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1) CALL TO ORDER – Chairperson Mukai called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.
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<br />2) STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
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<br />(Mr. Harry Kim, former Mayor of Hawai‘i County, testified regarding the Hawaiian Ocean View water
<br />well. The following testimony is verbatim:)
<br />
<br />MR. KIM
<br />: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission. I’ll make it brief. First
<br />of all, it’s the first opportunity to ever address this Commission. I want to thank the Department of Water
<br />Supply. I was gonna make a list this morning of all the times I had gone through the Water Department,
<br />Milton, for help, and knowing what the legal authority is, or responsibility is, of the Water Department,
<br />and those things I was asking was outside of that. You know, for example, the hundreds of families in
<br />Kona Wonderview/Coastview would not have their water system today if it wasn’t for the Water
<br />Department approving their request to spearhead the project. And we fully realized it’s not really their
<br />responsibility or authority to do so. And I know the time and money it was gonna cost, but we asked for
<br />that help. But it was a dead end of years and years of spaghetti lines and frustration, and water bills of a
<br />couple hundred and more… it’s ridiculous. And we asked for help and he granted it, and they have a
<br />beautiful system today, including the fire protection. I remember the element of the water spigots, known
<br />as the “Waipuna,” that thousands of people, especially in Puna, Ka‘u… you know, who don’t have running
<br />water. And we asked again, Milton, if he’d consider managing the project for us. We don’t know who
<br />else to ask. And now I read in the paper… they had an opening of all the six Waipuna stations, spring
<br />water stations, and now, you know, there are thousands of people throughout the island… and growing up
<br />with catchment, I know how precious that is… to have good water. And I thank you for that. Again,
<br />asking you guys for assistance where it’s not your responsibility. And the subject I’m here for, the HOVE
<br />well. It’s the same thing; it’s not your responsibility to spearhead that, and spend your money on that, on
<br />the thousands of people there that have to drive so many miles for good water. Any kind of water… they
<br />pay a lot of money. The reason we got involved in that is because the community had asked, during the
<br />days of Civil Defense, to participate because of the fire hazard and everything else, outside of drinking
<br />water. It took them years of work, frustration, for the community to get to where they got… and that was
<br />to make a plan and request the State government for $6 million or so to do that project. Governor
<br />Cayetano did not release the money, and we contacted him. He said it’s very difficult to release that kind
<br />of money to a community for this kind of project that has no background. But this is, again... we went to
<br />see Milton because the Governor’s request was, “I will release the money if it passes through the County
<br />government of Hawai‘i to monitor, supervise.” And again, we went to Milton, and you, to help us with
<br />this project. And they have a beautiful well today. People will not have to drive miles and miles for their
<br />water, just to have drinking water. So I’m here for two reasons. First of all, to thank you, Milton. I hear
<br />the son of a gun is retiring. But that’s okay; young guys gotta retire, too. Publicly… for all the help, all of
<br />these years, not only as Mayor, but as Civil Defense… many, many times, I’d ask you for help -- beyond
<br />your responsibility -- for the people of Hawai‘i. And I know a lotta times it did cost you money, outside of
<br />staff time. The second is to support the HOVE well. It’s a good project. It’s a needed project. So thank
<br />you very much for considering it, and I ask you to please approve it. Thank you.
<br />
<br />(Mr. Mike Dubois gave testimony about the Hawaiian Ocean View water well. The following testimony is
<br />verbatim.)
<br />
<br />MR. DUBOIS
<br />: Thank you for letting me speak today. We want to thank Mr. Pavao for all the hard work
<br />that he’s put in to make sure that Ocean View has a well and running water for the first time. And some of
<br />the concerns that we had, he very graciously came out and addressed those issues for the community. We
<br />had about 40 people attend the meeting at the water facility, water filling site, of which there were several
<br />concerns. One of them, which was addressed, was that entrance road. This was a road that is
<br />approximately 335 feet long, and it is 20 feet wide, but is also was built up to about six feet high, with
<br />about 60-degree sides to it; no guard rails… All built basically on gravel. So Milton has his engineers out
<br />Page 2 of 29 9-27-11 ~ Water Board Minutes js
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