HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-28 Water Board Meeting Minutes MINUTES
DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY
COUNTY OF HAWAI`I
WATER BOARD MEETING
May 28, 2024
West Hawaii Civic Center, Building G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Stephen Kawena Lopez, Chairperson,Dist. 8
Mr. Michael Pono Kekela, Vice-Chairperson, Dist. 4(via videoconference,
came in later))
Mr. Michael Bell,Water Board Member,Dist. 7
Mr. Thomas Brown,Water Board Member,Dist. 3 (came in later)
Mr. James Kimo Lee,Water Board Member, Dist. 2,
Mr. Benjamin Ney,Water Board Member, Dist. 9
Ms. Emily Taaroa,Water Board Member, Dist. 5 (via videoconference)
Mr. Keith Unger,Water Board Member, Dist. 6 (via videoconference)
Mr. Keith K. Okamoto,Manager-Chief Engineer,
Department of Water Supply(ex-officio member)
ABSENT: Ms. Kea Keolanui,Water Board Member, Dist. I
Director,Planning Department(ex-officio member)
Director,Department of Public Works(ex-officio member)
OTHERS PRESENT: Ms. Diana Mellon-Lacey,Deputy Corporation Counsel
Ms. Ann Hajnosz,representing Harris &Associates (via videoconference)
Mr. Jeff Bray, guest
Mr. Ikaika Kailiawa-Smith, guest
Mr. Jeff Zimpfer, guest
DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY STAFF:
Mr. Kawika Uyehara, Deputy
Mr. Kurt Inaba, Engineering Division Head
Ms. Candace Gray, Waterworks Controller
Mr. Alvin Inouye,Water Operations Superintendent
Mr. Eric Takamoto, Operations Division
Mr. Warren Ching, Energy Management Analyst
Ms.Nora Avenue,Recording Secretary
I) CALL TO ORDER—Chairperson Lopez called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. A roll call was taken for
Board Members in attendance. Six Board Members were present: Mr. Bell,Mr. Lee, Mr. Ney,Ms. Taaroa,
Mr. Unger, and Chair Lopez.
2) STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC—Pursuant to HRS §92-3, oral testimony may be provided entirely
at the beginning of the meeting, or immediately preceding the agenda item. There were no statements from
the public at this time.
(There were none.)
3) APPROVAL OF MINUTES
• ACTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the Minutes of the April 23, 2024 Public Hearing on
the Power Cost Charge; seconded by Mr.Ney and carried unanimously by voice vote
(Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell, Lee,Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
• ACTION: Mr. Ney moved for approval of the Minutes of the April 23,2024 Water Board meeting;
seconded by Mr. Lee and carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa;
Messrs. Bell, Lee,Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
• ACTION: Mr. Unger moved for approval of the Minutes of the April 23, 2024 Public Hearing on the
Water Rates Schedule, in Hilo, Hawaii; seconded by Mr.Ney and carried unanimously by
voice vote (Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell, Lee,Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
• ACTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the Minutes of the April 24, 2024 Public Hearing on the
Water Rates Schedule, in Kailua-Kona,Hawaii; seconded by Mr.Ney and carried
unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,Lee,Ney,Unger, and
Chairperson Lopez).
4) APPROVAL OF ADDENDUM AND/OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA—None.
5) DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY PROPOSED AMENDED OPERATING AND 5-YEAR CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS (C.I.P.)BUDGETS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the agenda
item.
The Department's Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget,totaling $69,151,304.00, and 5-Year C.I.P. Budget for
Fiscal Year 2025-2029,totaling$203,335,000.00 has been distributed for the Board's review. A public
hearing was held on March 19, 2024,to accept testimony. The Board may change either Budget or adopt
them as presented over two readings.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve the Department's Amended Fiscal Year
2025 Operating and C.I.P. Budgets on this first of two readings.
ACTION: Mr. Unger moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr.Ney and carried
unanimously by voice vote(Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
6) WATER RATE STUDY:
Chair Lopez asked if'there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the agenda
item.
The consulting finn of Harris&Associates was contracted to determine water rates for the Department for
the 5-year period, Fiscal Year 2023 to Fiscal Year 2027.
The Water Board held public hearings on the Proposed Water Rates on April 23,2024 at the Liquor
Conference Room, 101 Aupuni Street,Unit 230, Hilo,Hawaii, and on April 24,2024 at the West Hawaii
Page 2 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Civic Center, Build G, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway,Kailua-Kona,Hawaii to accept testimony on the
proposed water rate increases that were published in the newspapers in Hilo and Kona on April 1, 2024.
RECOMMENDATION: The Department recommends the Board approve the proposed water rate
increases of 9.5% each year, for Fiscal Year 2025, Fiscal Year 2026, and Fiscal Year 2027 under the existing
rate structure for the consumption and standby water rates,to be effective July 1,2024, July 1,2025, and
July 1, 2026.
ACTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Bell and carried
unanimously by voice vote(Ayes: 6—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,Lee, Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
7) SOUTH KOHALA:
A. WATER TREATMENT PROPOSAL NO. 2024-06,FURNISH AND DELIVERING VARIOUS
TREATMENT CHEMICALS (LIQUID AMMONIA; 50%LIQUID CAUSTIC SODA; C-9
POLYPHOSPHATE; 38% SODIUM BISULFITE; 50% SULFURIC ACID; 12.5% SODIUM
HYPOCHLORITE, 50% SODIUM HYDROXIDE, ACCU-TABS SI TABLETS,AND SODA ASH)
TO THE WAIMEA WATER TREATMENT PLANT, DISTRICT OF SOUTH KOHALA(ON AN
AS-NEEDED BASIS):
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
This bid generally consists of furnishing all labor,materials,tools and equipment necessary to deliver
various treatment chemicals to the Waimea Water Treatment Plant, for a period not to exceed two
years.
Bids were opened on May 2,2024, at 2:00 p.m., and the following are the bid results:
South
Malama Pacific Gold Estimated
Brenntag Solutions & Phoenix V Shannon Combine Cost Based.
LLC dba Chemical
Pacific Supplies, LLC DBA on Mat:Bid
LLC BEI Hawaii Corporation Chemstation 2022-05
Hawaii
Part A—Liquid
Ammonia,
delivery once per
Non-
month, (90 Non- No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid $669.28
cylinders per year) Responsive
Cost per 100
pound cylinders
Part B—50%
Liquid Caustic
Soda(4 dry tons No Bid $2,855.96 $2,307.42 No Bid No Bid $2,101.52
per 5 weeks) Cost
per dry ton
Page 3 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
South
Malama phoenix V Shannon Pacific Gold Estimated
Brenntag Solutions & LLC dba Chemical Combine Cost Based
Pacific Supplies, LLC DBA on Ma't.Bid
LLC BEI Hawaii Corporation Chemstation 2022-05
Hawaii
Part C—C-9
Polyphosphate(7
drums per month) No Bid $1,219.50 $1,221.30 $1,127.27 $1,131.00 $1,042.00
Cost per 30 gallon
drum
Part D—38%
Sodium Bisulfite Non-
(Delivery once per Responsive $820.00 $404.47 No Bid $605.90 $5119:40
3 weeks) Cost per
50 gallon drum
Part E—50%
Sulfuric Acid Non-
(Delivery once per $795.00 $425.17 No Bid $766.76 022.00
3 weeks) Cost per Responsive
750 pound drum
Part F— 12.5%
Sodium
Hypochlorite(3 Non-
drums per month) Responsive $389.50 $392.91 No Bid $495.00 $3!89 62
Cost per 53 gallon
drum
Part G—50%
Sodium
Hydroxide Non-
(Delivery once per Responsive $925.00 $450.37 No Bid $495.00 $385.65
month) Cost per
650 pound drum
Part H—Accu-
Tabs SI Tablets Non-
(14 buckets per Responsive $240.00 $187.99 No Bid $256.97 $19 .08
month) Cost per
60 pound bucket
Part I— Soda Ash
(62 bags per 3 Non-
weeks) Cost per Responsive $31.85 $32.00 No Bid $38.24 $25.20
50 pound bag
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board award the contract for WATER
TREATMENT PROPOSAL NO. 2024-06 FURNISH AND DELIVER VARIOUS TREATMENT
PLANT CHEMICALS TO WAIMEA WATER TREATMENT PLANT by Parts to the following for
the amounts shown above, and that either the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson be authorized to
Page 4 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
sign the contract(s), subject to review as to form and legality of the contract(s)by Corporation Counsel.
The price agreement shall be from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026.
Parts B, D, E, G, and H to Phoenix V LLC dba BEI Hawaii
Parts F, and I to Malama Solutions & Supplies, LLC
Part C to Shannon Chemical Corporation
For Part A No Bids were received. Staff will seek alternative procurement pursuant to HAR 3-122-35
to secure pricing in the best interest of the Department.
MOTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Unger.
CHR. LOPEZ: Any discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,Mr. Chair. Real quickly,we'll need to defer the award to Part C,to Shannon
Chemical Corporation. They as of yet are noncompliant with the Hawaii Compliance Express (HCE)
requirements which is required before we award to a contractor. So just that part,the rest is still okay.
CHR. LOPEZ: The rest is as noted in the agenda.
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay. Any further discussion? (none) All in favor of the motion say"aye."
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote(Ayes: 7—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,
Kekela, Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
CHR. LOPEZ: Let the record show Vice Chair Kekela is now present.
8) NORTH KONA:
A. JOB NO. 2016-1056, WAI`AHA DEEPWELL REPAIR—REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
The Department is requesting a contract change order for the additional work for inclusion of special
coating for threading on the positive check valve, and special anti-seize compound. The request for
these precautions were made to prevent or significantly reduce the chances of galling occurring with
the stainless-steel check valve the Contractor specified to furnish as part of Change Order#2. The
description of the additional work and associated fees are as follows:
ITEM DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
Phenolic coating for stainless steel check valve $ 1,130.89
1 threads and thread lubricant.
TOTAL $ 1,130.89
Page 5 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Original Contract Amount: $ 650,000.00
Original Contingency Amount: $ 65,000.00
1st Additional Funds Request: $ 380,080.50
2nd Additional Funds Request: $ 1,130.89
Total Revised Contract Amount: $ 1,096,211.39
Staff reviewed the request for additional funds and found that the $1,130.89 can be considered justified.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve an increase in contingency of
$1,130.89 to Derrick's Well Drilling&Pump Services, LLC,for a total project cost of$1,096,211.39
for JOB NO. 2016-1056,WAPAHA DEEPWELL REPAIR.
MOTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Unger.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,Mr. Chair. Sorry, we forgot to include this in your packet, basically the
proposal from the contractor for this additional cost. If you have any questions regarding this
additional work,Eric can explain.
MR. LEE: How come it wasn't included? Well, I'm kind of new here, so the $380,080.50,the
1"Additional Funds, what was that for?
MS. TAAROA: That was for—
CHR. LOPEZ: $380,000, I't Adding Funds Request.
MR. LEE: It's just like 50%of the contract?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes, that was for the settlement agreement of warranty, to get us—
MR. OKAMOTO: I'll try explaining it. Just for some background, this one we went into mediation
because of a dispute between the department and contractor. What happened was basically their cable
on their rig broke and sent items down the hole. Through several years of back and forth,it was settled
on that amount. There's an additional detail we can probably discuss on the side,Mr. Lee,but
basically for that amount to proceed with repairing this well. We've had this well out of commission
for a number of years, and it's been brought to the Board numerous times for discussion and even
through Executive Sessions. Basically, it reached the point where we needed to move on, and that's
what that settlement came to, and that's what we settled on to have the contractor to proceed with
repair.
This one is now our department's request. This $1,000 is basically to provide a coating on stainless
steel. If you folks kind of know stainless steel threaded fittings, it can lock up the threads if you don't
have it properly lubricated and/or with a proper coating, especially if there's—even if it's stainless to
stainless,you'll have that situation. But this one, is it stainless?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Stainless to carbon steel.
MR. OKAMOTO: Carbon steel. So even more so,we wanted to have this extra work done that wasn't
foreseen when we initially scoped this out.
Page 6 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
CHR. LOPEZ: Thank you for that. Did your question get answered, Mr. Lee?
MR. LEE: Yes.
MR.NEY: How many sets of threads, I mean like how many pipes are we talking about that they're
trying to coat?
MR. TAKAMOTO: They're just putting the check valve.
MR. NEY: Just the check valve?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR.NEY: The materials are that much?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR.NEY: Seems a lot.
CHR. LOPEZ: I have a question. I could have looked this up ahead of time,I apologize. Galling?
MR. TAKAMOTO: That's the process that Keith explained about, the threading locking up.
CHR. LOPEZ: It locks up?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes. Basically, galling is another term for when it locks together. Basically,
you're fusing the metal together.
CHR. LOPEZ: Is that incompatibility of metal? Like copper or stuff like that?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Not necessarily.
CHR. LOPEZ: That's a different subject?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: All right,thank you. That's enough. Any other discussion? All in favor of accepting
the recommendation say"aye."
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote(Ayes: 7—Ms.Taaroa;Messrs.Bell,Kekela,
Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
B. JOB NO. 2023-08 (MAT),F&D SPARE PUMP AND MOTOR SET FOR KALAOA #1 DEEPWELL
—REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS AND TIME EXTENSION:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
The Department is requesting a contract time extension of 40 calendar days, due to the delays from
resolving the motor lead and testing issues. The 40 calendar days was assessed from 01/30/2024 to
Page 7 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
02/26/2024, and from 04/04/2024 to 04/15/2024. Note: There are no additional costs associated with
this time extension.
Ext. From To Days
# (Date) (Date) (Calendar) Reason
1 03/31/2024 04/23/2024 23 Delay due to need for additional funding.
2 04/23/2024 05/08/2024 15 Delay due to DWS submittal review.
3 05/08/2024 06/17/2024 40 Delay due to resolving equipment issues
and DWS submittal review.
Total Days (including this request) 78
1 st time extension—23 calendar days
2nd time extension— 15 calendar days
3rd time extension—40 calendar days
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve a contract time extension
of calendar days for JOB NO. 2023-08 (MAT), F&D SPARE PUMP AND MOTOR SET FOR
KALAOA#1 DEEPWELL. If approved,the contract completion date will be revised from
May 8, 2024 to June 17,2024.
MOTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Unger.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. UNGER: June 7"is in a couple of days,what is the status today?
MS. MELLON-LACEY: It's June 17'
CHR. LOPEZ: ITT
MR. UNGER: Oh, 17r", okay.
CHR. LOPEZ: You still have a question.
MR. OKAMOTO: That's still a valid question, so Eric can provide—
MR. UNGER: It's still a valid question,that's only a week away.
CHR. LOPEZ: Go ahead,please.
MR. TAKAMOTO: Basically the time that they requested, it could be enough time for them,but that's
all the time that we considered justified; so if they exceed the time,then they'll be accruing liquidated
damages.
Page 8 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay, any other discussion? I have a question. I kept myself wrapped around the axel
on this 40 days, when it says it"was assessed from 01/30/24,"in the request section, so that to me is—
which date are we working with, either May 8'or January 30r''9 You see that in"The Department is
requesting ...the date the motor manufacturer received the motor from the,"—so that's what my
question is, where is the January 30'h because that's kind of the start date.
MR. TAKAMOTO: The project may possibly be suspended,that's why the 40 days doesn't
necessarily count from January 301h. I think once we issue the notice to resume work, then they have
40 days, which would bring us to that new date, May 8th
CHR. LOPEZ: May 8th is when the 40 days,the calendar days starts?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: Do you think it's worthwhile to clear up this language,40 calendar days was assessed
from January 30'99
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes, we can clarify that language further in the minutes.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay, got me. All right, any other discussion? (none) All in favor of the
recommendation for 40-day grant of extension say"aye."
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 7—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,
Kekela, Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
9) MISCELLANEOUS:
A. MATERIAL BID NO. 2024-01 —FURNISHING AND DELIVERING PIPES, FITTINGS,
WATER METERS, FIRE HYDRANTS, BRASS GOODS,VALVES, ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES,
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT, SCADA,WATER QUALITY EQUIPMENT, CHLORINATORS,
MOTORS AND MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY
STOCK:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Bids were opened on May 9, 2024 at 1:30 p.m., and the following are the bid results:
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
1 DUCTILE IRON PIPE, Core&Main LP dba $113,000.00 $108,000.00
PUSH-ON TYPE JOINT Pacific Pipe Company
2 DUCTILE IRON Core&Main LP dba $193,082.00 $161,385.00*
FITTINGS Pacific Pipe Company
Page 9 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
DUCTILE IRON Core& Main LP dba
3 FITTINGS— $12,705.00 $33,035.00
CORROSIVE SERVICE Pacific Pipe Company
4 DUCTILE IRON SOLID Core&Main LP dba $72,330.00 $65,702.70
BODY SLEEVES Pacific Pipe Company
5 FLANGE GASKETS No Bids No Bids
6 NUTS, BOLTS,AND No Bids $71,930.20
THREADED RODS
7 COPPER TUBING Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $174,015.95 $194,750.00
GALVANIZED PIPES Core&Main LP dba
8 T&C(THREADED & $34,915.00 $101,436.30
COUPLED) Pacific Pipe Company
9 METER BOXES Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $56,425.00 $47,643.00
10 METER COVERS Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $7,900.00 $8,200.00
11 AUTOMATIC METER Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $101,160.00 No Bids
READING UNIT
12 SMART WATER Core&Main LP dba $221,206.00 $200,432.00
METERS Pacific Pipe Company
13 5/8"WATER METERS Badger Meter,Inc. $71,712.00 $64,422.00
14 NEPTUNE T-10 SERIES Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $118,765.00 No Bids
METER PARTS
15 BADGER RECORDALL Badger Meter,Inc. $5,526.00 $5,175.26
SERIES METER PARTS
16 1"- 2"WATER METERS Badger Meter,Inc. $13,976.90 $11,920.00
17 COMPOUND WATER Badger Meter,Inc. $14,774.22 $11,755.00
METERS
18 TURBINE METERS Badger Meter, Inc. $26,074.85 $23,204.00
19 DETECTOR CHECK Core&Main LP dba $7,805.00 $7,000.00
METERS Pacific Pipe Company
20 FIRE SERVICE METERS Badger Meter,Inc. $80,404.40 $63,771.00
21 FIRE HYDRANTS Core& Main LP dba $244,000.00 $200,671.00
Pacific Pipe Company
22 TAMPER-RESISTANT No Bids $201,420.00
FIRE HYDRANTS
Page 10 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
23 MUELLER FIRE Core& Main LP dba $29,528.00 $24,549.91
HYDRANT PARTS Pacific Pipe Company
24 M&H VALVE FIRE Core& Main LP dba $28,402.00 No Bids
HYDRANT PARTS Pacific Pipe Company
25 AMERICAN DARLING Core&Main LP dba $29,548.00 No Bids
FIRE HYDRANT PARTS Pacific Pipe Company
26 BALL METER VALVES Core&Main LP dba $90,250.00 $79,742.50
Pacific Pipe Company
BALL VALVE,PACK Core&Main LP dba
27 JOINT X METER $67,240.00 $55,854.40
COUPLING/FIP Pacific Pipe Company
28 COMPRESSION JOINT Core&Main LP dba $9,000.00 $8,372.00
COUPLING Pacific Pipe Company
29 METER FLANGE Core&Main LP dba $6,350.00 $5,623.50
COUPLING Pacific Pipe Company
30 PACK JOINT Core& Main LP dba $60,270.00 $54,917.25
COUPLING Pacific Pipe Company
CORPORATION AND Core& Main LP dba
31 CURB STOPS—BALL $147,455.00 $128,223.80*
TYPE Pacific Pipe Company
32 HOSE BIBBS Ferguson Enterprises, LLC $5,260.00 No Bids
INVERTED MARKING Safety Systems and Signs
33 PAINT Hawaii, Inc. dba Statewide $17,544.00 $14,450.00
Safety Systems
34 AIR RELIEF VALVES Core&Main LP dba $48,300.00 $52,250.00
Pacific Pipe Company
SLOW CLOSING
35 No Bids
AIR/VACUUM VALVES
36 SILENT CHECK Core&Main LP dba $152,800.00 $138,156.50
VALVES Pacific Pipe Company
DUCKBILL CHECK Core&Main LP dba
37 VALVES Pacific Pipe Company $111 080.00 $125 530.30
GATE VALVES—3" Core&Main LP dba
38 AND LARGER, 125# Pacific Pipe Company $89,888.00 $77,510.54
CLASS
Page 11 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
GATE VALVES—3" Core& Main LP dba
39 AND LARGER 2504 $150 733.00 $137,045.24
CLASS Pacific Pipe Company
BUTTERFLY VALVES— Core& Main LP dba
40 3"AND LARGER 125# $20 761.00
CLASS Pacific Pipe Company '
41 AUTOMATIC Core&Main LP dba $2,661,400.68 $2,735,602.16
CONTROL VALVES Pacific Pipe Company
ROTARY PUMP
42 CONTROL VALVES No Bids No Bids
AND ACTUATION
43 RESERVOIR LEVEL TK Process Hawaii, LLC $14,109.20 $12,614.28
INDICATOR
44 HATCH FRAMES AND No Bids No Bids
COVERS
EMERGENCY Safety Systems and Signs
45 EYEWASH/SHOWER Hawaii,Inc. dba Statewide $169,847.30 $157,636.70
STATIONS Safety Systems
Safety Systems and Signs
46 SUPPLEMENTAL PPE Hawaii, Inc. dba Statewide $8,776.76 $7,829.00
Safety Systems
47 ELECTRICAL GLOVES No Bids $2,605.00
48 PORTABLE POWER No Bids No Bids
CABLE&FITTINGS
49 INDUSTRIAL MOTOR No Bids $154,860.00
LEAD CABLE
50 INDUSTRIAL No Bids $13,425.00
CONTROL WIRING
51 HEAVY-DUTY SAFETY No Bids No Bids
SWITCH
MEDIUM-VOLTAGE
52 REDUCED VOLTAGE TK Process Hawaii, LLC $374,369.60 $538,718.99
SOFTSTARTER
53 ULH VARIABLE No Bids $1,422,213.00*
FREQUENCY DRIVES
Page 12 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
54 VARIABLE TK Process Hawaii, LLC $3,370,222.58 $3,268,314.41
FREQUENCY DRIVES
55 POWER QUALITY No Bids No Bids
EQUIPMENT
56 SURGE PROTECTION TK Process Hawaii, LLC $90,766.18 $90,595.81
DEVICES
57 PROGRAMMING SCADA&Control $1,135.00 $560.00
SERVICES Systems, LLC
PRESSURE
58 TRANSDUCER—WELL No Bid No Bids
LEVEL
PRESSURE
59 TRANSDUCER— No Bid No Bids
RESERVOIR LEVEL
60 PRESSURE TK Process Hawaii, LLC $4,988.26 $4,846.46
TRANSMITTER
61 FLOW SWITCH TK Process Hawaii, LLC $2,648.66 $2,335.28
ELECTROMAGNETIC
62 FLOW METER—WELL No Bids No Bids
&BOOSTER
ELECTROMAGNETIC
63 FLOW METER— No Bids No Bids
RESERVOIR&PRV
REAGENTLESS
64 CHLORINE RESIDUAL No Bids No Bids
ANALYZERS
65 WATER QUALITY TK Process Hawaii, LLC $108,513.63 No Bids
EQUIPMENT
66 REAGENTS AND TK Process Hawaii, LLC $14,687.32 No Bids
STANDARDS
67 MULTISTAGE No Bids No Bids
BOOSTER PUMPS
DIGITAL CHLORINE
68 CYLINDER SCALE TK Process Hawaii, LLC $53,200.80 No Bids
CHLORINE GAS
69 No Bids
EXHAUST FANS
Page 13 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Section Estimated Cost
No. Description Bidder Amount Based on
Mat. Bid 2023-01
70 CHLORINE GAS No Bids No Bids
FEEDER
71 MECHANICAL SEALS No Bids No Bids
72 MOTORS No Bids No Bids
73 INDUSTRIAL No Bids No Bids
LUBRICANTS
LEGACY LEAK NOISE
74A DATA LOGGER& Wong's Equipment& $5,940.86 $1,967.54*
PARTS Service, LLC
75 LEAK NOISE DATA TK Process Hawaii, LLC $69,094.32 $49,814.32
LOGGERS
76 LIGHT EMITTING TK Process Hawaii, LLC $4,786.65 $4,782.75
DIODE LUMINARIES
*Item(s) in this Part for Material Bid 2023-01 may have been different or additional items were added
to this Part for Material Bid 2024-01.
The contract period for all Parts is one year, from July 1, 2024,to June 30, 2025. All Parts are
established price agreements for materials on an"As-Needed Basis."
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board award the contract for MATERIAL BID
NO. 2024-01,FURNISHING AND DELIVERING PIPES,FITTINGS, WATER METERS, FIRE
HYDRANTS, BRASS GOODS,VALVES, ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES,ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT,
SCADA, WATER QUALITY EQUIPMENT, CHLORINATORS,MOTORS AND
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY STOCK by Parts to
the following for the amounts shown above, on an as-needed basis, and that either the Chairperson of
the Vice-Chairperson be authorized to sign the contract(s), subject to review as to form and legality of
the contract(s)by Corporation Counsel. The contract period shall be from July 1,2024, to
June 30,2025.
Parts 1,2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 19,21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,28,29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39,40, and 41 to
Core&Main LP dba Pacific Pipe Co., Inc.
Parts 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 32 to Ferguson Enterprises, LLC
Parts 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20 to Badger Meter,Inc.
Parts 33,45, and 46 to Safety Systems& Signs Hawaii, Inc.
Parts 43, 52, 54, 56, 60, 61, 65, 66, 68, 75, and 76 to TK Process Hawaii, LLC
Part 57 to SCADA& Control Systems, LLC
Part 74A to Wong's Equipment& Services, LLC
Page 14 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
For the Parts where no bids were received, staff shall seek alternative procurement pursuant to
HAR 3-122-35 to procure the required materials in the best interests of the Department.
MOTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr.Ney.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: Okay, I wanted to take some time,primarily for the new Board members. This is a
recurring—every year we'll put out this bid, and this is to essentially establish a pricelist for us to be
able to buy material instead of having to do an individual quote for each item as we need it. We may
not necessarily use or need to purchase all the items on this list,but it will establish a price contract for
us to do so should the need arise, which is why we call it on"As-Needed Basis." If there are any
questions
CHR. LOPEZ: Question, SCADA?
MR. OKAMOTO: SCADA is Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition,basically it's an acronym to
cover equipment that we can use to monitor things we need to monitor without actually having to drive
to the site,we can do it remotely.
CHR. LOPEZ: So is that related to this item,Part 57, SCADA& Control Systems,LLC? Is it
software?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes, for that particular section, they're providing programming services.
CHR. LOPEZ: They're providing services,but the term you're applying here in the recommendation is
for a broader term,not just—
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes,for other sections also.
CHR. LOPEZ: Thank you. Any other discussion?
MR. LEE: Is there a reason why there are so many No Bids?
MR. OKAMOTO: I don't know if there is a reason,but it does happen. We don't know the reason
why;but should we need that item during the course of this next fiscal year, then we'll typically
probably do a Request for Quotes (RFQ), depending on what the cost amount is. So,we'll still keep it
competitive. We still have to follow procurement.
CHR. LOPEZ: But that doesn't have to come back to the Board,right,because it's under HAR-3-122-35?
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
MR.NEY: Keith, so these are all line-item budgets for like an aggregate of each material I guess, or a
part. We have the prices locked in?
MR. OKAMOTO: Mm-hm(affirmative).
MR.NEY: Per cost,per item. Have you guys had any issues with them coming back and saying,
"Hey, our costs have gone up unexpectedly. We've got to pass along that difference."
Page 15 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. TAKAMOTO: In some instances, we have an escalation clause to cover that.
MR. OKAMOTO: It's in the contract?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR.NEY: But is that stipulated in the contract with them that if they had to adjust for inflation on
some of these items, or do we have to come back and present that to the Board and say, "Hey, these
costs of these items are going up from what it originally was agreed upon?"
MR. OKAMOTO: I think in general, if I'm understanding what Eric said correctly, some items we
may put an escalation clause in. It may not apply to all of these items. Now if it doesn't have that
escalation clause in the contract and they want to raise their price,then I think for that particular item
we would need to come back to the Board and request your approval; otherwise, it's established by
contract that this is what we'll pay for that piece of equipment.
MS. MELLON-LACEY: If I could just add,I think the whole Procurement Code under the State is to
be fair and reasonable for vendors, and so it's not like you would,you know,make them and then go
broke. They know this is a contract, but they would have to provide proof.
MR.NEY: So in their cost?
MS. MELLON-LACEY: Yes, it's a whole mechanism for this. It's not like, "Hey, it's going up,"
They've got to prove and show it.
MR.NEY: Yeah, as long as they validate that it's costing them money. Thanks.
CHR. LOPEZ: Any other questions, or discussion?
MR. UNGER: To clarify your thing,this is just a checklist that if the Water Department needs any of
these items they can go to the contractor and say, "Hey,we want to purchase those items,"and then
you go and purchase them and they're locked in for the year, is that correct?
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
MR. LINGER: Okay. Well, I would recommend—I mean, number 8, it looks like you got a really
good deal this year unless that's a typo. Boy, at some point if you got a deal like that,I would just go
and buy that and stockpile it for future use.
MR. OKAMOTO: I don't know the details on that particular line item,but great point. If the
department can take advantage of prices, and we have the ability to increase our stock, we'll definitely
do that. Sometimes these bids are based on an estimated quantity, so it's not like we're going to
actually buy that amount over the course of a year,but just so all the different vendors are bidding
accordingly. Sometimes a material will cost different; if you say you buy 20 tons of it during a year
versus one ton of it during the year.
MR. UNGER: Okay,understood.
MR. OKAMOTO: I'm not sure that's reflected—
Page 16 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. UNGER: Just looking at the sheet here, I would certainly recommend you all look into it; if you
get a 70% discount for something you know you're going to need in the future,that might be
something to consider.
MR. OKAMOTO: Right. Good point,thank you.
CHR. LOPEZ: Any other questions, discussion on the agenda item? Hearing none,we'll go to a vote.
All in favor say"aye."
Point of MR. OKAMOTO: Just a Point of Order, Mr. Chair,just for Nora's sake, we're going to assume all the
Order: votes so far have been unanimous "ayes," and nobody has voted"nay"to any of the other items. Just
to make sure.
MS. MELLON-LACEY: We could do roll call.
MR. OKAMOTO: No, I think it's working just as long as we all are on the same page. I think the
Chair is moving very quickly, so I appreciate that.
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 7—Ms. Taaroa, Messrs. Bell,
Kekela, Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
B. MATERIAL BID NO. 2024-02 -FURNISH BASE COURSE, SAND, COLD MIX,HOT MIX,
AND NO. 3F ROCK TO THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Bids were opened on May 2,2023, at 2:30 p.m., and the following are the bid results:
Edwin Estimated
Deluz Grace Jas.W. Puna Rock Cbst'Bsed
Trucking Pacific, Glover, Company 6
&Gravel, LLC Ltd. Limited Mat.'Rid
LLCO23-02
DISTRICT I:
IA. 3/4-Inch Base Course No Bid No Bid 521.00 $20.80 00.05
(Cost per ton)
1B. 1'/z-Inch Base Course(Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid $21.00 $19.7519,00
1C. No. 3F Rock No Bid No Bid 541.00 $24.35 523,00
(Cost per ton)
1D. #4 Sand(Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid $49.00 $43.95 43,95'
lE. Mortar Sand -ASTM C 144 (Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid $64.00 No Bid $6 ,90
Page 17 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Edwin Estimated
Deluz Grace Jas.W. Puna Rock Cost Based
Trucking Pacific, Glover, Company on
& Gravel, LLC Ltd. Limited Mat. Bid
LLC ZOJ42
Cold Mix—ASTM
1F. D4215-87(Cost per No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid,
ton)
Blended Material 60%
1 G. #4 Sand and 40%No. No Bid No Bid $57.00 $26.95 $21.70
3F Rock(Cost per ton)
1H. Hot Mix- County Mix No Bid No Bid $186.00 No Bid No Bid.
IV(Cost per ton)
DISTRICT II:
3/4-Inch Base Course
2A. $15.90 No Bid No Bid No Bid Na Bid
(Cost per ton)
11/2-Inch Base Course
2B. $15.15 No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid,
(Cost per ton)
No. 3F Rock
2C. (Cost per ton) $22.90 No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid..
21). #4 Sand(Cost per ton) $29.95 No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
2E Mortar Sand-ASTM $75.00 No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
C 144 (Cost per ton)
Cold Mix- ASTM
2F. D4215-87(Cost per No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid $177,�10
ton)
Blended Material 60%
2G. #4 Sand and 40%No. $22.15 No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
3F Rock(Cost per ton)
DISTRICT III:
3/4-Inch Base Course
3A. No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
(Cost per ton)
11/Z-Inch Base Course
3B. (Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid.
Page 18 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Edwin Estimated
Deluz Grace Jas.W. Puna Rock Cost Based
Trucking Pacific, Glover, Company oil
& Gravel, LLC Ltd. Limited Mat;Bid
LLC 2U2 -02
No. 3F Rock
3C. (Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
3D. #4 Sand(Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
3E. Mortar Sand-ASTM C144 (Cost per ton) No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid
Cold Mix-ASTM
3F. D4215-87(Cost per No Bid No Bid No Bid No Bid $184.00.
ton)
3G. Hot Mix- County Mix No Bid $250.50 No Bid No Bid $17&50
IV(Cost per ton)
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve the contract for MATERIAL BID
NO. 2024-02,FURNISH BASE COURSE, SAND, COLD MIX, HOT MIX,AND NO. 3F ROCK TO
THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY by Parts to the following for the amounts shown above,
and that either the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson be authorized to sign the contract(s), subject to
review as to form and legality of the contract(s)by Corporation Counsel. The price agreement shall be
from July 1,2024,to June 30,2025.
District I - Parts IA, 1B, IC, 1D, and I to Puna Rock Company, Limited
Part I to Jas. W. Glover,Ltd.
District 1I - Parts 2A, 213, 2C, 2D, 2E, and 2G to Edwin DeLuz Trucking&Gravel, LLC
District III - Parts 3G to Grace Pacific,LLC
For Parts 1F, 2F, 3A, 313, 3C, 3D, 3E, and 3F no bids were received. Staff will seek alternative
procurement pursuant to HAR §3-122-35 to secure pricing in the best interest of the Department.
MOTION: Mr. Unger moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Bell.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes. One correction,in District 1 we need to add Item I to I to be awarded to
James W. Glover,Ltd. So it's Part I and Part I to James W. Glover, Ltd. No changes to the rest
CHR. LOPEZ: So lH goes under James W. Glover?
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
CHR. LOPEZ: And it's not previously listed anywhere else, okay. Very good,thank you. Any other
discussions or questions? We have a motion, all in favor say"aye."
Page 19 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 7—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,
Kekela, Lee,Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
C. MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA)FOR THE EMERGENCY POWER TRANSFER
SWITCHING CAPABILITY FOR CRITICAL WATER INFRASTRUCTURE:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
The Department of Water Supply(DWS)is proposing to enter into a MOA with the Hawaii
Emergency Management Agency to facilitate the allocation of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant
Program funds to DWS' Emergency Power Transfer Switching Capability for Critical Water
Infrastructure project. This project involves the installation of power transfer switches and supporting
infrastructure at six(6)well sites (Honoka`a,Makapala,Parker#1, Lalamilo C, Kahalu`u A&C, and
Keahuolu wells). The federal share will be 90% of the total project cost,not to exceed$702,000.00.
DWS share will be a 10%match. DWS will be responsible for the procurement of the professional
services and construction.
Federal Share(90%): $ 702,000
DWS Share(10%): $ 78,000
Total Est. Project Cost: $ 780,000
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve the MOA with the Hawaii
Emergency Management Agency for the Emergency Power Transfer Switching Capability for Critical
Water Infrastructure, and that either the Chairperson or the Vice-Chairperson be authorized to sign the
MOA, subject to review as to form and legality by Corporation Counsel.
MOTION: Mr.Ney moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Bell.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,for the Board's information,this is our continuing effort to be better
positioned for resiliency's sake, for the scenario where we do have power outages and things like that.
So I want to thank Warren for working hard to go after these types of funds. What I think should be
noted on this particular Federal funding is that it's a 90/10 split. Normally, it's 75/25, where our share
would be 25%. This is a great deal, yes, it's like getting a 90% sale on something. But if you have
questions,Warren's available.
MR. UNGER: Keith, can you just briefly describe what this is?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yeah,this will help it be more plug&play, to hook up a backup generator to our
facility. So contrary to maybe the public's awareness, even though you have a backup generator,
unless on the design and construction of our facility you incorporate the backup generator plug-in to the
facility,it takes a lot of additional work to actually hook up a generator to one of our control buildings.
So this work will make it as seamless as we can make it to incorporate and utilize backup generators at
these locations. Is that about it?
MR. CHING: Yep.
MR. OKAMOTO: Other than that, does that make sense?
Page 20 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. UNGER: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: Any other questions? Hearing none, all in favor of the recommendation say"aye."
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 7—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell,
Kekela, Lee, Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
D. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING(MOU)BETWEEN COUNTY OF HAWAI'I FINANCE
DEPARTMENT (FIN)AND COUNTY OF HAWAl'1 DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY (DWS)
FOR UTILIZATION OF STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUNDS:
CHR. LOPEZ: Is there any testimony for this item?
MS. AVENUE: Mr. Chair,we Mr. Ikaika Kailiawa-Smith who would like to come forward and testify.
CHR. LOPEZ: We have somebody on this item,yes,Mr. Smith.
MR. SMITH: My name is Ikaika Kailiawa-Smith,running for County Council District 6. I am reading
through this, and the funds are $60 million are wanting to be approved for Lalamilo. My question is,
one,Lalamilo is Hawaiian Homes,that's a state entity. Their budget was $600 million last year, so
why are these emergency funds going to Lalamilo? Second part, on Lalamilo, is million-dollar homes
in that community, so why aren't their taxes going to this one?
Right now as it sits,the EPA is shutting down gang cesspools in my district of Na`alehu and Pahala.
These are returned people who have paid taxes their entire life and now have to give or find $30,000 to
$70,000,pull it out of somewhere,to build septic tanks. The County is supposed to be building a
wastewater treatment facility. So why is the $60 million going to Lalamilo instead of Ka`u where the
EPA is going to start fining the County for its failure to upkeep the wastewater in Ka`u? So that's my
question,why is this money being spent over there and not in my district,I thought we pay taxes,too?
MR. OKAMOTO: I'll report to that during our discussion period.
MR. KAILIAWA-SMITH: Okay.
MR. OKAMOTO: Okay thanks, Ikaika.
CHR. LOPEZ: The United States Congress,through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Funds (SLFRF) a part of the American Rescue Plan, allocated$350 billion to state, local,
and Tribal governments across the country to support their response to aid recovery from the
COVID-19 public health emergency. One of the permitted uses for these funds is to make necessary
investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
Hawaii County("COH")received an award for sixty million,two hundred thirty-three thousand six
hundred thirteen dollars($60,233,613). Under the SLFRF program,funds must be used for costs
incurred on or after March 3,2021. Further, funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and
expended by December 31, 2026, defined as the period of performance.
FIN desires to enter into a MOU with the DWS to award funds for a portion of the cost of the
construction of the Lalamilo 10 million-gallon(MG)Reservoir for the Lalamilo Water System. The
MOU is currently in draft form.
Page 21 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the Board approve entering into a MOU with FIN to
receive SLFRF funds for a portion of the construction costs of the Lalamilo 1 Omg Reservoir, subject to
the approval of the Corporation Counsel and that the Chairman or Vice-Chairman be authorized to sign
the MOU.
MOTION: Mr. Lee moved for approval of the recommendation; seconded by Mr. Unger.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion?
MR. OKAMOTO: First,I'll explain, and sorry, we may have confused folks with our write-up on the
agenda. Basically this is that American Rescue Plan Act. The Feds, they like to make titles and then
they shorten it with acronyms, so this Act authorized the funds, which is the SLFRF Funds (State and
Local Fiscal Recovery Funds). Various states got these fundings, and it was primarily COV1D time.
But after an iteration or so,they decided to add critical infrastructure,including water and wastewater.
The entire County was awarded$60 million. They're allowing us a portion of that, $3 million, and
we'd like to use that on our Lalamilo IOmg reservoir project. We've got some funding,but we're
underfunded for that project already. Graciously,we took them up on that offer to get$3 million to
help supplement our funding for that project.
I understand Mr. Smith's concern in his district,Na`alehu, and the cesspools. I'm not sure what kind of
funding,if any, came from this pot of money to go to that effort.
MR. SMITH: No, and that's why I was asking why it's going there instead of(inaudible).
MR. OKAMOTO: Okay, and that's actually not our department. You would need to check with
probably Wastewater or other departments in the County. Basically,that's it. If there are questions—
CHR. LOPEZ: Given what Mr. Smith said, and given what you just said,I would have expected to see
in the recommendation,where it says, "the Board approve entering into a MOU with FIN to receive
SLFRF funds for a portion of the construction costs,I would have expected to see $3 million here
because that changes the whole picture of what we're actually voting for.
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
CHR. LOPEZ: Do you want to make that part of your recommendation?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,we can include the actual fund as part of the recommendation.
CHR. LOPEZ: Or a portion(inaudible).
MR. UYEHARA: Yeah,I guess for clarity? (inaudible).
CHR. LOPEZ: Well, it's in the MOU document. But if it's on here,will you point that out to me?
Where is the$3 million?
(BOARD MEMBER?): It's not$3 million.
CHR. LOPEZ: So it's separate from the—which is what we're working with. We have to use all
$3 million,right?
Page 22 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. OKAMOTO: You're correct,just for clarity.
CHR. LOPEZ: So to your other point of the $60 million being awarded,the question about
Mr. Smith's concern for sewer would be directed to Sewer to see if what portion of that is being used
for that need.
MR. OKAMOTO: Correct.
CHR. LOPEZ: We're only concerned with the $3 million awarded to DWS?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes
CHR. LOPEZ: All right,thank you.
MR.NEY: I guess my question is too, Keith,when these funds were given to the County, did they
have allocation amounts that suggested how much to each department? That's totally the discretion of
how the County wants to allocate anything(inaudible),basically?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes, I believe that's their discretion. From my understanding,Department of
Finance took the lead and I think they did a presentation to County Council as well, on the use of this
fund. One of the important pieces of this funding is if you don't have it locked in or allocated by
December 3 1"of this year,the County stands to lose the funds.
MR.NEY: Is there any discussion from us saying, "=Hey, if we feel like this is a fair portion,then we
should get, or is there a little bit of lobbying on your guy's part to go, "Hey,we don't want 5% of this,
we want 10%,"or whatever the case. Because one thing with the County, you know, like partly to his
point,they have a huge revenue stream through property tax, and that reinvestment of money going
back into the community, from the Water Department standpoint,we want to be cut and fair too on
things.
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes, so basically that's part of my job to do those binds of lobbying requests,to
make sure that we're not forgotten. A lot of times we do sometimes get forgotten because we generate
our own funds, and typically the funds from Real Property,we don't receive any of that,right.
MR.NEY: Right,right.
MR. OKAMOTO: So that gets apportioned to all the other County departments. In cases like this
though,where it's external funding, federally funded, and especially when they added an amendment to
the funding to allow for drinking water projects,you know for sure I'm going to ask them; and
basically I'll ask them, "I'll take $10 million if you got it,"but I think they had to distribute it more
evenly. For us to get$10 million out of the$60 million, it would probably been disproportionate.
MR.NEY: Do you feel there's a lot of transparency from the County? For instance, some of these
properties are paying six-figures of property tax,you know, these mega houses on the coast. At the end
of day,you got all these revenues. I was just talking to a client whose property got reassessed, and he
goes, "Where's all that money going towards?" It just doesn't seem like there's a lot of that comes out
of it sometimes.
MR. OKAMOTO: And that I wouldn't feel comfortable even opining on that. That's something
outside of our jurisdiction.
Page 23 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. SMITH: Could I ask you a question about(inaudible)?
MR. OKAMOTO: No, sorry.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay, any other discussion, questions?
MR. OKAMOTO: We can talk story any time after.
CHR. LOPEZ: Oh, let the record show that Mr. Tom Brown is attending the meeting. Another voice
vote. Thank you. All right,I'll call for the vote because I'm very sensitive to the issue brought up. To
me it's not just gang cesspools but cesspools all over Hawaii. I would like to emphasize Keith's
already agreed that the recommendation,the portion,the MOU is entering into for SLFRF Funds for
DWS is $3 million.
MR. OKAMOTO: We will include that in the minutes.
CHR. LOPEZ: All right. So all in favor of the recommendation say"aye."
ACTION: Motion was carried unanimously by voice vote (Ayes: 8—Ms. Taaroa, Messrs. Bell,
Brown, Kekela, Lee,Ney,Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
E. DISCUSSION ON STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE DEEPWELL RELIABILITY:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Information will be provided to the Board on updates on efforts to improve the longevity of the well's
operation and reduce duration of repairs. Discussion will follow along with any recommendations that
should be considered for future action.
CHR. LOPEZ: Motion to approve?
MR. OKAMOTO: Actually, Mr. Chair,there's no recommendation on this one.
CHR. LOPEZ: Discussion.
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes, this was just for discussion.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay, discussion. Thank you.
MR. OKAMOTO: Actually,thank you, Mr. Chair, for reminding me that because we have a fair
amount of new Board members that weren't present or on the Board when we had some challenges
with our Kona wells and their failures and whatnot back in 2017,I believe, so this body actually
assembled a Permitted Interaction Group to address the issue. In the meantime, staff was already
working on resolutions to make improvements,but I think it was opportune for us to update the current
body, the current Board members, on what the department has done over the past several years to make
improvements. Basically so we can reduce the downtime when a well goes down as well as improve so
that we can have less repairs due to some of the causes that were happening to us at the time.
Basically,the point that we want to share with the Board and the public is that our staff has been
working very hard. We've actually hired consultants to assist us with this,but the bulk of the effort has
Page 24 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
been done with our staff working with both engineering. It's a whole team effort basically to
accomplish those goals;reduce downtime and lessen the occurrences of failure as much as possible.
Those of you who are in any trade field—if it moves,it's going to break,right? Any mechanical or
electrical device is going to fail. They're not made to run forever; a prime example is your vehicle.
Anyway, with that we have attached in your packet a brief summary,basically it's a two-page summary
bulleted of what we've done, front and back,to accomplish this. What I'd like to do is ask our team
members to kind of highlight what they felt our key points of what we've done. Eric, can you come
and—Eric's played a big part in the improvements that we've made. What do you think is key?
MR. TAKAMOTO: I think the most significant effort we did to improve the longevity would probably
be our efforts to prefill the column assembly,basically that effort alone I believe resolved our issues
that we were having with thrust bearing failures, so basically we're no longer sending our unit in
upthrust,which basically hammers the thrust bearing. I think that is the most significant we did, efforts
of improving longevity.
In terms of improving shortening the repair time, I think our efforts of moving towards standardization
is paying off because we were able to do our repair Hualalai fairly quickly because of that, and
hopefully in the future once we get further into our standardization with our second phase,that will
improve even more because now it will be shared among even more of our facilities.
MR. OKAMOTO: For the Board's awareness,back in 2017,in the past we basically didn't have a
good standard that these pumps and motors followed, so we have what we call slimline units,which in
the past were not too reliable,but I think we've seen improvement in that regard so now we're leaning
more towards that. The industry changes over time, and we're trying to adapt. We've had cooling
issues,but as Eric just reminded me, a lot of the failures we've had back then were to the thrust
bearing; and correct me if I'm wrong,this is a critical component in the motor that was failing.
Basically, a bearing helps to address anything spinning,right,to allow it to spin more freely and not
lock up and bind. This bearing is different from the normal bearings we typically see. And it's at the
bottom of the motor?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR. OKAMOTO: So if you're trying to pump water up against an empty column,you're not pumping
it to what the pump was designed for. You're pumping it against air, so you're not having that whole
column height, 1,500 feet or so, of water column that the pumps want to pump against. So now you're
pumping against air, and what's happening then is the thrust bearing is having a force imposed upon it
that it doesn't like basically, and it was failing. So basically when that fails,the motor cannot spin
freely, and you know what happens when the motor can't spin freely,you typically burn the motor.
When this unit is 1,500 to 1,700 feet down the hole, it takes some effort to get it out, analyze it, see
what went wrong, and that kind of boggled us. It took us a while before we figured that out. Kurt, do
you have any other things to add besides what Eric shared?
MR. INABA: Part of standardizing was downsizing right to a more readily available unit, somewhat I
guess from a larger unit, say 600 HP motor compared to a 400-horsepower motor,it's not as common,
so I know kind of standardizing on that size. The bad side to that is our capacity was reduced, so a lot
of our sources, sacrificing capacity but at least it's in service, right? The one large one down,nothing
pumping, and that's what put us in that situation in 2017.
Page 25 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. OKAMOTO: That's another good point. I used to kind of equate that to,I guess I like cars,but
it's almost like dropping a Ferrari down the hole. You have a 700-horsepower unit pumping three
million gallons a day, it's almost like an exotic. So we decided to go to maybe the Ford F150s,
something that's more accessible,not as costly,but the downside like Kurt said, is now we've lost
capacity,where we might have had a 3 million gallons a day well,we're downsizing it to a 1-million
gallons a day, so we need to recover that lost capacity.
Fortunately,in Kona, we have 14 sources,but we were trying to migrate away from the basal sources,
the sources that pump from those thin freshwater lands floating on salt water to the high-level higher
quality water up mauka,but I'd rather pump some than zero,right? Some are better than zero. When
our mission is to provide an adequate and continuous supply of potable water to our customers.
So anyway,that's where we evolved to in a nutshell. If there are any questions,there's a lot more
detail and it's in this one-page handout. But again, anytime you have questions or ideas—because at
the time,there were a lot of—we were ready to accept any thoughts or any ideas,but not all that came
in were feasible. At the end of the day it wouldn't have worked for us,but we're in a good place now.
What I do want to assure the Board and the public is we're always working to be better; so just because
we're better now than we were seven years ago,that doesn't mean we're done.
We're always learning, and we'll continue to make improvements, especially as the industry continues
to evolve, and we learn things. As you see in our repairs,we're still asking for additional time and
additional change orders because we're still figuring stuff out. So like the item previously on this
agenda,that stainless steel check valve and that coating,that's something new that we haven't really
done similar in the past,but because we've learned from the past,we've decided to spend some money
and put that coating on,instead of having the thing cease up,because I think one repair we actually
broke a pump,trying to take that apart. So we're not going to do the same thing again and make that
same mistake and damage the costly pump versus trying to prevent that in the first place. Again,if
there are any questions?
MR.NEY: I have a question,Keith. How much does the manufacturer—I think it would be back on
their equipment,hey, are we the only one plugged into this pump or is there anything unique to us why
had this many problems? Hopefully,this is like one off of(inaudible)have problems or foreseeable
future, or lesser amount of problems. But how much does the manufacturer—going, "Hey,this is the
prescribed procedure for installing our equipment. This is the prescribed procedure for commencing it
into operation." Does the manufacturer have some kind of responsibility? Or is there a communication
gap between the manufacturer and the contractor doing the work, and not quite doing it to—you know,
if you can do like 95%of something correct, but is that 5%of neglect that you come back and
(inaudible),because they're just oversights I guess along the way that were just due to more of a
communication thing maybe from manufacturer to the contractor to us.
MR. OKAMOTO: Unfortunately,we do have quite a unique situation here on our island, and typically
even on the other islands and across the nation,the wells aren't as deep as the ones that we typically
have in Kona. A matter of fact, and correct me if I'm wrong Eric,but the slimline units that we've
decided to kind of migrate towards,had their origins in the oil industry. We had criticism in the past,
how come you guys don't have more of these, or just have them ready to go, and order a bunch of
them,like the oil industry does? Well,if we could charge the same amount based on the volume that
the oil industry did, then we could have those kinds of policies in place. We don't charge by the
gallon,right,we charge by the thousand-gallon, and our cost for a thousand-gallon is equal to what you
pay at the pump for one gallon. So if we charge for 1,000 more,then yeah,we could have whatever
units'backup available. So Eric guys have been working with manufacturers to get their thoughts and
whatnot on how to improve our longevity,but even they don't have the answer for all our situations.
Page 26 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR.NEY: They provide you with a performance (inaudible) of the pump and maybe a degradation
schedule, or service-life schedule. Okay.
MR. OKAMOTO: And other factors come in. If it was just pumping water,but then you have
power quality issues, you have on and off issues, so we try to rectify that with installation with
VFDs, like a dimmer switch. If you go to your house and you just flick the light on and off all the
time, on-off, on-off,your switch is going to break down, and you don't need to be an electrician to
know that. Same thing with our pumps. Now you're talking 400-horsepower units like that, you
flick off one 400-horsepower unit,that means your motor going at whatever rpm, 2300 rpm, you turn it
off. And then now if you get this whole column of water coming down,your motor is still spinning
this way,but it's still going because of momentum, but now you get your water forcing it the other
way. That's like you're driving your car,put it in forward, all of a sudden I'm going to throw it into
reverse,how long is your transmission going to last? That's why we're putting in check valves,
positive sealed check valves now,that retain that column of water in the pipe. But now,when you get
repairs,the well repair guy got to know that thing is full of water now, so your rig better be equipped to
pull all of that up, and your cable better not break and send it all down the hole again.
MR.NEY: Is there any way to integrate a—some way to bleed that once you fill it,because you have a
check valve at the bottom,right, you said.
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR.NEY: Now you would incorporate bleeding that water out.
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yeah,those positive steel check valves incorporate what they call a knock-off
bleeder, so they can send a weight down, which breaks off a hollow pin, which allows it to drain the
column.
MR.NEY: Okay, got that.
MR. OKAMOTO: So we're incorporating that,too?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR. OKAMOTO: Okay. And we even tried multiple valves. And multiple different locations?
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes.
MR. OKAMOTO: Of where the check-valve is located in the pipe column. So now we're putting it
close to the pump.
MR. TAKAMOTO: Yes, approximately. They wanted to be next to the pump.
CHR. LOPEZ: Thank you for all that,Keith. This discussion is getting off-topic. Because we're not
looking for solutions right now, we're looking at process.
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: I personally want to thank you for bringing this forward, and it's something that the
Board, at least in my term,has been pretty well aware of because we've discussed these things of
Page 27 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
what's being done; and if any of us were around 2017, and we're still taking it on the chin, and I still
get public inputs about it. It's not always good, but I attribute that to the experts out there who want to
make comments, and they're all welcome. You don't see them at a meeting. You don't see them really
understanding the information that we're putting out, and part of that may be—a statement like this in
our Board packet, is this part of what the public could see if they went to the minutes of the agendas, as
posted on the website after the fact?
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,it probably won't be in that because as you know our minutes don't have all
the attachments. But hearing what you just said now,Mr. Chair, I think what we can do is we can post
this on our website separately.
CHR. LOPEZ: Very good,because what 1 was going to get to was that this positive—very positive in
doing all we can, something that experts have no visibility of what we could help people absorb, by
using your public relations person, Jason Armstrong. I was thinking maybe he could put out a
statement,you know,this is what we're doing,just as an. FYI,because that goes to Hawaii citizens
Anything we can do to apprise the public of the actions that you're taking would be to your benefit, and
certainly to everyone. I'm not trying to stifle any of you folks,but it would be good if you had a
balanced kind of approach. I was here. I lived through this 2017 issue. It was tough, very tough. It
was tough on the public. It was tough on you guys. But you are in fact doing something about this. It's
not going to be something that happens overnight.
MR. OKAMOTO: Right.
CHR. LOPEZ: Continue your process. That's really important. Any other comments, questions?
MR. OKAMOTO: Really quick for the Board's awareness,too,is I totally agree that government in
general I think we need to do a better job of putting out things that we're trying to do proactively. A lot
of that doesn't get out there. We've been working with Na Leo TV, and I think I've might have
mentioned this in past, to do some type of maybe podcast. Something like this I think would be a great
topic. Maybe I can interview Eric or Kurt, and they can hear it from the actual people implementing it
right; what has the department been doing to improve on well repairs and things like that?
CHR. LOPEZ: Any other questions or comments on this item? All right, thank you for that
discussion. Very informative.
F. DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY COLLECTION AND DELINQUENCY POLICIES:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Information will be provided to the Board on status updates on collection efforts due to delinquent
balances for water service charges with information on current policies and procedures in place for
collection and water shut offs. Discussion will follow along with any recommendations that should be
considered for future action.
MR. OKAMOTO: I glanced over at Candace, and we don't have any further update.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay,thank you.
G. MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT:
Page 28 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Submission of Progress Report of Projects by the Department. Department personnel will be available
to respond to questions by the Board regarding the status/progress of any project.
MR. OKAMOTO: Again,I'll defer to Kurt on any updates for our ClP projects.
MR. INABA: Just wanted to really report, Puako,the waterline installation and putting the service
laterals have been completed. They completed the pressure testing and are currently awaiting the
results of the disinfection. They chlorinated the waterlines, and once they get,well so long that the test
passes,then we'll set up the connection to the new line,but it will still be a while. The existing line
and the new line,they need to remain in service until all the meters are transferred from the old line to
this new line,there are a couple of connections,but there are quite a bit of individual meters,now that
they have to put into the new meter box, and then reconnect the customer line to that new meter. It's
not that simple. A lot of not-too-good-condition customer lines too, so I'm not too sure. After a few,
we'll kind of get an idea about how much we can do in a day. It will take a little bit to get that done.
Once all the meters are transferred, then we basically disconnect the existing line from the new line. So
just have that new line, and then all the other components will be live at that point.
MR.NEY: I was just going to make a comment about the Puako column. Opening up the access
through the back,kind of to Mauna Lani,with a lot has disruptive to the community than I thought it
would. The contractor, I think they did a decent job of it. And then also too, one thing to note, at the
entrance there's a big sign that said, "This project was funded by the Biden infrastructure bill." I was
just curious,was this department funding federally, quite a bit?
MR. INABA: Yeah, that is through the Department of Health. It gets funneled through basically
Department of Health, so our funding is coming is coming from the State, department of—SRF
program, so we were able to use some of that funding through the SRF program for this project. Part of
the requirements is signage,regardless of how—we got some of that funding—
MR.NEY: (Inaudible) Infrastructure Act,I was like, "Whoa really,they gave us all that."
MR. INABA: The good part of it is a lot of that additional funding is called"principal forgiveness,"
kind of like a grant.
MR.NEY: Okay, so it bind of trickled down.
MR. INABA: Yes.
MR.NEY: Okay, got it.
MR. OKAMOTO: Any other updates on any other projects?
MR. INABA: I also wanted to mention,probably be coming up at the County Council meeting,
possibly next week is Tki Place. That one is doing the resolution to actually create that Improvement
District, so what it does is it basically sets the boundaries to identify the benefitting parcels that would
be responsible for in a sense paying back that project. So, it's an Improvement District process there.
That's for that one there.
CHR. LOPEZ: Is that one on this list?
Page 29 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. INABA: Yes, it's on the second page.
MR. OKAMOTO: And that's in Kona,yeah?
CHR. LOPEZ: And there's still no movement on the project?
MR. INABA: Yeah,we're kind of waiting for that.
CHR. LOPEZ: It's been like that for years.
MR. INABA: And last one,maybe really quick, is the Lead and Copper rule revision, so just kind of
update on that. They're in the Ka`u district right now as we speak, so we shifted gears. We were
intending to go Hamakua,but we went to Puna. We started in Hilo, and we shifted to help,I would say
alleviate,but to kind of coordinate with our manpower that's available in the district to help assist with
this project. So we're in Ka`u, we're going to make our way into Kona, likely around mid-June
anyway,then to Waimea, Hamakua, and Kohala district.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay,this question is off topic from your presentation on PFAS. Is there anything
happening? Not just preparing water delivery but also on contaminated soil.
MR. INABA: We are negotiating right now with the consultant to assist us with some initial
assessments for that.
CHR. LOPEZ: So that's coming up. Thank you very much.
MR. INABA: Kind of commonly known as forever chemicals.
MR. OKAMOTO: Yeah,it's been in the media quite a lot lately. So we have tested some locations,
under UCMR-5,which is the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule. The Feds have no shortage
of rules,I'll tell you that. They get rules for you to maybe sample and test for in case they want to
make it a real rule. So PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances)is one of those, and it's a forever chemical.
It's in firefighting foam. It's in Teflon. It's in Gore-tex,you know that water repellency that
everybody gets on raingear and things like that. It's everywhere and supposedly doesn't break down,
and that's why they call it a forever chemical. It's showing up more and more in various water
systems. Fortunately for us it's been non-detected wherever we've tested for it,but I think at this point,
it's probably a matter of time. If it lasts forever—I think we've just been fortunate with our density on
our island and the fact that we have 23 separate water systems,but it will probably show up on this
report somewhere at some point or so, as we proceed.
CHR. LOPEZ: They found traces of soil contamination, going back to Roman times. It's been around
a long time. All right, anything else.
MR. INABA: That's all. if you have any questions,you can see
H. REVIEW OF MONTHLY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:
Chair Lopez asked if there was any testimony for this item. There being none, he continued with the
agenda item.
Page 30 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
Submission of financial statements and information relating to the financial status of the Department.
Department personnel will be available to respond to questions by the Board relating to the financial
status of the Department.
(Note: At this time, Candace Gray gave an overview of the Monthly Financial Statements—
April 2024 report. A hardcopy of the report is made part of the record and is available for public
viewing at the Department of Water Supply's office.)
CHR. LOPEZ: Question, when you talk about percentage, and 1 realize that's the point in time, are these
percentages tracking to 100%by the end of the fiscal year?
MS. GRAY: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: So we're in good shape.
MS. GRAY: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: The comment that we talked about the auditors,regarding that adjustment,that's not
reflected in here,right?
MS. GRAY: That's not for this report.
CHR. LOPEZ: But you'll point that out when it comes up.
MS. GRAY: Most likely next report.
CHR. LOPEZ: That's okay,but when it happens.
MS. GRAY: Yes.
CHR. LOPEZ: All right,thank you.
MR. OKAMOTO: Are they going to come and do a presentation to the Board, the auditors?
MS. GRAY: They are not.
MR. OKAMOTO: Oh, interesting.
MS. GRAY: This new auditor, I'm not sure why,but it was not—I did ask them to attend the Board
meeting,but they said they'd schedule a brief discussion. I think they already had the discussion.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay. So now it's just turn in a report, it comes to us and that's it. Did we not have
enough money to pay their travel costs? They can charge us for it. They just don't want to do it.
MS. GRAY: I'm really not sure what happened. I mean we don't do the contract. That goes through the
Legislative Auditor's office.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay,thank you. Thank you very much. Is that it?
MR. OKAMOTO: Any questions for Candace?
Page 31 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
CHR. LOPEZ: Thank you, Candace.
1. MANAGER-CHIEF ENGINEER'S REPORT:
The Manager-Chief Engineer to provide an update on the following:
1. North Kona Wells
2. Department of Water Supply Energy Report
3. AWWA ACE24—June 10-14, 2024
4. 2024 Keiki Water Conservation poster contest results
5. Retirees of the Department of Water Supply- Marvin R. Rivera and Carl T. Nishimura
MR. OKAMOTO: So for No. 1,Kawika will provide an update.
MR. UYEHARA: Okay, so for North Kona Wells status, again we have 14 sources in our North Kona
system, 11 of them are available to use, operational. So the three that our offline again are Honokohau,
Wai`aha, and Makalei. Honokohau status,we're still waiting for a schedule from the contractor for the
fishing tool that's needed to remove that extra shroud that is in the hole. Other materials for the eventual
repair are on hand. Wai`aha, we talked about it today, so that's also the contractors—and the
manufacturer that's making the pumping assembly, and we're reviewing submittals for the discharge
maintenance shroud.
CHR. LOPEZ: Is that the 40-day extension?
MR. UYEHARA: No,the 40-day was Kalaoa. Makalei,which is the developer's contractor. The
developer has a contractor,they're working on that. They did additional cleaning of the well. Well,
they're going to do additional cleaning based on the last video that they did on the well, and then we'll
receive and install a pump and motor, and then chlorination of the well and fishing line because that well
is uphill all the time, so that is (inaudible).
CHR. LOPEZ: That fishing for Honokohau, was that the shroud? Is that something that fell in?
MR. UYEHARA: Part of the shroud. I believe on extraction, it broke off, so now the contractor has to
get a specialized tool,because previously when they tried,it didn't work, or it wasn't—they weren't
going to try.
CHR. LOPEZ: Okay, I just wondered. Thank you. Next,No. 2 Department of Water Supply Energy
Report.
(Note: At this time,Warren Ching gave an overview of the Department of Water Supply Quarterly
Energy Report. A hardcopy of the report is made part of the record and is available for public
viewing at the Department of Water Supply's office.)
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes, so really quickly, where we've located our backup generators, has been to this
point based on criteria for our critical customers,you know as an example,hospitals. The other factor is
that we've located generators for those systems that might have only one source,no backup. But now
with Hawaiian Electric's proposal for wildfire mitigation, they are looking at implementing what they
call a Public Safety Power Shut-off,which is essentially a proactive shut off of the power grid if there is a
potential—I think right now they're utilizing red flag events,which I guess increase the possibility of
wildfire. So I think they're working on identifying their potential shut-off areas based on potential
hazards. I'm guessing some place like Waikoloa,things like that. So that might affect our decisions on
Page 32 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
where to locate our back-up power besides just our critical customers and our single-source systems.
We'll probably ask Warren to get more generators,moving forward. Fortunately,we've been using
mitigation funding opportunities with the Federal Government, such as the prior agenda item.
MR. CHING: Yes, and this was all in response to the Maui wildfires. Hawaiian Electric is now
changing a lot of their procedures and policies, so in turn we have to look at that and update our backup
power program.
MR. NEY: Thank you for your efforts in getting us that 90/10 funding on the transfer switches.
Question regarding the cost in the future. 1 don't know if this is an appropriate thing,Keith,to opine on
with where rates might go,because right now there are a lot of things happening in the Legislature,that
HELCO wants the ratepayers to (inaudible) up their finances,I don't agree with it. They want
indemnification against lawsuits and all these things. Do we have a position being the largest customer
of HELCO to express our point of view to the Legislature, our dogs on that,because this is going to be a
consequence of rates,bills going up drastically perhaps. Is it prudent to say anything or are we going to
take a position maybe against that,just curious. Especially,you know, with delinquencies. We take that
hit; when people don't pay for water and those write-offs,HELCO (inaudible)that,but those energy
costs aren't completely cancelled out. We've always been negative on that. I don't know if that's
something you guys are going to draft up a response,maybe to—if there are changes coming that are
going to drive up cost. Are we going to have to prepare a report for that?
MR. OKAMOTO: So far,we haven't,but it's something we could definitely consider if it's things that
the Leg.—I guess from my perspective, I'll probably need some of Warren's assistance. Some of those
Leg. bills, it's really speculative at this point what the actual impact is going to be on us as a customer of
the Power Utility.
MS. MELLON-LACEY: I think(inaudible) also be addressed by the PUC.
MR. OKAMOTO: Yes,the PUC also—they have to listen to the consumer advocate,which basically
he's supposed to speak for all us customers of that regulated utility. So yeah,we can always I think
provide testimony either at the PUC level or at the Leg. level.
MR. NEY: Yeah,just some representation of our thoughts on it. Again, it's pretty early to say what
might happen. I don't see it even leading into a very positive direction, and I can see our rates just one
step going up over the next few years, if things do happen that the ratepayers are expected to pay a lot of
this,which we shouldn't.
MR. CHING: Yeah,we'll try to—at least for me,I'll try to keep in contact with Hawaiian Electric and at
least our account manager to make sure we're kept abreast of any potential things out there that maybe
we can give some testimony where it's appropriate,whatever,however it affects us, at least keep track of
what's going on; and when it's appropriate we can maybe put something together.
MR. OKAMOTO: And you guys still meet regularly at the staff level with Hawaiian Electric folks?
MR. CHING: Yes,we have a Standing Quarterly meeting with Hawaiian Electric,more on the
operational level,but that's the time we can at least have everyone in the room and bring up any
concerns, and them giving us updates to us,too. We'll have it.
CHR. LOPEZ: Thank you for your report. Any other questions the Board have on the report here? Are
you done?
Page 33 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
MR. CHING: Yes,pretty much so. Just the last page has some ongoing projects you guys can look
through, but other than that,that's it.
CHR. LOPEZ: Thanks very much.
MR. OKAMOTO: Okay,No. 3, AWWA ACE24. Just a reminder for those that are attending,that is
coming up pretty quick,June 10"to 14`". You folks should have had your arrangements already taken
care of if you're attending. If not,let us know; or if you have any questions, let us know. We'll be
continuing to forward you event details as they come up, and that's all I have for No. 3.
No. 4, 2024 Keiki Water Conservation Poster Contest. Kawika Uyehara provided the results of the 6t"
Annual Keiki Water Conservation Contest.
No. 5,Retirees of the Department of Water Supply—Alvin Inouye and staff expressed appreciation to
retirees Marvin R. Rivera and Carl T.Nishimura for their many years of service to the department.
J. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT
1) Chairperson to report on matters of interest to the Board.
CHR. LOPEZ: All right, one of the things that I'm going to bring up, and I did this kind of work in my
previous life,the Disaster Recovery Plan. Particularly in the news media today,recently,there are bad
actors in the world, and they're blaming the Russians. Whether that's true or not but blaming the
Russians primarily for attacking small water companies throughout the United States, disrupting flow,
and shutting down processes. I guess maybe they're the most vulnerable,but it does strike a cord in me.
I will be asking the department,maybe a review or something, of what are their disaster recovery plans.
What happens if a disaster—how does water continue to be delivered? Part of our fiduciary
responsibility I think is to ask these questions. So that's coming up.
This meeting—I appreciate those that go by Zoom, and very legitimate,nothing wrong with it. But one
of the things that I noticed is that you either can't be heard or we're not getting your responses to the
voting in a timely manner, so we're out here kind of waiting. So if you develop more sense into that. I
know you've got to hit a button. When a motion comes up for a vote, maybe you should hit the button.
Okay,just an idea.
MR. BELL: The last time I said there was a delay. I hit the button and said"Hi" and then I heard myself
on the other end. There's a lag.
CHR. LOPEZ: Anyway,just something for—okay,thank you all for coming. Thank you to all those
who are there in Hilo. Thank you for attending. We need to have you for a quorum.
10) ANNOUNCEMENTS:
• Next Meeting—June 25, 2024, 10:00 a.m., Hilo Operations, 889 Leilani Street,Hilo, Hawai`i
11) ADJOURNMENT:
CHR. LOPEZ: Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Page 34 of 35 May 28,2024,Water Board Minutes
ACTION: Mr. Lee moved to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Mr. Bell and carried unanimously by voice
vote(Ayes: 8—Ms. Taaroa; Messrs. Bell, Brown, Kekela, Lee,Ney, Unger, and Chairperson Lopez).
CHR. LOPEZ: We're adjourned. Thank you.
(Meeting adjourned at 11:52 a.m.)
Recording Secretary
APPROVED BY WATER BOARD
(DUNE 25, 2024)
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