2026-11-05 - Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee
Summary
Based on YouTube auto-generated captions of the meeting and the posted agenda; names and numbers may be misheard in the captions.
- The Committee's 44th session met at the West Hawaii Civic Center from about 10:36 a.m. to 10:42 a.m., with one item. Chair Jennifer Kagiwada listed the members present as Heather L. Kimball, Michelle Galimba, Holeka Goro Inaba, Dennis Onishi, Ashley Lehualani Kierkiewicz and James E. Hustace (who was expected shortly after the roll); Rebecca Villegas was excused and Matt Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder was absent. No public testimony was offered.
- Res. 719-26 would authorize indemnification, under Section 2-188 of the County Code, of former County employees and their successor estates who are named as individual defendants in a pending lawsuit, against all damages assessed. It was introduced by the Chair by request (Comm. 1132). See Fire Department Lawsuit Indemnification.
- Deputy Corporation Counsel Justin C. Lee (name as captioned) briefed the Committee: a volunteer firefighter responding to a fire in Ka'u fell into a hole and was burned; the suit originally named the County, the Fire Chief, the Deputy Fire Chief and a Fire Captain. The County was dismissed because the claim is in the nature of workers' compensation, and the Captain was dropped, with counsel saying he had helped save the firefighter. The Chief and Deputy Chief stayed in after the circuit court found the allegations sufficient to proceed on a second attempt; counsel noted that the bar for stating a claim is low.
- Counsel said the resolution is normally brought only near settlement or trial, but was requested now because the Chief has passed away and the plaintiffs will substitute a special representative for his estate; the resolution is meant to clarify the roles of the County and the estate's administrator, and the office intends to keep representing the Chief as if he were alive.
- Vote: the motion to forward Res. 719-26 to Council with a favorable recommendation (moved by Council Member Inaba, captioned "Ena," seconded by Council Member Kierkiewicz, captioned "Kirkwood") carried with seven ayes. No member asked questions; the Chair said she would rely on counsel to say whether details required executive session.
Agenda
Opening: call to order, roll call, statements from the public on agenda items.
Resolutions: Res. 719-26 (Fire Department Lawsuit Indemnification), indemnification of former County employees named as individual defendants in a lawsuit (Comm. 1132).
Adjournment.
Sources
- Agenda: https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1138400&dbid=0&repo=ClerkCouncil
- Agenda folder: https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/Browse.aspx?dbid=0&startid=1091561
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdEZ_oDzV8o (Hawaii County Council YouTube channel)
- Agenda hub: https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/our-county/legislative/county-council/meeting-agendas-and-actions
Video
Transcript
*These are auto-generated captions; names and numbers may be misheard.
Transcript
04:05Mhm.
05:16>> All right, good morning everyone.
05:19Welcome to the 44th session of the
05:21Committee on Governmental Operations and
05:23External Affairs. Today is November 5th,
05:272026 and the time is 10:36 a.m.
05:32Uh we are here in the West Hawaii Civic
05:35Center.
05:36Um and we have one agenda item today.
05:40Uh
05:40in committee with me today we have
05:43council members
05:45Kimball
05:47Galimba
05:48Inaba
05:51Onishi
05:53Kirkpatrick
05:57and uh members
06:00um
06:02Connelly Klein
06:05Who else are we missing over there?
06:09Oh, Connie Lee Kleinfelder and Eustace
06:12will be joining us shortly.
06:14Council member Viegus is excused for the
06:17day.
06:18Um we can go ahead and get started, Mr.
06:20Cook, if we have any
06:22public testimony.
06:24>> Uh thank you.
06:26Great each year, Kagiwada. We do not
06:28have any testimony. Therefore, I will
06:30read in the singular item on today's
06:31agenda, which is resolution 719-26,
06:35which authorizes identification of
06:37former employees of the county and the
06:39successor estates who are named as
06:41individual defendants in a lawsuit known
06:43as Elizabeth Stauber versus Kazuo Todd
06:46et al. against all damages assessed
06:48therein and making other findings in
06:49accordance with section 2-188
06:52of Hawaii County Code. This is
06:54introduced by Councilmember Kagiwada by
06:56request.
06:57>> Thank you so much. This morning, we have
06:58Deputy Corporation Counsel. Oh, sorry. I
07:01need a motion, please.
07:03>> Motion to
07:05forward resolution 719-26
07:08to Council with a favorable
07:09recommendation.
07:10>> I have a motion by Councilmember Ena and
07:12a second by Councilmember Kirkwood
07:15um to forward resolution 719-26
07:19to full Council with favorable
07:20recommendation.
07:22Thank you. Um we've got Deputy
07:25Corporation Counsel Justin C. Lee here
07:27with us this morning, and I will turn it
07:30over to him to brief us on this item.
07:34Thank you.
07:34>> Okay.
07:36Thank you, Chair Kagiwada, members.
07:39Um
07:41So, this case arises out of a personal
07:43injury. A volunteer firefighter was uh
07:47fight responding to a fire in the Ka'u
07:48district. She fell into a hole
07:51and suffered burns.
07:53Um
07:56The original case named the County of
07:58Hawaii, Chief Todd, Deputy Chief Waller,
08:01and Fire Captain at the time uh Kealoha.
08:05Uh
08:06the county was dismissed from the
08:08lawsuit because
08:10this is in the nature of workers
08:13compensation claim.
08:15Normally
08:17when
08:18party is injured on the job, they cannot
08:20sue their employer in a separate action.
08:24Even though she was a volunteer
08:25firefighter, she is provided for under
08:27by statute. When somebody is receiving
08:31benefits through workers compensation,
08:33they can only sue their co-workers. If
08:38they are shown to have committed that
08:40injury through willful and wanton
08:42misconduct. That is
08:45legal term of art. Which and I'll just
08:48briefly kind of summarize the statute is
08:51either motivated by an actual intent to
08:53cause injury.
08:55Or that the person has knowledge of the
08:57peril,
08:58has knowledge that the injury is
09:00probable as opposed to possible, and
09:02consciously fails to avoid that peril.
09:06Captain Kiavi was removed from the
09:09lawsuit because
09:11I think it was the intent of the
09:12plaintiffs
09:14or understanding that he actually saved
09:17Ms. Stubble for further injury, possibly
09:19her life. We attempted to get Chiefs
09:23Todd and Maller removed from the lawsuit
09:25also because the standard from his
09:27conduct is relatively high. And the
09:29roles of the
09:31fire chief and the deputy chief are
09:33rather removed from individual decisions
09:36during the fighting of the fire. But
09:38unfortunately on the second go around,
09:40the
09:41circuit court decided that the
09:44plaintiffs had made sufficient
09:46allegations for the case to proceed. And
09:49I would note for members that the
09:50threshold for stating a claim
09:54is relatively low. You don't have to say
09:56too much.
09:58So
10:00I I requested this resolution be brought
10:02before the council.
10:05Mainly because it is required by the
10:07code, but
10:08Uh, we normally wait until we come to a
10:10point of settlement or we're looking
10:13like we're going to trial. However,
10:15because of the circumstances of this
10:16case that Chief Todd, unfortunately,
10:18passed away,
10:19the plaintiffs will be substituting in
10:22a special representative to
10:25uh, represent Chief Todd's estate. And I
10:28thought having this resolution here
10:30regarding indemnity would
10:32provide clarity between
10:34the role of the county and the um,
10:37special administrator for this state as
10:39far as who is
10:40what what our roles are, what we're
10:42representing. Um, because it is our
10:44intent of our office to continue
10:46representation of Chief Todd as if he
10:48were alive. Um,
10:50uh,
10:53I'm I'm open to questions. I hope that
10:55helped.
10:56>> Thank you so much.
10:58Uh, open it up to questions. Although,
11:01if the questions do pertain to uh,
11:05details of the suit, um, I will rely on
11:08our counsel here to let us know if we
11:11need to go into executive session. So,
11:13does anybody have any questions or they
11:16want to ask at this point?
11:19All right.
11:21I do not see any lights on, so we will
11:24go ahead and take a vote.
11:26All those in favor of sending resolution
11:30719-26
11:32to the full council with a favorable
11:34recommendation, please say I.
11:36>> I.
11:36>> Any opposed?
11:38Mr. Clerk, we have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 eyes
11:44with council member
11:46Connie Lee Kinefelter absent and council
11:50member
11:52Viegas excused.
11:55Um, motion carries.
11:57And with that, that is our only item on
12:00this agenda today, so we are
12:04done at 10:42 a.m. Thank you very much.
12:09>> Thanks, Stephanie.
12:15>> Okay.
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