2026-09-01 - Communications Reports and Council Oversight Committee

00:00form.

00:01>> Welcome to the late evenings

00:04Communications reports and Council

00:06oversight committee. This is our 25th

00:09session. This evening we are in the

00:10Hawaii County building in Hilo.

00:13>> [clears throat]

00:14>> Today is September 1st

00:16and the time is 7:10 p.m.

00:20Joining me this evening for our late

00:23night session is Council member Kimball,

00:26Council member

00:28uh

00:29Inaba,

00:30>> Council member Kirk-O-Waitz,

00:32>> Council member Eustace, Council member

00:33Kagiwada, and myself Rebecca Villegas,

00:36chair uh

00:38chairing this committee this evening

00:40um as Council member Glimba, Council

00:42member

00:47Onishi

00:48um are excused for this committee this

00:51evening.

00:53Um ba ba ba ba ba

00:56Let's go to testimony. Any testifiers?

01:00>> No testifiers for your committee this

01:01evening, Madam Chair.

01:03>> Hallelujah.

01:05>> With that said, one last chance when we

01:07open up the agenda if someone like to

01:09testify in communication 1000, please

01:11speak up now.

01:13Hearing and seeing none communication

01:151000 2025-2026

01:17annual report of the Kailua Village

01:19Business Improvement District from

01:21Kailua Village Business Improvement

01:23District Executive Director Ross Wilson

01:25dated July 20, 2026.

01:28>> Uh Motion to close file on communication

01:321000.

01:34>> So moved.

01:36>> [laughter]

01:36>> It's been moved by Council member Inaba

01:39and seconded by Council member Kimball

01:42um and with that

01:44Mr. Ross Wilson, thank you for your

01:46patience with us this evening and for

01:50providing us with um a very thorough,

01:53detailed report on the Kailua Village

01:55Business Improvement District. And with

01:58that I will turn it over to you to do a

02:01concise

02:03and high-level review for us this

02:05evening.

02:07>> Good evening, everybody. First of all,

02:10thank you so much for doing the people's

02:12work. I I don't think the community

02:15understands

02:16fully

02:18the amount of time and effort it takes

02:19to to run a government and sitting here

02:23for the past few hours, um I really

02:26appreciate what you're doing and the

02:28level of commitment towards doing the

02:31right thing for the community.

02:33Um I circulated the Kailua

02:36Village Business Improvement District

02:382015-2016 annual report. It speaks for

02:41itself. I won't go into the nuances of

02:44what's in there, um but I would like to

02:47say that um the next time there's a

02:49committee meeting on the west side in a

02:52couple of weeks, I'm happy to meet with

02:55you individually or collectively to go

02:57through what works, what doesn't work,

03:00how we can improve, and things that are

03:03really working well in the village.

03:06Um

03:07I I think it's important to remember

03:09that

03:10KVBID was set up you know, nearly 20

03:14years ago because things weren't working

03:17well and fast forward to

03:20you know, 19 years later and and things

03:22are going well in historic Kailua

03:24Village. Um we have two initiatives.

03:27It's easy, it's clean, and it's safe.

03:30And I'm happy to report that the village

03:32is clean and safe.

03:34Um and and you know, it's been said

03:36before, but it really takes a village to

03:39get it done.

03:40Uh our job um at KVBID is not to replace

03:45county government. Our job is to

03:48collaborate, cooperate, and complement

03:52county services. In in a lot of

03:54discussions I had with the

03:56administration, with Mayor Kim Alameda's

03:59administration, I really emphasized it

04:02takes a village in in all of the things

04:05that we are doing.

04:06Um

04:10as far as what happens with government

04:13and government leadership, um

04:15you know

04:17I think we all need to do more.

04:19Um and

04:21we we will need everybody's help so that

04:23we can enact new ordinances dealing with

04:26panhandling,

04:28loitering,

04:30and and public intoxication.

04:32And we plan to work on those in in in

04:35this coming year.

04:36Um I really appreciate the job that the

04:41police department's doing. And we have a

04:43great working relationship with the

04:44community police. And whatever budgets

04:48that they have, please please please

04:51increase them if you can.

04:53Um they're doing great work with us.

04:55Um

04:56but I think all of us working together

04:58from the the county side, KVBID,

05:02and all the departments, our volunteers,

05:04our boards,

05:05working together, we can truly make the

05:07Kailua Village Business Improvement

05:09District, which is historic Kailua

05:11Village, a better place to live, work,

05:14play, and invest.

05:15Um

05:16and

05:17individually or collectively at another

05:19time, I'm happy to go through all of the

05:21programs that we're doing,

05:23um and all the things that we've

05:24accomplished.

05:26Um but in addition to the clean and

05:27safe, we've done a lot of branding.

05:30Um

05:31we're bringing place names back into the

05:32village, and we're

05:34installing historic signs,

05:37um so that we can tell not only our

05:39visitors, um

05:41but local people, um the importance of

05:44all of the historic and cultural events

05:47that happened in historic Kailua

05:49Village. Happy to answer any questions

05:53on KBID.

05:56>> Thank you, Ross. And with that, I'll

05:58open up to any questions or comments

05:59from council members. Council member

06:01Inaba.

06:02>> Thank you, Mr. Wilson. Just want to

06:04extend our appreciation.

06:07I think especially down on Ali'i Drive,

06:09which is uh

06:10the gateway,

06:12um especially for

06:13the cruises coming in. Uh

06:16we have seen tremendous improvement in

06:19on that stretch and in general in the

06:21whole business improvement district. And

06:23you know, this is something that uh Mr.

06:26Wilson and I have previously discussed

06:27is whether the county right now on those

06:30properties in the business improvement

06:33district are paying that special

06:34assessment on top of their normal real

06:37property tax to the county. And

06:39um something that this county might

06:41discuss is whether we want to support um

06:44the creation of new business improvement

06:47districts and having those

06:50taxes already paid to the county be

06:51committed um for use by that business

06:54improvement district because um in some

06:56of the last discussions we had regarding

06:58Hilo, it's not wanting to pay more, but

07:01if we truly want

07:03and stand behind the business

07:04improvement district model as as it's

07:07been working here in in Kona.

07:09Or uh you know, that might be something

07:11that this this county can kind of

07:13explore. Um but just want to thank you

07:16again, Mr. Wilson and your team, um the

07:20contractors, the employees, everyone who

07:22who makes it happen down there. We

07:23appreciate you all. Aloha.

07:27>> Thank you, Council member Kirk-O-Wait.

07:29>> Thank you, Chair. Um I've received 8

07:33years worth of presentations during my

07:34time on the dais, and I am always so

07:38impressed with the work that happens by

07:41the Kailua Village Improvement District.

07:43Mr. Wilson, you and the whole Hui should

07:45be so incredibly proud of the work that

07:48you folks do on a daily basis. Um just

07:52going through the slide deck, it's it's

07:54a lot, but I see a lot of happy faces. I

07:55lot I see a lot of diversity in

07:58community partners showing up to take

08:00care um of Kailua-Kona, and so I just I

08:03want to mahalo you guys. This is a model

08:05for more communities around the island,

08:07and I love Chair Inaba's suggestion of

08:10taxes that are currently being paid by

08:12different communities being diverted to

08:14support public-private partnership,

08:16because you guys are boots on the

08:18ground. The county cannot do it all, and

08:19I just love the idea of just more more

08:22collaboration and people that live in

08:24these communities having the resources

08:26and support to take action. So, job well

08:29done. Keep up the great work, and so so

08:31wonderful to see you. Thank you.

08:33>> Thank you.

08:35>> Thank you, Councilmember Kirkwood.

08:37I don't see any more lights here, so

08:39I'll just take a moment to express my

08:40gratitude as well. Um as the

08:44councilmember for District 7 in which

08:46the business improvement district

08:48resides, it's been part of my kuliana in

08:50this role to either have someone

08:53representing my office or myself get to

08:56sit on the board and attend the

08:58meetings, learn more about the nuanced

09:02leadership roles, and the partnerships

09:06that are

09:09so solidly

09:11uh nurtured

09:13and reciprocated. Uh thank you for your

09:16leadership in that, Ross, and um

09:19continuing to keep this going through

09:21all different board members over many

09:23different years, but uh

09:26in a village that has seen many

09:28struggles in the last 8 years, I

09:32can firmly say that we are continuing to

09:35move forward, and I think

09:37one of the highest compliments um a

09:40member of the prior a director in the in

09:42one of the prior administrations said to

09:44me was that he had never witnessed a

09:46council member and an organization like

09:50the Business Improvement District have

09:51such a healthy, supportive,

09:54collaborative relationship with

09:55community policing.

09:57And I think that speaks volumes for um

10:01kind of this new uh template that's been

10:04created and I I share

10:07the positive sentiment. Um al- although

10:09having sat here during the resistance

10:11for the potential of the Hilo Business

10:14Improvement District, um I can say from

10:17what has been accomplished in Kona um

10:20that perhaps opinions and resistance

10:24will uh fade in future. And um there

10:28will be opportunities for this program

10:30to be replicated in other areas on the

10:32island.

10:34So,

10:35go ahead, Ross.

10:37>> We were the third um Business

10:39Improvement District in the state after

10:41Fort Street Mall in Waikiki and a couple

10:44of months ago downtown Honolulu

10:47uh added a Business Improvement

10:49District.

10:50>> Yep. And I also want to give a shout-out

10:52to um one of my mentors and

10:54predecessors, Angel Pilago, who was

10:57instrumental when he sat on the County

10:59Council here in the creation of the

11:01Kailua Village Business Improvement

11:03District. So,

11:05thank you so much for being here um for

11:07the support, for the leadership, and uh

11:11for making this a fairly quick committee

11:13this evening.

11:14So, if I don't see uh any other comments

11:18or questions, all those in fl- all those

11:20in flavor

11:22Flavor Flav.

11:24Uh closing file and communication 1000,

11:27please say aye.

11:28>> Aye.

11:29>> Fantastic. We have six ayes and three

11:32members excused Council member Glimba,

11:36Connie E. Kleinfelder and Onishi. And

11:39seeing no other business on our agenda

11:42this evening, we are officially

11:44adjourned.

11:47What a day, what a day, what a day, what

11:49a day.

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