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HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER COMMISSIONPage 28 of 41
<br />SUMADA: Well, not -.
<br />SANTANGELO: Not just having a separate department, but I mean and -, almost like Water, where it
<br />has to semi-autonomous and deals with its own finances.
<br />SUMADA: I think that’s actually -, to me, I separate out as a social issue, it’s about the financing of
<br />solid waste. It’s -, to get from where we are now, which is the majority of our funding comes from the
<br />General Fund, for solid waste, to a self-sufficient operation such as the Water Supply, I think will take
<br />several years, if not decades to make that jump. And whatever administration is going to take that on, I
<br />think it will take several rounds, I guess, of interaction with the Council.
<br />SANTANGELO: Yeah.
<br />SUMADA: To work towards that. So I don’t think that -, it would help, but the prime example of that is
<br />our Highways Division, which already is special funded, and is within our Department. So I guess I look
<br />at the funding mechanism as a separate concern that needs to be addressed.
<br />SANTANGELO: And you alluded to -.
<br />SUMADA: I’m sure it would be helpful though.
<br />SANTANGELO: But you alluded to the next question, that probably is not best addressed by a Charter
<br />Commission.
<br />SUMADA: Yes.
<br />SANTANGELO: Okay. Because it can be dealt with otherwise. Okay, thank you, because that’s kind of
<br />where I go on that. Thank you.
<br />RAY: Other questions? Sue.
<br />IRVINE: I guess I had one question on your first part, about your Division of Permitting. You’d,
<br />basically, be taking over some duties from the Planning Department, is that right?
<br />SUMADA: That’s correct.
<br />IRVINE: Okay. And I really like your idea of combining Wastewater with Water Supply since it’s, you
<br />know, from start to end, and it sounds like financing there could be more workable than on the solid
<br />waste problem which -, I mean, people are much more likely to pay specifically for highways than they
<br />are for taking care of their solid waste. I mean, we’d rather drive around than think about, you know,
<br />where our garbage goes, I think.
<br />SUMADA: I agree with you.
<br />RAY: Anything else? Jiro, so, you know, if we go this route of the, you know, moving Wastewater over
<br />to the Department of Water, and then the scenario develops that solid waste is, you know, even more of
<br />a, you know, management issue, right, depending on what scenario develops. By the way, the Mayor
<br />short dealt with it by saying, well, if we go with plasma arc, maybe it’ll be real simple to deal with.
<br />IRVINE: If we do what?
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