Yesterday, Mayor Roth delivered his annual State of the County Address. The address touched upon successes and setbacks and reflected on the County’s past, current state, and where it is eventually going.
Mayor Roth was joined by Governor Josh Green, Mayor Derek Kawakami from Kauaʻi, Council Chair Kimball, members of the Hawaiʻi County Council, representatives from Maui County, his department heads and executive assistants.
The Mayor began his speech by saying he was going to break it down into three components which included reformation, resilience and adaptation.
He lead off the speech discussing reformation efforts. He said, “Reformation is our attempt to own the past and rectify it where needed.” During this time he mentioned the work done on projects including the Kalanianaʻole Reconstruction Project, maintenance and upkeep of the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant, the 2018 Kīlauea Eruption buy-out program, the Kapuʻe Stream Bridge Sewer Line Replacement Project, conversion to the EPIC permitting system, animal control and Hele-on improvements.
Mayor Roth then moved on to the resilience portion of his address. He described resilience as “the short-term actions we take today that will build the foundation that allows the County to thrive into the future we envision.” Some examples of the actions taken include the revival of critical affordable housing projects, increasing the capacity to care for and treat houseless individuals, amplifying emergency response capabilities, breaking ground on shovel-ready projects, mitigating staffing shortages, dealing with disasters in real-time, upgrading water systems, and investing in facility management.
The Mayor continued on with his address talking about adaptation which he described as “how we plan to innovate for the future of our island — not tomorrow, not 5 years from now, but for generations beyond us.” During this portion he addressed sustainability, clean energy, being awarded the Hydrogen Twin Cities Initiative grant, additional hydrogen and electric buses that will be added to the Hele-on fleet, ADA park upgrades, broadband connectivity services to rural communities. watershed protections. alternative revenue sources including tv/film projects as well as the County’s efforts to generate a larger workforce.
He closed this year’s State of the County by sharing one of his favorite mantras, “Every adversity comes with equal or greater opportunity.” Mayor Roth rounded out his address by saying, “Together, we are working to build a county of the future and not of the past. Not just because we want to, but because it’s the right thing to do.”
The full address can be viewed on Mayor Roth’s facebook page.
Photo credit: Hawaiʻi County Mayor’s Office
