County budget review sessions to be broadcast live

LIHU‘E — Transparency may become the motto of this year’s Kaua‘i County Council budget review sessions, with the majority, if not all, of the meetings being broadcast live for the first time in at least recent history.

J Robertson, managing director of Ho‘ike, said Kaua‘i’s community television station plans to start broadcasting the meetings online via the county’s website on Friday, beginning with the mayor’s presentation of his administration’s proposed $164.98 million operating budget.

Robertson said Ho‘ike will cover whatever the council requests, but it was unclear as of Tuesday exactly which sessions the county intends to televise or broadcast online.

“Looks like we are doing the majority of things, but I’m not really sure if we’re going to do every single thing,” he said.

Council Chair Jay Furfaro said he plans to meet with Ho‘ike today to confirm which meetings can be televised. If logistical concerns can be resolved, he said every budget review session will be broadcast.

It’s the first time Ho‘ike will stream the departmental budget review process in real time. Last year, The Garden Island broadcast the sessions live online. In prior years, the county has chosen to not televise the budget review sessions.

Next Tuesday the council is set to meet at the same time as the Planning Commission, another county decision-making body regularly televised by the county. But Robertson said Ho‘ike has the capability of covering both meetings simultaneously and plans to do so this year.

“They are both going to be streamed live,” he said. “This will be a good challenge for the county system.”

However, as of Tuesday all council members — except JoAnn Yukimura who did not respond to a message seeking comment by press time — were under the impression that Ho‘ike would not televise a couple of their budget meetings due to logistical conflicts.

“What (Ho‘ike) told me at the time we first sent it over as a request is that they might have a couple conflicts, one with the Planning Department, and one with the mayor’s meeting,” Furfaro said.

“My understanding is we are going to televise most of it, except for when there’s a Planning Commission happening,” Councilman Tim Bynum said.

“I think we’re doing most of it,” Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura said. “My understanding was there was some conflict with other commission meetings occurring at the same time.”

Councilman Dickie Chang said he thought there would be a couple meetings that would not be televised because of staffing concerns.

“I heard there was a conflict,” Chang said. “However, I also heard on the other end from one of the other council members that apparently they were told by Ho‘ike if they need them, they will be there.”

“I understand they are going to be televised,” Councilman Mel Rapozo said. “I think there’s some logistical conflicts.”

Bynum said after he saw a memo stating some of the review sessions wouldn’t be televised, he talked to Ho‘ike and the council’s technical staff, and both sides told him they were able to pull off simultaneous broadcasts.

“For me it was such an improvement they were going to broadcast the bulk of it, I didn’t want to quarrel about the smaller stuff,” he said.

Ho‘ike is able to simultaneously broadcast two meetings, Bynum said, as long as they are being conducted at Nawiliwili Council Chambers and at the regular Planning Commission meeting room at the Mo‘ikeha Building in Lihu‘e.

Furfaro seemed surprised upon learning Tuesday that Robertson said Ho‘ike was able to broadcast simultaneous meetings. “They haven’t told me that.”

He said the broadcasting of the budget review sessions has been budgeted since last year.

“It’s a line item I remember fighting for,” he said. “It’s in the budget.”

Rapozo said if Ho‘ike “came through and the budget allows it” he would like to see the whole process televised.

Where’s the link?

Aside from whether all sessions will be televised, there are some accessibility concerns. The county’s website hosts the only link to the online live streaming of the budget review sessions, and some community members have said the link is hard to find.

The link opens when clicking the cursor over the words “webcast meetings” located at the center of the county website’s homepage.

“That’s the only way to get in, through the county web page,” said Robertson, adding that the link is “not much of an icon” and “somewhat indistinguishable.”

Bynum said he thinks the link is hard to find and should be in multiple places, including on the council’s website.

“It should be more prominently displayed,” he said.

Robertson said Ho‘ike has no plans to offer a link on its website to the live streaming.

“Because the county streams it we’re not going to duplicate their effort,” he said. “That’s their show.”

Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. will present his budget overview for Fiscal Year 2012 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.

The complete schedule for the departmental reviews is available on the county website.

Visit www.kauai.gov to view the meetings and see their agendas.