Every other Tuesday, Chris takes a break from work & gets a massage. I think it is a really good thing that he is doing for himself. Especially since he has a job that requires a lot of physical activity. And also since his weekends are spent working on his house that still needs renovation so he doesn't really get a break on the weekends.
Because Chris was not working here today, his truck was not in the driveway. I asked Emily if she could switch her mowing to today instead of yesterday. It worked out great since her kids were still on winter break yesterday; school started up for them today. Win-win! Since Emily comes every other week to mow the lawn, we agreed in 2 weeks she should also come on Tuesday since I think Chris will still be working on the house then.
Before he left yesterday, Chris also finished the installation of the replacement window in the toilet stall out in the garage.When Grandpa had the garage built he included a window in both the toilet stall as well as the shower stall. I'm glad he did!
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I like to see the hapuʻu outside the window.
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Yesterday I installed the planter I got from Kathy; I also attached the Neighborhood Watch sign on the uphill end. I had filled it up with 2 large bags of potting soil; I had calculated the amount needed from measuring the planter. But it looks like I still need more soil. 😕
In the evening, I went to the North Kohala Community Development Plan Advisory Group meeting. The NKCDP Advisory Group is not a County-sanctioned group; those are the Action Committees. In the beginning of the process, which I think was 2009, North Kohala did have an Action Committee. To be on it you had to be appointed by the Mayor & meetings were convened by county planning staff; if there was no staff available the meetings did not happen. In order for community members in attendance to speak they had to fill out a form before the meeting started; when it was their time to be called they had 3 minutes to speak. The action committees also followed Roberts Rules of Order & public notification protocols. Because the action committee could not meet without a planning staff person available, as things progressed & staffing became a problem, the monthly meetings became quarterly meetings. The North Kohala community leaders decided that was too long to wait in order to get things accomplished. So North Kohala withdrew from the action committee & formed the Advisory Group.
The Advisory Group is set up much like the action committees are; there is a chair & vice-chair, there must be a quorum for any actions the committee takes to be official, & actions are decided by a vote of the majority; but they do not use Roberts Rules of Order. For a community member to speak, you need to raise your hand & be called upon by the chair; you can speak for more than 3 minutes within reason. As for public notifications, every month there is an article in the Kohala Mountain News detailing what was covered in the meeting & provides the date for the next meeting of each subcommittee as well as the Advisory Group. Meeting dates are also included in the calendar published in KMN. Since every edition of KMN is distributed in each mailbox in the Kapaʻau and Hāwī post offices, as well as available for free at newspaper stands at the 3 grocery stores in North Kohala, the public notification is actually more widespread than what the action committees in other districts are able to accomplish via the county website email notifications. And the Advisory Group & subcommittees have accomplished quite a lot since 2009; some subcommittees more than others. In fact, the advisory group method has been so successful, several other districts are looking at the Advisory Group as a model for what they would like to see happen in their areas.
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The Culture & History group is included in Biocultural Stewardship.
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Joe leads one of the early meetings. (From website)
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Kīlauea is still on pause.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Ben & The Most Excellent Cook!