Minutes: September 8,1998

CALL TO ORDER: Acting Chair Jeffrey Harris called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Jeff Harris, Mark Heckman, Steve Holmes, Edward Laws, Roland Libby, Jr., Elaine Murphy, Donna Wong and Christine Woolaway. There was a quorum.

CONSULTANTS: Donna Ashizawa, Eugene Dashiell and Ken Schmidt.

CSF: Judy Nakamura

GUESTS: Dr. Joe Ciotti, Steve Kubota, Dr. Floyd McCoy, Jr., Carole McLean, Dr. Barry Raleigh, and John Reppun.

A.  Steve Kubota of the Ahupua’a Action Alliance reported that the State Technical Review Committee has formed a joint venture between NRCS ( Natural Resource Conservation Service) and the Department of Health and Koolaupoko has been nominated for consideration for EPA funding for clean water initiative.

B.  Carole McLean, Executive Director of Friends of He’eia, gave an update on the programs. Stream cleaning and habitat restoration with Polynesian vegetation is one of their main concerns. They want to remove alien vegetation (example: mangroves) and replant with native vegetation. They are working on a 319 EPA Watershed Grant whose objective is to mitigate nonpoint pollution. EPA is willing to support them. Phase 2 goes into the He’eia wetlands and she appealed to KBAC to assist in the restoration of He’eia stream so fish and native birds can once again flourish. She also announced that a canoe classroom has been established that will be incorporated into the children’s educational program.

C.  Dr. Barry Raleigh, who heads the Center for a Sustainable Future, gave a brief outline on why CSF was formed. He then went into an explanation as to the vision behind the concept of a viable ahupua’a system. The scientist point of view is to understand how the Hawaiian people were able to sustain themselves solely on the ahupua’a. They want to find out how the people were able to integrate exploiting the resources without destroying the land. CSF is working towards acquiring access to a portion of the He’eia watershed and assuming this happens the intention is to bring together the stakeholders in the community to discuss the recovery and restoration of the ahupua’a.

 

VOLUNTEER WATER QUALITY MONITORING COORDINATOR REPORT - Donna Ashizawa Coordinator

Work highlights can be accessed at the above web site under the Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator column.

A.  GPS Update - The GPS needs the support of the GIS to do justice to the system. Insurance has been purchased for the GPS at a cost of $588.40 per year.

B.  A "volunteer sign-in and release" form and an "assumption of risk and release" form were handed out to the council members for review. These are forms that the volunteers would be asked to sign before going out into the field. Member Holmes has been asked to have the forms reviewed by the City Corporation Council. Member Harris will contact the Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy regarding the same issue.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM REPORT - Eugene Dashiell Coordinator

A.  Report from Ken Schmidt - Ken passed out the completed "Kailua Bay Advisory Council Watershed Data Base and Information System (WDBIS) Strategic Plan" to the council members for review and highlighted the main areas. The WDBIS presents a conceptual design for a computing system that communicates information using the Internet. The data collected, stored, analyzed, and published in the final WDBIS will be used to 1) educate the public on the importance of protecting the watershed, 2) assess water quality problems, and 3) to substantiate the actions of KBAC.

To meet these goals the implementation of the WDBIS is described according to three major objectives: 1) data collection - the process of collecting information, 2) establish a computing, communication, and data management system - create an information system to store, manage, and distribute data, and 3) enable information retrieval and use - create accessibility to data for use by KBAC, its contractors, educators, students, and the community.

His recommendations include the use of the Windward Community College to host the WDBIS, and to commit to using the college as a focal point for educating the community.

A suggestion was made to set up a committee to review the Plan and members Laws, Murphy, and Harris volunteered to be part of the committee. They will give a report at the next meeting.

B.  Eugene Dashiell - Task 1 has been completed and a booklet was handed out to each council member. Members will review the booklet and contact Judy should any questions or comments arise.

ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS: Chair Jeffrey Harris Coordinator

A.  Approval of July 14 and 29, 1998 minutes - Member Laws moved and member Woolaway seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

B.  Approval to purchase field supplies (supplemental mapping instruments) for Donna - Member Murphy moved and member Woolaway seconded the motion. The motion passed.

C.  Approval to purchase a Rangefinder - Member Murphy moved and member Laws seconded the motion to purchase a Bushnell at a cost of $299. The motion passed.

D.  Approval to purchase or borrow a flowmeter - It was unanimous that Donna borrow a flowmeter from the State Department of Health.

E.  Mini-grant announcements:

Ads have been placed in the Waimanalo News, Windward Oahu News, and OEQC (Office of Environmental Quality Control)

The Sun Press wrote an editorial about the grants so no ad was placed

100+ mailings were made to individuals and organizations

F.  Donna Ashizawa has signed an agreement to be KBAC’s Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator for another year - the agreement to end 3 September 1999.

The following are tentative KBAC dates for future meetings to be held at Windward Community College:

                        September 22, 1998 (Tuesday)       - Hale Alaka’i #118

                        October 13, 1998 (Tuesday)        - Hale Alaka’i #102

                        November 10, 1998 (Tuesday)       - Hale Alaka’i #102

                        December 8, 1998 (Tuesday)       - Hale Alaka’i #102

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned by Acting Chair Jeffrey Harris at 9:35 pm.