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Finance Committee forwards plan for electronic citations to full council
Summary
The Finance Committee voted to forward Resolution 57-25, authorizing a five‑year electronic citation agreement estimated at $249,334 in year one and $241,614.63 in years two through five, after staff explained time‑savings and data‑flow benefits for police officers and clerks.
The Hawaii County Council Finance Committee on an 8–0 voice vote moved Resolution 57-25 to the full council with a favorable recommendation. The resolution authorizes the mayor to enter a multiyear agreement to implement an electronic citation program for county law enforcement; the estimated first‑year cost is $249,334 and $241,614.63 annually for years two through five.
The committee heard from Mr. Keltner, a Hawaii Police Department staff member participating by Zoom, who described how e‑citations work and why the department is pursuing them. “It takes about 6 to 8 minutes for an officer to write out 1 particular citation, and it takes about 2 minutes for them to to actually type out a citation in an e citation format,” Mr. Keltner said. He said the system still prints a paper document to give to drivers and that data entry flows directly into the county records management system and can be transmitted to the judiciary to reduce duplicate data entry and storage of hard copies.
Councilmember Villegas said she had concerns about the broad meaning of “electronic citations” and asked whether the system would replace handwritten tickets or enable camera‑based enforcement. After Mr. Keltner clarified the scope and operation, Villegas said she would be “in complete support.” Councilmember Onishi asked whether the state judiciary would contribute to the program cost; Mr. Keltner said the judiciary is not providing funding at this time but could pay for an interface or portion of the system in the future if arrangements are made.
Committee members discussed procurement and the estimate. Mr. Keltner said a vendor must still be selected through procurement and that the presented numbers are estimates based on prior vendor interfaces and a cost‑benefit analysis; actual contract prices could be higher or lower. He referenced other jurisdictions' experience, saying Maui County has used e‑citations for several years and Honolulu has worked on systems internally.
The committee’s favorable recommendation forwards the resolution to council for final action; the clerk recorded 8 ayes with Councilmember Connolly Lee Klinefelter absent.
Votes at a glance: Resolution 57-25 — forwarded to council with a favorable recommendation; clerk recorded 8 ayes, 1 absent (Connolly Lee Klinefelter).
