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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN EMC 2018/07/24 2016-2018Committee on Environmental Management 14th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii July 24, 2018 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Environmental Management was called ORDER: to order at 10:47 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Chair (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Mr. Dru Mamo Kanuha, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Jennifer Ruggles, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Vice Chair STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak in support of Bill 154 (Comm. 941), and came forward when called by the Chair: Dorse Allen Snyder. Heidi Jaworski. Iyra Haas. Aviana Haas. Martin Weiner. Frank E. Rice, representing Ka`u Auto Repair. CHR. O'HARA: Are there any more testifiers in any locations? I think that may have wrapped up Public Testimony. Okay, at this point, I would like to close EMC -14 July 24, 2018 Public Testimony. I'm going to ask the Clerk to give some guidance here. I had intended to turn the meeting over to the Vice Chair, but since he's not present, I do have an amendment to Bill 154, which is a bill I introduced. Is it appropriate for me to continue or should I seek another chair for the rest of the meeting? MR. HENRICKS: You could continue as chair if you believe that one of your Committee Members would make the motion to amend on your behalf or if you'd like to do that yourself, then, it'd be best to have somebody else chair the meeting from this point going forward. And I would think the easiest way—go ahead, why don't you answer that question first? Which would you prefer? MS. O'HARA: I would prefer someone else take the chair if they could, from Kona side, and I'd also like to know—I see him now. I see Mr. Kucharski is present in Kona. MR. HENRICKS: Yes, he is. I think the easiest way to move forward, then, is ask for somebody that's here to volunteer to chair this meeting since your Vice Chair isn't present and we also don't have the Finance Chair present to handle these matters. MS. O'HARA: Ms. Poindexter, would you be willing? MS. POINDEXTER: Yes, I'll do it. Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Chair relinquished the chair to Council Chair Poindexter. MR. HENRICKS: Okay, well then, let's have the record reflect that Council Chair Poindexter has assumed the role of chair for this Environmental Management Committee meeting at this point in time. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. Okay, can I have a MR. HENRICKS: I would read in and do the motion on the floor. So, if I may read in the bill? ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Go ahead. MR. HENRICKS: Thank you. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) Page 2 EMC -14 July 24, 2018 ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Bill 154: AMENDS CHAPTER 20, ARTICLE 3, SECTION 20-31, BY ADDING NEW DEFINITIONS AND SECTION 20-38, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED) BY RENAMING, AMENDING AND ADDING NEW SUBSECTIONS AND SUBPARAGRAPHS Would extend the authority of the Department of Environmental Management to remove abandoned vehicles from certain private roadways in the interest of public health and safety. Reference: Comm. 941 Intr. by: Ms. O'Hara Referred to Environmental Management Director and Commission: May 21, 2018 (Note: There is a motion by Ms. Ruggles, seconded by Mr. Kanuha, to recommend passage of Bill 154 on first reading.) ;and Comm. 941.4: From Department of Environmental Management Director William Kurcharski, dated July 2, 2018, and Environmental Management Commission Chair Richard Bennett, Ph.D., dated June 28, 2018, forwarding their favorable recommendations. (Note: Comm. 941.5, from Council Member Eileen O'Hara dated July 20, 2018, transmitting a proposed amendment to Bill 154, was circulated.) MR. HENRICKS: So, we do have a motion on the floor, Madam Chair, so, you can go ahead and entertain discussion. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Council Member O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter, for assuming the chair. I would like to, at this point, amend Bill 154 with the contents of Communication 941.5. Page 3 EMC -14 July 24, 2018 Motion to Amend: Ms. O'Hara moved to amend Bill 154 with the contents of Comm. 941.5. Seconded by Ms. Ruggles. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Council Member O'Hara. MS. O'HARA: Thank you. We had a positive recommendation from the Environmental Management Commission on this bill, but they also had a recommendation to include a public outreach program, which I don't believe that the Department of Environmental Management currently has with regards to the Abandoned Vehicle Program. And I think it's noteworthy that one of the testifiers from Ocean View indicated that there is an abandoned vehicle on the highway, and I'm assuming that's our public highway, that is preventing a good line of sight when they're coming out of their private roadway. And yet, that vehicle has sat there on the side of a public road for almost two months. One thing that we discussed at the Environmental Management Commission was that although a vehicle may appear to us as an abandoned vehicle, it's very apparent, the wheels start disappearing, the parts start coming off, unless somebody from the public calls that into the Police Department and reports its location and description as an abandoned vehicle, it isn't the case that the police will automatically act on it. Although it looks like an abandoned vehicle, smells like an abandoned vehicle, just because it's out there, unless the public takes that first step of calling in an abandoned vehicle, it doesn't necessarily get responded to. So, that's important to have this public outreach program. So, that's been added to this bill. Another thing is that we had a description that the department will remove the abandoned vehicles from areas and that it was up to the abandoned vehicle coordinator to determine that the area is unsafe. In this case, we've changed that to read, "if the director determines that the area is unsafe for a tow truck to traverse;" and that's the times we will not be able to service an abandoned vehicle. So, those were the changes that were made, shifting that to the director and not the abandoned vehicle coordinator, as well as the public outreach program. So, if anybody has any questions on the bill at this point, I'm sure Mr. Kucharski is present and can probably answer those questions. Thank you. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: So, we're on Communication 941.5. Any discussion on the communication? Seeing or hearing none, can we vote on Communication 941.5? All those in favor say "aye." Page 4 EMC -14 Vote on Motion to Amend: (Approved) July 24, 2018 The motion to amend Bill 154 with the contents of Comm. 941.5 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Ruggles, and Acting Chair Poindexter — 6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, David, and Richards — 3. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, so now, we're back to the main bill as amended. So, Bill 154, as amended, with the context of 941.5. Council Member O'Hara, do you have anything else? MS. O'HARA: No, just asking for your support. As you've heard from testifiers, this is a very much needed change to our ordinance, and this is a program that doesn't suffer from lack of funding. We need to move forward and get these abandoned vehicles off of the private roads, in our subdivisions of Ka`u and Puna in particular. But throughout the island, we have problems with cars being abandoned and put on private roads. So, this is a very much needed change in ordinance. Mahalo. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Thank you. Council Member Kanuha. MR. KANUHA: Thank you, Madam Chair. Mahalo, Ms. O'Hara, for bringing this forward, and the community, for expressing their concern in their subdivisions with the buildup of these abandoned vehicles. Director Kucharski, would you like to say a few things? I support this bill and I appreciate the amendment to this. I think it's always important to provide a greater education to the public about the processes involved with abandoned vehicles. Director Kucharski? (Note: At this time, Department of Environmental Management Director William Kucharski came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. KUCHARSKI: Bill Kucharski, Director of DEM (Department of Environmental Management). I also support this bill. This is a problem for the County, not only in Ka`u but throughout the County. I don't think there is a single district that one of you could say, "I don't have an abandoned vehicle in my district." It's concentrated down there, and I think it's concentrated because we have, in my opinion, people and organizations that are purposefully dumping vehicles because of low population density access and there's a lot of property Page 5 EMC -14 July 24, 2018 there. And for me, that's something that we need to be able to deal with, the bad behavior that's causing this. We're looking at the effect, but the root cause is people just taking advantage. I am very much in tune with the people that are saying we need to do something. As soon as we get this law, the Code modified that allows us to do this, we will proceed. I will say we have—we do not have a financial issue. We have money in the fund to do this. What we do have, however, is a lack of resources. We have three towing zones. We have three contracts that have gone out for towing companies to respond to the needs to tow those vehicles. We have not looked to break it down into smaller pockets, but that is a suggestion that I will discuss with the abandoned vehicle group. That sounds like something that we ought to take a look at, and there may be some specialized ones for some of these bad areas. One of the other issues, just to let everybody know, we only have one or two processing facilities on the island to take these derelict vehicles and take get them ready for shipment off island, and they have limited capacity. The number of vehicles that we have may exceed their capacity. Now, we can tow and put them in our lots and then, as we're able to, take them in and get them into the ultimate disposal. But, this is going to take an amount of time for us to catch up. I know everyone is tired of seeing this and tired of having this happen, not the least is ourselves, DEM, because we want to do our job and we are funded and we just need to get to this. We're looking at modifying the procedures by which we mark a vehicle as abandoned. There are very specific requirements in the Code that need to be followed, and so, we're looking to work with the police to possibly get our AV coordinators deputized to allow them to issue citations. Right now, we can't tell until a citation is issued and the police have a lot of problems, life threatening problems, and abandon vehicles, while it's in front of everyone's property, it's very important on the scheme of things. Sometimes, it doesn't rise to the level that the people would like it to. So, we need to be able to take some of that burden off the police, and this is something that we're looking and working on to try and help with this problem. With that, I will say I'm in support of this, changing from the coordinator to the director, they should not be posed with that responsibility, and that needs to be on the director. I apologize for not thinking about that sooner. We also agree that the public outreach is necessary and we're fully in support of this bill. MR. KANUHA: Thank you for that. I agree, we're here to help you be as efficient as possible as well. So, any way the Council can help, either with some Code changes, we're there. The public wants the departments to be efficient with Page 6 EMC -14 July 24, 2018 how they deal with abandoned vehicles. So, I support this and mahalo, Ms. O'Hara, for the introduction. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: Okay, any other discussion? Seeing or hearing none, all those in favor of approving Bill 154, as amended, say "aye." Vote on Bill 154: The motion to recommend passage of Bill 154, as amended Draft 2 to Draft 2, on first reading was carried by the following voice (Approved) vote: Ayes: Committee Members Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Ruggles, and Acting Chair Poindexter — 6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, David, and Richards — 3. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. POINDEXTER: At this time, can I have a motion to adjourn? ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 11:23 a.m., Ms. Eoff moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting. Seconded by Mr. Kanuha and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Eoff, Kanuha, Lee Loy, O'Hara, Ruggles, and Acting Chair Poindexter — 6. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Chung, David, and Richards — 3. Excused: None. CHR. O'HARA: This meeting is adjourned. Approved: Ms. Eileen O'Hara, Chair Environmental Management Committee EO/j m 9/1//00 (Date) Page 7