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HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSIONPage 27 of 41
<br />Division is taking a vast majority of my time.
<br />BALOG: Well, that was my next question.
<br />SUMADA: Based because of the -, what’s happening to the Island as far as the landfills are concerned.
<br />BALOG: Well, it just seems to me with more -, I hate to pick your brain in an informal meeting, but a
<br />more -, in an ever-growing EPA-minded world, that for our Public Works Division, if you’re going to be
<br />taking on a one-stop, supposedly, permitting agency that’s going to, what do they call that, cut red tape.
<br />SUMADA: Yes, that’s the intent.
<br />BALOG: And speed up the process, you may have the qualified guys, I agree you do, but I just find it
<br />hard that if the department’s going to be stuck with wastewater and solid waste, I combine them in my
<br />mind, it’s real tough. Because that is one of the major issues in your department on an on-going basis.
<br />No one ever, you don’t have large concerns someone’s not getting a building permit. It may take a
<br />while, but that solid waste and wastewater is a huge part of that department. And then I think you guys
<br />could focus more on cost effectiveness of projects and other things that you do on a daily basis, such as
<br />your paving of road programs and what not.
<br />SUMADA: Well, I think part of the reason that I had proposed it to the Mayor was, basically, just to
<br />ease the span of control for the Chief Engineer, to allow that individual to provide that direction and
<br />vision that’s needed. The eight divisions that we have are very diverse and some, basically, kind of run
<br />themselves, you know, based on the experience of the Division Chief that’s there. Some require constant
<br />attention and direction because of the nature of the issues that we’re dealing with such as solid waste.
<br />And because it’s in the public eye so much and everybody has varying opinions about how we meet or
<br />how we can solve our solid waste concerns. I think a variety of ways of doing things are possible.
<br />RAY: Kevin, are you -?
<br />BALOG: Yeah, that’s about -. I don’t want to get into details, so that’s it.
<br />RAY: Okay. Well, we’ll be discussing that, too.
<br />BALOG: Yeah. Yeah.
<br />RAY: Okay. John.
<br />SANTANGELO: These meetings have interfered, you know, with the Solid Waste Advisory Council
<br />that we both sit on, and you know I -, you know what my stand is there. I had brought this up with the
<br />Mayor, and he really glossed over that rather rapidly when he was here, Jiro.
<br />My concern on that solid waste issue, which is, as you know, a large issue with me, on a budgetary
<br />basis, if this is -, I had the pleasure of going to Puente Hills Sanitation District there in L.A. and seeing
<br />how wastewater and solid waste were handled together, and how they had to deal with their own budget,
<br />and they created their own money, and that’s something that appeals to me because with the EPA, with
<br />the regulatory environment being what it is, you’re mandated to do almost everything that you do. It’s
<br />not like you get real inventive. And something can come down unfunded that can really affect the
<br />overall County budget and the way we are with money. So my attitude is this has a possibility of
<br />creating a more secure budget by separating it out. Do you have any comment on that?
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