Committee forwards resolution and $40,000 budget change to support county food-access summits

The Hawaii County Council Committee on Finance voted Dec. 16 to forward a resolution and a budget amendment that would allow the county to receive $40,000 from the State Department of Health to plan and facilitate food-access summits.

Deputy Director Dennis Lynn and Sarah Freeman of the Department of Research and Development told the committee the state-provided funds could be used to support recent events or to underwrite future summits. "We're gonna have a total of, 6 regional summits to share with the community, the draft plan and 1 final summit that's aimed to be in August year," Freeman said, describing the county's planning timeline and a suite of briefing materials the department is preparing.

Council Member Kimball raised the possibility that some funds might be used to reimburse an agripolicy summit that already occurred in fall 2025 and suggested amending the resolution to remove the fall-2025 reference if reimbursement would be inappropriate. Freeman and Deputy Director Lynn said the county could instead use the funds for upcoming events and that the county was working on budgeting lines to support follow-up actions arising from summit input.

The committee moved to forward Resolution 405-25 to council with a favorable recommendation (motion by Council Member Inaba, second by Council Member Huestis). The clerk recorded eight members in favor; one member was excused. The committee also moved to forward Bill 110 (an operating-budget amendment that adds $40,000 to the Hawaii County Food Access Summit program) to council with a favorable recommendation; that motion carried with eight members in favor and one excused.

Officials said the department will compile an after-action report and draft briefs tied to the county's five-year agri-food-systems and community-food-security plan to inform how summit results move toward budget and policy actions.