Okay, good morning.

I'd like to call back to order the Finance and Economic Development Committee and the fiscal year twenty twenty-six, twenty twenty-seven departmental budget reviews.

Let the record reflect that all members are present.

Council Member Cooley is on his way.

On the schedule today, we have the Department of Public Works operating budget, followed by public works projects contained in the CIP budget, if time permits.

Following the department's introductory remarks and any questions on their synopsis, we'll be taking public works in the following order.

And we'll return at one o'clock.

Followed by questions relating to the operating budget details taken in order of the division.

Our strategy was based on the following principles.

Ensuring adequate manpower capability by funding current positions.

Enable operation staff with adequate training and appropriate resources, including equipment required for effective and efficient performance of duties, and funding for outsourcing services is necessary.

And prioritizing regulatory compliance and safety.

And finally, repairing and maintenance infrastructure for which we are responsible.

What I'd like to do now is to review specific goals for come completing for the coming fiscal year as follows.

First one is to modernize and maintain critical county infrastructure.

Goal is to improve the condition reliability and lifespan of county-owned infrastructure assets.

How will be accomplished?

We implement funded improvement and repair projects for prioritized infrastructure items, conduct asset condition assessments to identify priority repair and replacement needs on other infrastructure items, implementing preventative and predictive maintenance schedules, implementing surveillance capability where appropriate as a deterrent for protection and follow-up against vandalism and theft, prioritizing capital improvement projects based on risk, service impact, and lifecycle cost, and finally coordinating with capital planning and finance staff to align infrastructure needs with available funding.

So some examples of this are we've expended over 86 million over the past seven or so years on island wide road resurfacing.

By that effort, we accomplished paving of 255 lane miles.

Well, okay, some examples are the Kolo and Kipu bridges that just uh got refurbished this year, completed this past year, and the replacement of New Malu and Anahola landing bridge.

Both bridges are under construction now with new Malo a little bit further along and should be completed next month.

Um refuge transfer station upgrades will improve the management of leach aid and stormwater.

And wastewater management staff continue to utilize appropriations from operating CIP, SRF loans and grants to address deferred maintenance or wastewater treatment plants and collection systems.

So that's goal one.

Second goal is to protect public and environmental health with reliable operations.

Providing reliable essential operations services that support health and compliance with environmental regulations and standards.

How it will be accomplished.

We will provide adequate resources to ensure essential operations are conducted according to applicable standards without disruption.

Maintain routine inspections, testing, and system monitoring, addressing deficiencies promptly to prevent service interruptions or health hazards, and incorporating health and safety considerations into infrastructure planning and maintenance decisions.

I'll give you one example.

Solid waste and wastewater management facility upgrades, replaced antiquated equipment, and provide all weather surfaces to reduce facility breakdowns and weather-related closures.

Next goal is strengthening safety measures and emergency preparedness.

We ensure infrastructure systems are resilient and capable of supporting emergency response and recovery efforts.

An example of that is we have continued maintenance at areas that we've addressed wildlife hazard, wildfire hazards.

This past year, our roads crew continue maintenance of the Kaikia property morning there, as well as the Nini Point property in front of OK.

Another example is uh beyond addressing deferred maintenance.

Our staff designed refuge transfer refuse transfer station facility upgrades to replace antiquated equipment.

Um next goal is to maintain full compliance with uh regulatory requirements.

Our goal here is to ensure all county operations and infrastructure systems comply with federal, state, and local regulations.

Some examples or an example of that is um our solid waste and wastewater staff continue diligent work to ensure compliance with State Department of Health permits for operation of its various facilities, and all department of public works divisions involved in construction and earth-moving maintenance projects also continue diligent work to comply with applicable environmental and regulatory requirements.

Some examples are SMA permits where they apply, and and PDS permits for construction.

The goal here is to deliver consistent dependable services by improving and monitoring our internal processes and resource utilization adjusting as appropriate.

Example here is our building code development and enforcement manager participated in the state's uh Hawaii Speed Task Force.

Uh permitted it through um participation in a permitted interaction group.

Uh the task and scope there was performed by the PIG to investigate all submitted recommendations and gather insights from subject matter experts and building code officials to strengthen the construction permit process and improve permit issuance time while maintaining strong protections for health and safety.

And our last my last goal that I'll go through is support and develop a skilled workforce.

The goal here is to ensure staff have the knowledge, training tools, and resources needed to maintain infrastructure and systems to deliver reliable services.

And examples to that are we uh continue to work with our HR department to develop uh training level staff uh to hire with expectation the expectation uh for the employee to have the proper certifications they need for the the regular position before the probation before the probationary period ends or expires, and this year also we have building division staff with attended certification training.

Our requested budget this year proposes to continue certification training for inspectors next fiscal year.

I'll open it up to questions.

Okay, I think keeping those goals in mind, um it might be easier if we go through the different departments because um I'm sure we have questions that touch like all the different apartment departments, and if we try to answer them now, we're gonna be moving all over the place.

So um I think can I ask them just on the overview?

Yep, comes to chairposal.

Um I guess the first question thanks for um what is the status of Neomalo and Anaola bridges?

So the mute New Malu Bridge is um the bridge is there, everything is up.

The final task is uh welding, welding the uh cross pieces to the girders.

Uh that has to be done so the bridge doesn't move and get off center.

Uh from what I understand, um there were 400 plus welding points needed.

Uh the engineers took a look at it, they were able to narrow down that number to I think about 200, or you know, basically cut it in half.