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BETHEA : . . .Ron. <br /> IBARRA : And I just want to go over. . .basically I 'm. . . some <br /> of the agencies as we go to the third row. Of course , the Water <br /> Supply is also under a. . .is semi-autonomous because it has a <br /> separate budget. Dr. Juvik knows. And , believe me , that ' s an <br /> impossible situation to be in because Maui County , they were <br /> considering whether or not the Water Supply should be brought back <br /> under the executive branch, not having its own budget. And if you <br /> ask me for my opinion , whether or not that should be done , I would <br /> say, no. Because Water. . .the whole purpose of that again was <br /> brought out. . .is to take the politics out of the Water Depart- <br /> ment. And, certainly , water being so necessary, I would be afraid <br /> to see the revenue. . .Water gets its budget from the water <br /> revenues. They ' re a self-supporting business, as Dr. Juvik knows, <br /> and I hate to see the budget go to the general fund and the County <br /> supporting other County functions. Because then, you know, at <br /> least in my four years in administration , I haven ' t seen any pro- <br /> blem with the Water Department. And I can see if the revenues are <br /> mixed with the general fund, and they come under the general <br /> supervision and control of the mayor, they ' ll. . .and just put in <br /> the entire general fund , I would see the Water Department fighting <br /> for its share of the budget and I don' t think that would be an <br /> efficient way of providing water to the taxpayers. <br /> GREENWELL : Another thing to, with having it as it is now <br /> set up, is that its bonds are considered to be high quality <br /> because of it being run as a business rather than as a political <br /> entity. <br /> IBARRA : But, certainly, I agree with that. But then the <br /> problem I saw in the Water Department was , and, well, we didn ' t <br /> have a problem once we addressed it, was that it used to be the <br /> water manager and the planning director don ' t get together. And <br /> as a result , planning is not going along the same route. <br /> Because. . .and what we tried to do was , certainly , bring them <br /> together and tried to plan accordingly. Because. . .with the <br /> necessary infrastructures and resources. But that we took care of <br /> again under the clause again, general supervision and control. <br /> BETHEA : Uh-huh , I see. Because they could be developing <br /> the water system somewhere where the Planning Department ' s not <br /> going to allow development. I see that. <br /> OMANAKA : Another problem too is that the Water Department <br /> doesn' t allow people , you know, apart from the (inaudible) . <br /> IBARRA : Yes. Exactly like you generally pointed out. But <br /> what we did was, when the Water Department lobbied , certainly , we <br /> coordinated because we found certainly the Governor and <br /> legislators were, fortunately at this time , contacting the mayor. <br /> And there was a case where the Water Department was asking for <br /> some money and the Governor said , well, to the mayor. What do you <br /> 73 <br />