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OMONAKA: Is the. . . is the Charter as it now stands , working satisfactorily? That ' s basically the question. CHOCK: Very much so, yes . BETHEA: Mr. Sewake, do you. . . OMONAKA: (Inaudible) changes? SEWAKE: Well , I think, you know, looking at it from the services the department provides , and the way it is now, it ' s better because we can plan for long range. I 'm not , of course, looking at it from my job perspective, but only from as far as how it benefits , I think, the water consumers. BETHEA: If I may, Mr . Omonaka, follow up specifically on this question, which I think is a very good one, my understanding is that you feel that operating as a semi- autonomous department is advantageous to the citizens of this community. SEWAKE: Yes. BETHEA: For what reason? SEWAKE: Well , I think the whole object . . .you know, most. . .you can plan for the long range, which is important in any kind of water activity. And I think this is reflected in all of the other counties . All of them are under the semi-autonomous state. Maui was part of the county; and at the last charter review that they had, their charter commission recommended that the Maui County Board of. . .Department of Water be semi- autonomous agency, which the people voted for. So Maui now is like the other islands. BETHEA: You mean, it ' s subject to less political pressure? SEWAKE: Oh, Yes . I think that ' s the other very important consideration. BETHEA: Other questions? L'ORANGE: Well , I have a question. Just as an example, let ' s say you wonder. . .you were not semi-autonomous and you had a surplus of $500, 000. The County Council could take that $500 , 000 and buy trucks for Public Works. Is that correct? (Inaudible. ) SEWAKE: That is what happened before 1949 . So, you know, the water system at that time was in very poor shape because a lot of the water revenues were being used for other political purposes . 90