2011-06-16 Veteran Advisory Committee Minutes

Home

Veterans Advisory Committee Page 3 June 16, 2011 doesn’t have any details, but suggested he check with the West Hawaii volunteers attending the meeting about their concerns. Mr. Minoru Hanato said one of the concerns is the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery doesn’t have any sod cutters and Hilo has two. The sod cutters are needed to do a neater job. He said they requested one for Kona and they still don’t have one. He said employees are currently using a knife to cut the sod of the burial area which makes the ground lumpy. The sod cutter keeps the ground flat and even. Mr. Hanato also said in the new urn burial area there is no cinder under the sod, it is just dirt fill with all rocks underneath. There is supposed to be cinder so when you remove the sod with the sod cutter it comes out flat. The sod cutter may not be able to cut it because of all the rocks underneath. The last funeral there which was the first burial, the ground underneath the sod looks terrible. He’s not sure how they are going to fix that. He also said when the plans first came out, there was suppose to be concrete urn vaults put in the ground and there are none. He expressed his concern about the ground looking nice until there is a burial then it looks terrible. Mr. Hanato said the first burial required the backhoe because the ground is packed solid. It wasn’t a good idea to put the first burial next to the road, they should’ve put it in the back on the top end. That’s where the worker suggested, but the supervisor didn’t listen to the worker. The workers don’t want to use the compacter, because the vibration causes the sides to cave in and its all rocks. Chairperson Fox said she thought all burials required plastic vaults. Mr. Hanato responded in addition to those vaults, they are suppose to put the fill and compact it, add more fill and compact it again and shoot water. The sides cave in with the vibration. He said they don’t use it because they are afraid to use it. Chairperson Fox asked Director Fitzgerald to ask the supervisor to talk with Mr. Hanato about his concerns. Director Fitzgerald confirmed that he will get the supervisor, employee and volunteers to discuss what they can do. Mr. Hanato said they still need to get the sod cutter from Hilo. Mr. Delbert Nishimoto asked about the last grant which was about half a million dollars, he believes there is a clause in the grant for purchasing equipment. He suggested they find out what kind of equipment the State or County purchased with those funds and expressed concerns about the accountability of the funds. Director Fitzgerald said the grant went to the state, he will check about the equipment purchased and report back to the committee. Ms. Brulee-Wilson asked Mr. Minoru Hanato if some type of wire mesh could prevent the rocks from sliding. He responded that the wire mesh would have to be heavy duty and would need to be left in all the time.