HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-11-27 EMC agenda
County of Hawai‘i
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION
345 Kekūanāo‘a St. Suite 41 • Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 • Ph: (808) 961-8083 • Fax: (808) 961-8086
County of Hawai‘i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer
Georjean Adams
Chair
Dorothy Norris
Vice Chair
Mitchell D. Roth
Mayor
Ramzi I. Mansour
Director, Department of
Environmental Management
MEETING AGENDA
Pursuant to Hawai‘i Revised Statutes Chapter 92, this meeting will be online with a location
available to the public. The public may attend either in person, online, or by telephone.
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 2024
TIME: 9:30 a.m.
IN PERSON: Puna Conference Room, Hawai‘i County Building
25 Aupuni Street, Hilo
ONLINE: Via Zoom https://www.zoomgov.com/j/16031058165
(Meeting ID: 160 3105 8165)
PHONE: +1 669 254 5252 (Enter the meeting ID, see above)
STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC: To ensure timely delivery to commissioners, written
testimony must be submitted before 12:00 noon on the business day prior to the meeting by (1)
email to peter.sur@hawaiicounty.gov or (2) facsimiles to (808) 961-8086. When submitting
written testimony, please specify for which agenda item it is being submitted. All written
testimony will be part of the permanent record. Pursuant to HRS §92-3, interested persons who
want to provide oral testimony may do so either at the time the Commission takes public
statements on items on the agenda, or at the time the specific agenda item is called, subject to
applicable statutes and rules of procedure.
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR OCTOBER 30, 2024
1. Executive meeting minutes
2. Regular meeting minutes1
III. STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR
IV. PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Discussion on Wastewater Division’s working draft2 of the proposed new Chapter 21
of the Hawai‘i County Code relating to Wastewater Management.
1 II.2 – Minutes - https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/DocView.aspx?dbid=1&id=140742
2 V.1 – Draft Bill - https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/DocView.aspx?dbid=1&id=140743
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VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Discuss possible policy recommendations for 2025 legislation, county ordinances.
2. Discussion regarding coping with reduced DEM staffing levels.
(The Commission will discuss advice it could provide DEM related to the redesign of
programs to reduce the need for additional County employees, such as automation,
appropriate scaling of equipment, applying logistical optimization tools, outsourcing,
resource sharing with other islands, revised prioritization, renegotiation with
agencies and contractors, and other tactics to ensure DEM carries out its duties in
the face of chronic staffing shortfalls. This agenda item does not include advice on
DEM’s management of its human resources.)
VII. REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE
• Director’s Informational Report
1. Legislative update
2. Solid Waste Division Projects and Updates
a. Recycling, Greenwaste, and Landfill Diversion updates
b. Solid Waste Operational Study update
3. Wastewater Division Projects and Updates.
a. Pāhala and Nā‘ālehu Large Capacity Cesspool Closure AOC3
b. Countywide Wastewater AOC
c. Hilo WWTP upgrades
d. West Hawai‘i wastewater projects
e. Integrated Wastewater Management Plan
4. Status of existing staff vacancies and recent hires
5. Questions from Commissioners
a. Is there a plan for Department of Research and Development putting together a
Request for Proposal for Waste to Energy and what is DEM’s participation in the
RFP? (Adams/Acasio)
b. Does DEM have any update on the Mālama One recycling plant? (Acasio)
c. What are thoughts on DEM rules being amended to prohibit all tobacco use at SWD
facilities, instead of only smoking? (McIntosh)
d. Is there an update on what the department learned from the scrap metal vendor
regarding accepting metal from vehicles since they accept mower parts? (McIntosh)
e. Request for Material Safety Data Sheets resins used in Cured In Place Pipe (CIPP)
repairs. (Adams)
• Report by Georjean Adams on Sustainability Summit Solid Waste Reduction Workgroup
follow up meetings.
VIII. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
1. Follow up on action items determined today.
2. Other (Commissioners may suggest items they would like placed on the next agenda.)
IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS
3 VI.3.1: Ka‘ū - https://www.dem.hawaiicounty.gov/projects/pahala-na-alehu-large-capacity-cesspool-closures
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1. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at the Community
Meeting Hale, West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Kailua-Kona, and via Zoom. Please
contact the Board Secretary or review the agenda posted on the County Calendar
within six days of the next meeting for confirmation.4
2. The Commission will elect its officers at its next meeting.
X. ADJOURNMENT
1. Valedictory remarks and closing comments.
Note: A meeting held by interactive conference technology shall be automatically recessed for
up to 30 minutes to restore communication when audiovisual communication cannot be
maintained with all members participating in the meeting or with the “in person” location
identified in this agenda. The meeting may reconvene when either audiovisual communication is
restored, or audio-only communication is established after an unsuccessful attempt to restore
audiovisual communication. If it is not possible to reconvene the meeting as provided in this
subsection within 30 minutes after an interruption to communication, the meeting will be in
recess and will attempt to reconvene at 1:00 p.m. on the same day, using the same meeting ID
listed on Page 1 of this agenda. If at that time a quorum of remote members and the in-person
members are unable to establish and maintain at least an audio-only connection by 1:15 p.m.,
then the meeting shall be automatically terminated. The regular meeting place is accessible to
persons with disabilities. To request an auxiliary aid or language translation, please call (808)
961-8083 five days prior to the meeting date. Comments may be sent to the Department of
Environmental Management, 345 Kekūanāoʻa Street, Suite 41, Hilo, Hawaiʻi 96720, or emailed
to cohdem@hawaiicounty.gov.
Notice to lobbyists: If you are a lobbyist, you must register with the Hawaiʻi County Clerk within
five days of becoming a lobbyist. [Chapter 2, Article 15, Section 2-91.3(b), Hawaiʻi County Code.]
A lobbyist means “any individual engaged for pay or other consideration who spends more than five
hours in any month or $275 in any six-month period for the purpose of attempting to influence
legislative or administrative action by communicating or urging others to communicate with public
officials.” [Chapter 2, Article 15, Section 2-91.3(a)(6), Hawaiʻi County Code.] Registration forms
and expenditure report documents are available at the Office of the County Clerk-Council, 25
Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawaiʻi 96720.
4 VIII: Hawai‘i County Calendar: https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/our-county/county-calendar