2001-09-26 Enviromental Management Commission Minutes

Home

Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 2 of 7 hopes Commission members will get advice from people who do the day-to-day work with respect to waste and recycling. That is real important. Mike DuBois has been on the Big Island for the past 5 years and is in the business of recycling and has a commercial business picking up glass bottles from hotels, bars, and restaurants. He has been embroiled in the harshness of politics through the County Administration who have created what has developed into a lot of mistrust as to how recycling programs need to be addressed and developed on this island. Upon his arrival in September 1995, and the first words out of the mouths of people that he had met were, "Do you really recycle that stuff or are you just throwing it away?" How is it that there is so much mistrust of what the recycling industry does to this day? Recycling is an absolute must. The County is constantly shutting down recycling programs. They shut down green waste programs after hundreds of people start to recycle their green waste saying there is no funding. They are constantly threatening the Diversion Grants Program. This creates an image to the public. This has created a real hardship for the businesses. He hopes that the Commission will work with the business industry. He has a tremendous background in recycling and waste disposal management. He hopes that the Commission recognizes the experience that the business people have on this island and to also understand the history of what has transpired so far and to make the corrections that are necessary. He hopes his future in recycling is not jeopardized and that the people of this County have the best possible waste management program without having any more mismanagement. He understands that the Commission is here in an advisory capacity to the new and established Environmental Department and certainly appreciates their time and effort. Riley Smith stated that one way to efficiently communicate with the Commission is to put everything in writing and get it to Kristen ahead of the meeting for distribution and review. APPROVAL OF ADDENDUM AND/OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA Hugh Ono motioned that the Environmental Management Director’s Report be added to the Agenda. Barbara Bell seconded. Motion was unanimously carried. INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN Galen met with George How and Ron Soroos of Harding ESE to discuss changes to their scope of work. Because of the critical need to address the closure and replacement of the Hilo Landfill, this will now be their central focus rather than the entire Solid Waste Management Plan. The consultants will be required to use a facilitator and will provide a presentation to the Department before any meetings are conducted with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. We need to address what is happening in East Hawaii since we do have a 2004 deadline. Riley commented that he did not attend any of the SWAC meetings, but the public comments he did get were that the meetings were very loose and there didn’t seem to be a lot of organization or structure. We are trying to respond to some of those comments and have more structure and allow the comments that the public and the members of the SWAC have to be incorporated and clearly communicated to the Consultants. It is very important to have a professional facilitator to make sure the meetings are conducted in a professional, efficient and productive manner. FY 2001-2002 BUDGET REDUCTION Due to anticipated revenue shortfalls, the Department has been required to submit revised budgets. Finance Department is looking for a 10% reduction from the Solid Waste Division. We will be submitting a budget reduction package based on 3 levels of impacts. The first level is budgeted, but undelivered, equipment and vacant positions. The second level will impact optional programs such as recycling. The third level will impact mandatory programs such as landfill operations. The Departmental budget will also be reduced by 10%. Because Wastewater operations are funded by special revenues, no cost cutting measures are presently required. Galen stated there is a concern about the terrorist attack and its impact to our economy. Also real property taxes and Nansay are causing a negative impact to our overall budget. All departments funded by the general fund will be asked for a budget reduction. As a result, we have to make some proposals and budget cuts. These are the levels of cuts that we can make. That will be presented to administration and it will be up to them what level they want to cut. file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011