2009-11-06 TMALA MOHALA - Laserfiche WebLink

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MCKINNEY: Well, certainly I wanted to see what we were going to deal with later. Again, I believe I was operating as a campground and a working farm. I always thought that that’s what we were. and was a bit surprised to find out that I was operating an unlicensed special treatment facility. KERN: Right. Okay, -. MCKINNEY: I certainly do -. KERN: Well, yeah, whether or not it was a treatment facility or a farm, what was the concept of not getting your buildings permitted? MCKINNEY: Well, I think we made some mistakes. I was a little unsure how to work all of these incredibly different varying information and requirements. I think not having the survey made it very difficult for me to get the appropriate permits. And I’m certainly not happy about the way that the last five years has transpired, and we’ve certainly made some mistakes. But I also had every intention of doing things the right way. And I’m excited to have that chance today and certainly open to whatever conditions and whatever timeframes we need to meet, because we’re very committed to running an excellent facility and being responsible to the people and to the County. KERN: Okay. Do you currently have a survey in the works identifying where the buildings are located and setbacks and the rest of that? ZELKO: We are definitely in the works of doing that, especially after receiving that email on Wednesday about a building that perhaps straddles the State land. We would remove the building. I mean I think that’s -. You know, part of the thing, we understand there are going to be some tough conditions that are put against the special permit, including having to have everything permitted within six months. And, you know, at this point we are willing to do anything. So we’re on contact with different people, even in the Department of Health. Because a part of we’re running a camp, which Department of Health clearly doesn’t seem to want to regulate, is very different from a special treatment facility. And just going back, I think they didn’t have a clear idea of the type of business they were going to run when they came before the Commission; and, I mean, they will say they were just unprepared at that point. They do actually run a facility now at the Shirakwa Hotel, they run a camp there. And so they know what they’re doing and it works. They employ 42 people and, you know, the kids, it’s a great program. But, again, I think the main thing, and they do understand they’ve got to be permitted. They do have conditions. They’ve got to follow every rule, County, State, Department of Health. So all of those questions would be at some point addressed, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to utilize the permit. KERN: Correct. Thank you for that. It’s a little bit challenging when we, you know, we’re in Hawaii here and people build unpermitted buildings from time to time, to see all of them unpermitted is a little bit challenging, especially where you have the history in which it went through and been deferred. I think it makes it a little more challenging cause you look at it 8 EXHIBIT B