current rate commissioner and as one that's being reappointed.

Do you have any thoughts about whether this policy is useful at all or should be repealed?

You know, council member, that's a very good question, and just based on the testimony we took, there are many bus riders who feel that bus the bus rides should be free.

I mean, if the public policy is to encourage bus ridership and to encourage transit ridership, then their thinking was never mind rate increases, you should be giving this to us free.

Um, as commissioners, we had to balance that with the very real needs of the city and the operating and maintenance costs of a transit system.

And so I I do think it's something that's worth looking at.

Um if you're asking me for a recommendation on the on the distribution and the percentages, not prepared to give that to you today.