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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0104.023 2020-2022 PUdic .l Brenda J. Ford 51-950 Makahiki Lane Captain Cook, HI 96704 Tel: 808-323-2323 RE: Budget Hearing -Extending the Alii Drive sewer pipeline to close down the cess pools Aloha All Council Members, For most of the eight years that I served on the County Council, I tried to get that one-mile ' section of Ali'i Drive connected to the County sewer system. Obviously, I failed to achieve 41 objective, and the cess pools continue to leach human waste into the ocean in violation of ther., Federal laws against such acts. Human waste in the ocean water is causing infections in people and in marine life—just ask the fishermen and check with the University of Hawaii —Marine Biology for any research they might have completed on this area of North Kona. I've been told by one local fisherman that he will not fish in the waters of North Kona because the fish are "sick". The County is "liable" to lawsuits from the public who become ill from this situation: malfeasance (Black's Law Dictionary- The wrongful or unjust doing of some act which the doer has no right to perform, or which he has stipulated by contract not to do.) and/or nonfeasance (Black's Law Dictionary - The neglect or failure of a person to do some act which he ought to do. The term is not generally used to denote a breach of contract, but rather the failure to perform a duty towards the Public whereby some individual sustains special damage, as where a sheriff fails to execute a writ. Emphasis mine) I still don't understand why the EPA has not"landed" on the County and fined it multi-millions of dollars for polluting the ocean. Seems as if it would be prudent to fix the problem rather than kick the can to the next Council, wait for the Feds to come after us, or get a lawsuit from someone who gets sick. The last time I spoke with Dora Beck(a highly knowledgeable engineer), she explained that the Ali'i Drive section in question is "downhill" from the existing County sewer pipeline to which it needs to be connected. Therefore, a sewage pumping station would be required at a cost of millions of dollars in addition to the trenching and placement of the County's sewer pipeline. This may be the reason that nothing has been done to rectify the issue of polluting the ocean abutting this section of Ali'i Drive. I recommend several potential "fixes". 1. Face the fact that a County sewer pipeline and possibly a pumping station needs to be installed now! 2. Use bonds to pay for the pumping station and the pipeline AND request a grant from the EPA to assist with the both parts of the project but do NOT wait for the Feds to help the Comm. Mi.. ' '4 rJ Ref® To® Ref. Date I County. The County is liable for the pollution. The County should have requested federal grants years ago, and if the County did not, why not? Bond rates are currently very low. Whoever heads the Wastewater Division can give you a good estimate of the project cost. 3. However, there are other options but the County would still pay to install the pipeline in each case: i t a. Pay KIC to connect the County's sewage pipeline to the KIC sewage plant and for necessary upgrades to bring that sewage plant to Federal standards in order to handle the County's sewage waste. KIC knows already if they need to upgrade their sewage plant from whatever standard they currently have and for their estimated increase in commercial and residential units. Make annual payments to KIC to process the County's estimated portion of the sewage waste. b. Buy the KIC sewer plant but not the underlying land which is in trust—hopefully, a mutually agreeable solution. Upgrade it to bring it up to Federal standards at County expense to handle both the additional sewage load from the Ali'i Drive and the existing load from KIC commercial and residential properties. Lease the land from KIC since it is in trust. Charge KIC for the additional money needed to cover any necessary upgrades for its anticipated new commercial and residential units. C. If all else fails, use the County's eminent domain process to obtain the sewage plant quickly. If ever there was a public necessity for eminent domain, this is it! d. In any case, process the waste water to potable standards before it is released into the environment or mixed with drinking water. e. Regarding the property owners along the one-mile section of Alii Drive: they must pay for: 1) their own internal connection requirements from their commercial or residential structures, if needed, to their own sewer pipeline on their property, 2) pay for the trenching and placement of their own sewer pipeline on their property to the Ali'i Drive sewer pipeline, and 3) pay for a connection to the County's sewer pipeline, if required. 4) However, charging them many thousands of dollars to connect to the County's sewer pipeline is as unreasonable as is paying part of this project's overall cost (pumping station, placement of the sewer pipeline in the street, etc.). Some of these property owners already paid many thousands of dollars to convert from cesspools to septic systems. The problem of no County sewer pipeline in the street has existed for many, many decades. [I've been here over 25 years and the problem predates me by many decades.] Bankrupting property owners or trying to make them foot the bill for the County's refusal to correct the County's portion of the problem is unfair. 5) Some property owners may not be able to financially pay for this massive change all at once. The County could do this work for the property owners as part of the overall project, and make payment arrangements for the property owners on their sewer bills or property taxes to allow them to make payments to the County for such on-site property costs [Items 1), 2), and 3)] for whatever number of years is necessary rather than bankrupt them. It just seems unreasonable to require a single lump sum payment of construction costs when the County has neglected the problems so many decades. 6) Disallow any new commercial or residential structures in this section of Ali'i Drive until the total project is completed. Do not exacerbate the problems. Optimistically, the County can negotiate with KIC to the mutual benefit of both parties. Once a decision is made, please ask the Mayor to insist that Corporation Counsel not dally on this negotiation. I realize that Corporation Counsel will strongly object to my use of the words: "pollution", "fines", `liability", "neglect", "malfeasance", and "nonfeasance" but to date, nothing has worked. Consequently, I must use this language in a public document to impress on the County, the County Council, and the Corporation Counsel of the serious nature of this continuing harm to the people, and the ocean and its marine life. Lastly, if you are going to have professionals speak to these issues and answer questions, please let them do so prior to the public testimony so everyone knows the complete situation before testifying. Mahalo, Brenda Ford Former Council Member