2019-04-24 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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approximately a year before they can do the review. The EIS cannot be finalized until the review is done. The EPA has been notified. (2) Status of the polystyrene ordinance on food containers and food service ware. Meetings have been held with industry groups concerning the requirement to replace polystyrene with compostable recyclable products. It is possible there will be modifications to the bill, which is in the hands of the County Council. The concern is not the ban on polystyrene, but on what it is replaced with. Chair Bennett asked whether fines and penalties due to the ban will be appealed to the EMC, and Director Kucharski said yes, the EMC is the venue to appeal to. Chair Bennett said he is not comfortable with the procedures for an appeal or contested case hearing and would need training. Director Kucharski said he will need to check with Corporation Counsel on how to train a whole commission without violating the Sunshine Law, and Vice Chair Olson said most of the commissioners have also not received the training Corporation Counsel used to provide to new board and commission members. (3) Status of the Kealakehe WWTP R-1 Upgrade Project. The EIS is in the process of being reviewed and receiving comments. If it needs a Section 106 review, they won’t be able to proceed until everything is cleared on the cultural side. (4) Status of proposed bill regarding the EMC’s 45-day review period of legislation. Director Kucharski said the EMC did not include the word “final” in the phrase “prior to final council action” in the motion at the last meeting, though they had agreed on the wording. Therefore, he added it to the proposed bill, which has been sent to Corporation Counsel for review. The commissioners agreed they meant to include it. Director Kucharski said they have an applicant being processed for the Deputy Wastewater Chief position. The applicant is the only one who passed screening in the past six months, which shows how difficult it is to fill some of their positions. Chair Bennett asked for an update on the chronology of the R-1 project, and Director Kucharski said it is still scheduled to be available by the end of 2020. However, if the EIS approval is held up by a Section 106 review, the date becomes unknown. Commissioner Pequeño asked Director Kucharski’s opinion on the recycling program put forth by Out of the Sea Media Arts, and Director Kucharski said he had not seen it but would take a look at it. He is not satisfied with the current recycling programs,