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minutes 10-27-99Page 15 of 48
<br />private water systems comprise, what would you say, what percentage of water usage on the island?
<br />PAVAO: I believe about 20-25%.
<br />RAY: So, you’re talking about a pretty complex problem here.
<br />HERKES: Yes, I understand. Yes.
<br />HIGASHI: I just had one question. Supposing you come to an agreement on handling the billing, what -
<br />RAY: My understanding, there already is an agreement.
<br />HIGASHI: No, they’re working on an agreement.
<br />RAY: Okay.
<br />HIGASHI: I don’t think they have it down in writing.
<br />RAY: Okay.
<br />HIGASHI: Once we have that agreement, what form would it lay before everybody? Would it require an
<br />ordinance, so that the Commission could decide we just want to cancel the thing? I mean, what’s the
<br />next step once we have an agreement? How do we keep it enforced?
<br />PAVAO: Well, first of all, in absence of an actual agreement, we have it in writing that we will
<br />cooperate and do the billing, so it’s a done deal. We agreed many months ago that we’ll do it. I think the
<br />only thing that needs to be changed, as far as ordinance, is our rules and regulations because the rules
<br />and regulations of our department specifies when, how and where we can discontinue water, and right
<br />now, there is no provision for non-payment of sewer billing.
<br />HIGASHI: No, no, I understand that, Milton. I understand.
<br />PAVAO: That’s probably the thing that we have to change immediately.
<br />HIGASHI: All I’m saying is, once you have an agreement, I mean, something that should be iron clad
<br />without one party just changing his mind. Right now, you have the opportunity of putting it in the
<br />Charter. In absence of that, is there a strategy as how to keep this agreement in force without just saying
<br />the Commission changes its mind?
<br />PAVAO: Yes, well, I don’t have any strategy in mind, but I assure you, when the time comes, we
<br />certainly will take a look at what Oahu has in place, with their Sewer Department, because, as I said,
<br />they do provide that service to the Sewer Department, and we’ll kind of look at what Oahu has in forms
<br />of agreement, then see if we could make that agreement fit our situation.
<br />HIGASHI: Would you say that, from listening to the discussion, that your agreement is within reach
<br />within a couple of months, to solidifying that agreement?
<br />PAVAO: Well, the agreement itself, if you’re talking about a written agreement, we haven’t even
<br />discussed that. If you’re talking about our ability to do it, that’s about 12 to 18 months down the road,
<br />because as I mentioned earlier, our financial management system hardware just arrived. We still need
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