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NEW BUSINESS <br />Presentation by Warren Lee, Director, Hawai‘i County Department of Public <br />Works <br /> <br />C. CholasW. Lee <br /> did the introduction of Warren Lee and Neil Erickson. <br />introduced himself as the Director of the Department of Public Works, and Neil <br />Erickson a professional architect employed at the Department of Public Works as <br />a Building Plans Examining Manager. Warren gave a brief description of what <br />the Department of Public Works does. The Department of Public Works at the <br />County of Hawai‘i is comprised of five divisions. We have the Administration <br />office; the others are the Building Division, Highways Division, Engineering <br />Division, Automotive Division, and Traffic Division. The Traffic Division takes <br />care of all the traffic signals, the signs, markings on the road, parking stalls, <br />making sure that ADA accessibility guidelines are met. The Engineering Division <br />does roads, floodway channels, any land acquisition. In the Building Division, we <br />do building projects for the County of Hawai‘i. The Building Division was <br />responsible for the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, the renovation of the Hawai‘i <br />County Building, and upgrading various police stations and fire stations for <br />hazard mitigation like tsunami, hurricanes, high winds and also to make sure that <br />things are ADA compliance. <br /> <br />A. Parker <br /> stated that Neil Erickson used to be in private sector and he was the <br />architect that did this ADRC Building. <br /> <br />W. Lee <br /> – The Building Division has the project section and they do the building <br />permit and inspection. And that’s really where the answer is in response to the <br />questions that were asked today. The Building Division basically has four <br />categories. They will accept that application from the owner or the <br />architect/engineer of record representing the owner. The next step is the plan <br />goes to plan review. So the inspector, the supervisor or an architect will review <br />the plans to make sure it complies with the Building Code. (And our Building <br />Code incorporates also the State Building Code and other standards.) Once the <br />permit is issued, it goes to the inspection phase. Our inspectors are out there in <br />the field making sure that what is being built comports with what was approved. <br /> <br />The next phase is the enforcement phase. You go through the application, the <br />application is accepted, we make sure that all the drawings or the plans that are <br />submitted are properly stamped or approved, certified by a registered architect or <br />engineer. That means the architect/engineer is saying that all the code <br />requirements are met. He submits a letter of certification saying that he has <br />reviewed the plans and to the best of his knowledge, everything submitted is in <br />accordance with the code. If it’s a private type building, we rely on the <br />certification or the architect engineer stamp in processing it forward. So, there’s <br />minimal to review for ADA or accessibility requirements. <br /> <br />On the other hand, if it is a government building, especially one that we do, we <br />send the completed plans to DCAB for review. And they do a very extensive <br />review. <br />2 <br /> <br />