2016-03-03 Hearing Transcript - Update Puna Pono Alliance et al GAF Claim

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KANUHA: Just depends what, you know, the Commission’s directive or decision’s going to be, but, you know, until the claim is adjusted, and, again, yeah—that’s, that’s where the real issue is, yeah? Making some adjustments to the claim so that it can meet this procurement requirement. DEDMAN: And where does the Mayor’s situation come in? Does it have a problem with that? KANUHA: Well, the Mayor’s situation is the Mayor’s Geothermal Health Study, they had a hard time getting into procurement themselves. Matter of fact, it’s been eight months, and they’re not through. They’re not even through the process. Eight months—none of the funds that the Commission allocated to them have been issued— DEDMAN: And that’s not taxpayer’s money; that’s geothermal royalties? KANUHA: Geothermal, right. It’s geothermal fund— DEDMAN: —So, it’s nothing to do with the taxpayer, yet it has all these taxpayer’s fingers— KANUHA: —Exactly— DEDMAN: —on top of it? KANUHA: Exactly. HARDEN: So, what does it need in it to get through the claims adjuster? KANUHA: And that’s what we’ve been trying to figure out. What would it take for the claims adjuster to run this, this claim through? Again, the more we get into it, the more we’re going, eh you know what? The money that this claims adjuster is going to make a recommendation as to whether or not it’s good to go or not is money that, you know, we control. So, that’s why we rather keep that out of our wheelhouse. You understand what the, what the deal is. That asset fund is—is basically protected. I mean, we can’t use it for, we can’t even use it for the claims adjuster. You know, we gotta pay him out of our own budget. There’s no staff. It’s—it’s a real protected fund, and the setup is like this and so it’s protected where it is and how people can use it is through this procurement thing. And, believe me, man, we in government, we run into our own issues with procurement, but, you know, there’s a reason for that. It’s not as if there’s, there is a way to have certain things go through procurement and others not because the guy that, the gatekeeper for the procurement thing, he has, you know, Federal standards and everything weighs on him, so he’s gonna make sure everything—every “i” is dotted, every cross is “t’d.” \[Sic.\] That’s— DEDMAN: Is this adjuster a private or is he a County employee? KANUHA: Oh, he is a County—he’s with the Department of Finance, yeah. BRILHANTE: May I interject. The claims adjuster is an independent third party. 14 EXHIBIT E