In what was termed a "historic" meeting, leaders from the state, county, private and nonprofit sectors met yesterday to focus on what can be done to jump-start Hawai'i's slumping economy, including awarding contracts for $2 billion of state and county capital improvement projects.

The group, meeting under the auspices of the Hawaii Economic Stabilization Initiative, brought together Gov. Linda Lingle, four county mayors, representatives of Hawai'i's Congressional delegation along with business, union and nonprofit leaders during a three-hour closed-door session.

The group talked about how they could work together to solve Hawai'i's economic downturn with a focus on what could be done immediately to inject government money into the economy.

"The bottom line is it's all about jobs," said Jim Tollefson, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii president.

The group met as Hawai'i's economy lumbers under the weight of rising unemployment, lower visitor arrivals and increasing bankruptcies. A series of local economic blows, including the shutdown of Aloha and ATA airlines and loss of two cruise ships, along with broader economic trends such as a national recession and crisis on Wall Street, have combined to reverse the state's economic fortunes this year.

Tollefson said it's estimated 20 percent of carpenters on O'ahu are unemployed, while 65 percent of those on the Big Island are waiting for work.

The private, labor and nonprofit members of the group met earlier this year to discuss the economic problems and again early last month to discuss how they could work with the state and county governments. Bill Kaneko, president of the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, said the group wanted to bridge the disconnect between the community and state and local governments.

"This bubbled up from the community," Kaneko said.

At a meeting yesterday the group met to discuss a five-point economic plan rolled out by Lingle in October and look at ways it could expedite the initiatives. Lingle's plan includes speeding up infrastructure and facilities improvements, improving tourism marketing, lowering business fees and providing tax relief, attracting outside investment and maximizing federal dollars.

That includes looking at how $2 billion of state and county projects could be implemented faster in the next 12 to 18 months. Ted Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the state has the necessary funding and has looked at ways to get more projects under way, including asking state and county offices to take on more work so more projects can be contracted.

Liu said it's feasible that $1 billion of projects, ranging from small roofing repairs, to engineering design work and large road projects, could be undertaken in the next 12 months. That's more than double what the state does in most years, he said.

The participants said they also talked about how Hawai'i could more effectively tap into federal spending and positioning itself for any money made available through an anticipated economic stimulus plan from President-elect Barack Obama. Ideas about improving tourism, including ways to promote residents taking local vacations, were also discussed.

The organizers also defended holding a private meeting and not allowing media or other members of the public into the discussion. Kaneko said the meeting organizers had wanted to promote an open and candid discussion and felt having reporters chronicling the talks would inhibit the discussion.

The organizers said it will be publishing a plan based on the discussion and sponsor a statewide summit to better educate the community in January.