Finance committee forwards bus-parts donation, animal-control travel grant and housing-voucher funding; closes several reports

The Hawaii County Council Finance Committee on Feb. 4 voted to forward several resolutions and budget measures to the full council with favorable recommendations, and closed multiple routine communications.

Votes at a glance — Resolutions, bills and files the committee acted on during the Feb. 4 meeting included donations and appropriations for transit, animal control and housing voucher assistance, plus the closing of department reports and change-order reports sent to the committee under county code.

Resolution 67-25: The committee voted to forward Resolution 67-25, authorizing acceptance of a donation of Gillick bus parts from Oahu Transit Services to the Mass Transit Agency. The donation was described in committee as having an estimated value of $176,899 and would be used to repair buses currently operating in Hawaii County. Councilmember Reynaldo moved the measure and Councilmember Eustace seconded. The clerk recorded seven members in favor; two members were excused at the time of the vote.

Resolution 68-25 and Bill 25 (animal-control grant and appropriation): Resolution 68-25 authorizes acceptance of a $2,000 grant award from Best Friends Animal Society to the Animal Control and Protection Agency for travel expenses to attend the 2025 Best Friends National Conference. Bill 25 would appropriate the $2,000 from an animal control private contributions account to the Animal Control and Protection Agency travel account. Councilmember Inaba moved the resolution and the bill; Councilmember Galimba seconded the resolution and Councilmember Eustace seconded the bill. The committee forwarded both measures with favorable recommendations; the clerk recorded seven members in favor at the time of the votes and noted two members were excused. After the bill vote, the record shows one member had returned, yielding eight members present.

Bill 26 (Housing Choice Emergency Voucher program): Bill 26 amends the operating budget to increase revenues in the federal grants Housing Choice Emergency Voucher program account by $252,000 and appropriates the same, bringing the total appropriation to $1,650,000. The funds were described as being used for housing-assistance payment costs for the Emergency Housing Voucher program. Councilmember Inaba moved the bill and Councilmember Kaguya Wada seconded; the committee forwarded Bill 26 with a favorable recommendation. The clerk recorded nine members in favor.

Communications closed: The committee voted to close several routine communications and reports transmitted under county code, including: - Communication 23.4: report of funds transfers (controller, dated 01/08/2025) pursuant to section 2-12.3 of the Hawaii County Code (motion to close file carried). - Communication 24.2: report of change orders authorized Nov. 2024 from Finance Director Diane Nakagawa (transmitted pursuant to section 2-12.3) (motion to close file carried). - Communication 24.3: report of change orders authorized Dec. 2024 from Finance Director Diane Nakagawa (transmitted pursuant to section 2-12.3) (motion to close file carried). - Communication 27.1: report of donations received from the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation as of Dec. 2024 (transmitted pursuant to Resolution 468-20) (motion to close file carried; clerk recorded a 9-0 vote). - Communication 98: second-quarter report of persons employed under a contract for less than 90 days (Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024) from Human Resources Director Summer Jay Tokihiro, transmitted pursuant to section 2-12.5 of the Hawaii County Code (motion to close file carried; clerk recorded a 9-0 vote).

Chair's and staff remarks: Committee members and the chair repeatedly thanked department staff for attending; the chair noted during several items, "We have the department here who's been patiently waiting" while votes were taken. The committee record shows routine procedural votes with unanimous or near-unanimous support for these items.

Next steps: The forwarded measures will appear on the full Hawaii County Council docket for final action. Bill 23, which would change agricultural dedication terms, was postponed to Feb. 18 for further review and outreach.