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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-09-26 Enviromental Management Commission Minutes Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 1 of 7 Return to: Home Page | Table of Contents | Commission Page ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION Wednesday, September 26, 2001 9:31 a.m. State Office Building 75 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai`i 96720 PRESENT:Barbara BellALSO PRESENT:Galen Kuba, Acting Director for EM Riley SmithGerald Takase, Corporation Counsel Hugh OnoLarry Capellas, SWD Peter MartinPeter Boucher, WWD Sam KawamuraJames Isa, Abandoned Vehicle Coordinator Luana JonesWalter Iida, Legislative Auditors Jon Olson EXCUSED:Carolyn WitcherJohn Ray David FrankelFrederick Brunner Mack AsatoSteve Cassulo Mike Allen Mike DuBois STAFF:Kristen GriffithsDebbie DuBois Margaret Pahio CALL TO ORDER Riley Smith called the meeting to order at 9:31 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 MEETING Barbara Bell motioned to approve the Minutes of the September 5, 2001 meeting. Sam Kawamura seconded. Motion was unanimously carried. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS LISTED ON AGENDA John Ray submitted written testimony on behalf of the Big Island Business Council, the Hawai‘i Leeward Planning Conference, and the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee. They feel that the SWAC is redundant and unnecessary given the creation of a Commission. The organizations feel comfortable that the process will be well served with the Commission dealing with these issues. They feel there will be adequate opportunity for input by the organizations through the Commission and really don’t think the SWAC is necessary. Jon Olson concurs with John Ray. He believes the SWAC is redundant at this point and that the Commission is more than capable in dealing with the issues and probably far more expedient. He believes the decision making process should be with the Commission. Mike Allen’s concern with disbanding the SWAC is that there is nobody from the recycling industry and the rubbish hauling industry on the Commission. Their businesses have the most experience as far as handling waste on the island. The Commission will be making decisions that are going to affect them. If the SWAC is going to be disbanded, the Commission should at least have a group of people from the industry that represent first hand experience in recycling and rubbish hauling as a group that the Commission can go to for advice, concerns and general input. He has had 17 years experience on this island in the recycling/rubbish hauling business. There have been instances where they have had no input in any of the ordinances and the decisions that are being made by the County government. They could add to the vision of where this County is going, especially with respect to the landfills and how to handle waste. There are a number of members from the recycling and the rubbish hauling industry that are members of the SWAC and he feels that is a real opportunity to provide input on the issues. He file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 2 of 7 hopes Commission members will get advice from people who do the day-to-day work with respect to waste and recycling. That is real important. Mike DuBois has been on the Big Island for the past 5 years and is in the business of recycling and has a commercial business picking up glass bottles from hotels, bars, and restaurants. He has been embroiled in the harshness of politics through the County Administration who have created what has developed into a lot of mistrust as to how recycling programs need to be addressed and developed on this island. Upon his arrival in September 1995, and the first words out of the mouths of people that he had met were, "Do you really recycle that stuff or are you just throwing it away?" How is it that there is so much mistrust of what the recycling industry does to this day? Recycling is an absolute must. The County is constantly shutting down recycling programs. They shut down green waste programs after hundreds of people start to recycle their green waste saying there is no funding. They are constantly threatening the Diversion Grants Program. This creates an image to the public. This has created a real hardship for the businesses. He hopes that the Commission will work with the business industry. He has a tremendous background in recycling and waste disposal management. He hopes that the Commission recognizes the experience that the business people have on this island and to also understand the history of what has transpired so far and to make the corrections that are necessary. He hopes his future in recycling is not jeopardized and that the people of this County have the best possible waste management program without having any more mismanagement. He understands that the Commission is here in an advisory capacity to the new and established Environmental Department and certainly appreciates their time and effort. Riley Smith stated that one way to efficiently communicate with the Commission is to put everything in writing and get it to Kristen ahead of the meeting for distribution and review. APPROVAL OF ADDENDUM AND/OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA Hugh Ono motioned that the Environmental Management Director’s Report be added to the Agenda. Barbara Bell seconded. Motion was unanimously carried. INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN Galen met with George How and Ron Soroos of Harding ESE to discuss changes to their scope of work. Because of the critical need to address the closure and replacement of the Hilo Landfill, this will now be their central focus rather than the entire Solid Waste Management Plan. The consultants will be required to use a facilitator and will provide a presentation to the Department before any meetings are conducted with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. We need to address what is happening in East Hawaii since we do have a 2004 deadline. Riley commented that he did not attend any of the SWAC meetings, but the public comments he did get were that the meetings were very loose and there didn’t seem to be a lot of organization or structure. We are trying to respond to some of those comments and have more structure and allow the comments that the public and the members of the SWAC have to be incorporated and clearly communicated to the Consultants. It is very important to have a professional facilitator to make sure the meetings are conducted in a professional, efficient and productive manner. FY 2001-2002 BUDGET REDUCTION Due to anticipated revenue shortfalls, the Department has been required to submit revised budgets. Finance Department is looking for a 10% reduction from the Solid Waste Division. We will be submitting a budget reduction package based on 3 levels of impacts. The first level is budgeted, but undelivered, equipment and vacant positions. The second level will impact optional programs such as recycling. The third level will impact mandatory programs such as landfill operations. The Departmental budget will also be reduced by 10%. Because Wastewater operations are funded by special revenues, no cost cutting measures are presently required. Galen stated there is a concern about the terrorist attack and its impact to our economy. Also real property taxes and Nansay are causing a negative impact to our overall budget. All departments funded by the general fund will be asked for a budget reduction. As a result, we have to make some proposals and budget cuts. These are the levels of cuts that we can make. That will be presented to administration and it will be up to them what level they want to cut. file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 3 of 7 Mike Allen stated that what the Mayor is saying is that it is not okay to cut public jobs, but it is okay to cut private jobs. Riley stated that there is a large portion of money that the Mayor feels needs to be cut and Galen has been directed, within his two sections, to come up with that recommendation on the budget. Mike DuBois understands that the Diversion Grant Program costs $40/ton that goes to a certified recycling processor. It costs us over $80/ton to throw it away. Why is the Mayor making choices to spend more taxpayer’s money to throw it away rather than recycle it if recycling costs less? Galen mentioned that $80/ton doesn’t really involve any cash outlay on the part of the County. Peter Martin stated that the number came from a full cost accounting of the cost of dealing with municipal solid waste. That includes the tipping fee, transportation, administration, equipment, fuel and personnel. Three years ago it was $82.00 and it is now between $82.00 and $88.00. He will provide a detail of that to the Commission members. PRIVATIZATION OF THE PU‘UANAHULU LANDFILL Galen stated that he is looking at this as a potential cost cutting measure, not only for the near future, but for the long term. Waste Management has indicated to us that they may be willing to operate the landfill at no additional cost to us preliminarily. That being the case, we can readjust the operations at Pu'uanahulu. Primary savings will revolve around the equipment and its operations, as well as some personnel. We do have some vacancies that we can shift existing personnel into. We have provisional hires that we could move permanent employees into or we could establish a crew to clean up our transfer stations. We don’t anticipate loosing any permanent personnel with the Solid Waste Division. Larry Capellas stated that when we reopened the contract with the security guards, it was very specific about turning away commercial loads and restricting all loads into transfer stations for residential refuse only. The security guards have personality conflicts. They let their neighbors come in and dump. This is exacerbated by the fact that the transfer stations are not gated. The transfer stations have to be gated. Larry states that we have no authority to fine them. We have asked the Police to issue citations, but that has not been done. Riley Smith reiterated that the security guards are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. If any of the haulers or recyclers are aware of abuses or improper conduct by the Security Guards, they can give Larry a name, date, and place Jon Olson stated that when you close the transfer stations, you increase illegal dumping. People illegally dump because they don’t have the resources to haul it the distance it needs to be hauled or they are afraid to face the rejection at the transfer station due to the size of their load. You can’t close people off to the option of getting rid of the trash because they are going to get rid of it one way or another. SWAC Mayor Kim’s Memo to Galen stated that he recommends the consideration of disbanding the SWAC and having the Commission assume its responsibilities. However, since some members of the SWAC have been very involved in process to date, perhaps some would be interested in being assigned to a working group or task force of the Commission for this purpose. Galen concurs with Mayor Kim and is making the recommendation that the responsibilities of the SWAC should be turned over to the Environmental Management Commission. The nine Commission members represent all geographic areas of the island. It’s diverse membership has business, environmental and community interests and involvement. Galen recommends, "The Commission shall authorize co-chairs to send a letter to Mayor Harry Kim recommending the disbanding of the existing Solid Waste Advisory Committee and in compliance with HRS 342G appoint the Environmental Management Commission as the County of Hawai‘i’s new Solid Waste Advisory Committee. The Commission shall also recommend that the Mayor include appropriate language that would invite file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 4 of 7 former Committee members to continue the participation with the Commission in the continued development of the County’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. Mayor will make a final recommendation as to what to do with the SWAC. Hugh Ono feels that the input from the industry people is real germane to this matter. They are the stakeholders and it is important that they have their input. Barbara Bell mentioned that the language in Galen’s recommendation states "disbanding". Should we say "reconfigure"? Or "reorganize"? Gerald stated that you should suggest in this what you want to have happen to the members of the SWAC. Are they going to now become a subcommittee of the Commission? Riley stated that we are inviting them to participate in our meetings as members of the public, but the way our rules set us up, there are nine votes here. We are inviting the participation, but we are still the Commission. Gerald stated that the final vote will come from the Commission, but they can still have some form as a subcommittee or a special group task force. Larry Capellas stated that the SWAC was a loose committee with the intent of State Law to be advisory to the Consultants. The Consultants’ duty was to bring input to the SWAC. In turn, the SWAC would take that input back to the community and then come in and provide the Consultants the input from the different community groups. Mike Allen commented that he would like to stay involved in the process on more of an advisory capacity rather than a general public capacity. At the meeting in Hilo, SWAC members sat in the audience with members of the public. It got confusing trying to identify who was in the SWAC and who was in the general public. Those SWAC members that want to still stay involved in the process, should be treated as somewhat of an official committee. Then we can go ahead, within that group, identify one or two spokespeople that we would like to have our ideas presented to the actual Commission. We have a cross-section of people in the industry that have more experience handling waste and doing recycling. He’s afraid that the Commission will not have that important input. Riley suggested that Barbara Bell would head that subcommittee since her business is also affiliated with the SWAC. Mike Allen agreed. Barbara Bell stated that the SWAC meeting should be an agenda item. John Ray stated that the key is communication. If you continue to communicate in a timely fashion with members of the SWAC, make sure they have the information ahead of time, encourage their input, and it works fine. Stress the importance of putting things in writing and getting things out in a timely manner. He doesn’t see the need for a separate committee. Just communicate with the SWAC members and invite their participation. Margaret Pahio, a member of the SWAC, who doesn’t want to be just forgotten about. She put a lot into this. She does not want to be put on the side like they caused some problems at the SWAC meetings. She would appreciate if she could receive information before hand so she can give more intelligent input. Kristen will prepare a distribution list that has a title associated with the SWAC and make sure they get all information. Last minute information will not be received ahead of time, but will be available upon entering the meeting. Riley Smith stated that we still want to go through and acknowledge the proposed motion, but we should possibly have a committee that is comprised of members of the business community that are involved in this and identify them and that they participate in our meetings. Recognize them as a subcommittee. Need a new motion. Galen feels that as far as the Mayor is concerned, what you do with the old SWAC is up to the Commission now. All we are saying is don’t forget them. What you do with them is your call. file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 5 of 7 Barbara Bell motioned that the Environmental Management Commission send a letter to Mayor Harry Kim using the language that Galen has laid out. Peter Martin seconded. A suggestion was made that we change "disbanding" to "reorganization". Motion was unanimously carried. Barbara Bell moved that the Environmental Management Commission form a subcommittee to be titled SWAC Subcommittee. Luana Jones seconded. Motion was unanimously carried. DISCUSSION AND VOTE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AND THE ROLES OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION Gerald Takase was asked to look at the two entities and to try and mesh the two. The SWAC is established through State Statute and are given the specific task of looking at the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. There is a statutory basis for them and they are prescribed certain duties to formally do. It is really going to be up to the Mayor if he is going to disband that group. The Commission could assume that duties by reappointing the Commission as the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and serving in that capacity. Right now, I think that if there is an option for the two to exist, it may be redundant in a lot of places, but listening to the recyclers, there is a different group of people sitting on both, so you may have different opinions. He recommended that body be allowed to continue to exist. The Commission will place itself in between the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and the Council so that whatever recommendations they make, which used to go straight to Council, will pass through the Commission first and then on to Council. It may be redundant and we can’t stop that right now, but the Commission, the SWAC, and the Mayor can decide what the future is. If you don’t want that Committee, he recommended that the Mayor reappoint the members of the Commission as the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, also. He doesn’t think they can be disbanded because there is a requirement for them to exist in the State Statute. Peter Martin questioned why we could not appoint the SWAC members as an ad hoc committee attached to this Commission. We are being redundant and very confused by having two separate bodies. Add them to the Commission for the duration and those people who had valuable input should be meeting with us. Gerald stated that the SWAC has a specific function and creation in State Statute already so they could exist independent of anything the Commission wants to do. They don’t have to be ad hoc. It was not anticipated in State Statute that the Commission would be created. That is really the part we need to mesh in there. The position of this Commission and the Mayor was to do away with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. We would probably stop it from doing that by saying there is a requirement in State Statute that there be this body. Whether the body is constituted right now or he dismisses all of them and reappoints you folks as that body, there is still that requirement. Somebody has to perform that function. Bottom line is that the Solid Waste Advisory Committee cannot just disappear all together. IN THE UPDATE OF THE INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN  Discussed with Director’s Report. OFFICIAL PARTICIPATION ON THE SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE  Discussed with Director’s Report. ON THE EXISTING SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE AS A SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE  COMMISSION Discussed with Director’s Report. ANY RELATED ISSUES  No other issues discussed. UPDATES FROM SOLID WASTE DIVISION file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 6 of 7 DISCUSSION ON ABANDONED VEHICLE PROGRAM BY JAMES ISA, ABANDONED VEHICLE  COORDINATOR James Isa stated that in FY 2000-2001, there was a total of 1,411 abandoned vehicles reported islandwide. 771 of those were towed. The other approximately 700 cars that were not towed were because the vehicles were either removed or sometimes stolen. We can tow only vehicles that the police make reports on. We need a police report. The reason the police are involved, is to check if the vehicle is stolen. They have access to that information. He can go into public roadways, County, State and Federal Parks, and private subdivision roads (Council made an ordinance in 1994 giving jurisdiction). Vehicles on private property are reported to the Department of Health or the Planning Department. Riley stated that he has worked with Mr. Isa extensively for a number of years and commended him on his diligence and responsiveness. Jon Olson feels that the problem is police resources. There needs to be a mechanism to get the Police out of the loop. He thought there was some legislation that did that. Gerald Takase stated that by the time the vehicle is found, it has been sold 10 times since the last person bothered to register it. The law does say the owner of the vehicle is required to report when it is sold, but the courts get upset with us hauling in otherwise good citizens on these kinds of cases. It is not worth the effort to chase them down. Mike Allen suggested that we educate the public. UPDATE ON INTEGRATED SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN  Discussed in the Director’s Report. UPDATE ON THE SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND CONSULTANTS  Discussed in the Director’s Report. SHORT-TERM CHOICES FOR EXTENDING THE HILO LANDFILL  Mike Allen stated that long-term approaches are very important, but we have a 2004 date for the Hilo Landfill closure. He has not seen anybody take the responsibility of putting together a short-term program on targeting items that are now entering the landfill that could easily be kept out and recycled. That should be critical for any decision making with the Solid Waste Management Plan because if we do not make the 2004 deadline, we are going to start hauling rubbish to Kona and people in the community will object to some of that. If the County focuses on trying to eliminate some of the items that are now entering the landfill so they won’t have to be trucked over to Kona, the general public will be much more palatable. He offered his services and expertise in hopes to successfully put together a Solid Waste Management Plan that will be successful. Hopefully it will involve and be acceptable to everybody in the community because the backing of the community is important in preventing dumping on the sides of the roads. That can be eliminated if you take a thoughtful approach on how to move forward. There is no organization of solid waste business enterprises because there has been a covert or overt effort by the County government in the past to make sure that the industry is at each other’s throats. The County needs to take a proactive approach and get the people in the industry together and show them that they are in this thing together and that they have a real opportunity to have an impact on the decisions that are going to be made in the future. It is very important that the people in the industry come together and decide what the focus is going to be and start talking together. Larry Capellas stated that there are two areas of extending the Hilo Landfill. One is a permit application for a vertical expansion which would add more capacity and has less of an impact. The other is horizontal expansion of the landfill which will require the expanded portions of the landfill to be lined and any leachate must be addressed. The end product is very expensive. Other methods available for maximizing diversion is expanding diversion credits to get most of this waste away from the landfill prior to being disposed of. This will be answered in the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. We have added bins as a convenient means of disposal of certain materials that have file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011 Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 7 of 7 a market value. We brought in a compactor which gets a higher density. Another method is that we re-specify the cover material. It is about twice as expensive, but covers a larger area and takes up less volume. Previously used six inch minus. The volume of voids in a large rock product is going to be occupied by air. The new cover material takes up less space. When working with the Consultants on the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, one of the efforts was to expand 4 or 5 of our larger transfer stations in the areas where the population is the greatest to give the public the convenient opportunity to divert what they could. This expanded operation would be provided by the County, but the marketing of those products would have to be turned over to private haulers and recyclers. Barbara Bell questioned a grant that was secured by Paula Helfrich of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board in the amount of $400,000 of EPA money for a pilot project recycling center on the Big Island. Larry Capellas confirmed that a private group is attempting to secure a $400,000 grant and beyond that, the County is not involved at all. Barbara Bell will bring notes regarding this grant to next meeting. Wendell Hatada has been assigned to coordinate this effort. Hugh Ono moved that the Environmental Management Commission authorize the Director of the Department of Environmental Management to convey verbally our support for the continuation of Diversion funds and if they are to be cut, to be one of the last. Seconded by Sam Kawamura. Barbara Bell abstained from the vote because of the affiliation of Recycle Hawai‘i. Motion was unanimously carried. SUMMARY OF PUBLIC HEARING ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION’S RULES AND REGULATIONS Hugh Ono moved that the rules be adopted as amended. Peter Martin seconded. Motion was unanimously carried. SCHEDULING OF NEXT MEETING DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS Wednesday, October 24, 2001, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., at the Kona Police Department Conference Room, 74-5221 Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i 96740. Wednesday, November 28, 2001, 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., at the Waimea Community Center (Park) Building, 65- 1260 Kawaihae Road, Kamuela, Hawai`i 96743 ADJOURNMENT Peter Martin motioned to adjourn the meeting. Sam Kawamura seconded. Motion was carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 12:06 a.m. Minutes Respectfully Submitted by: ___________________________________ KRISTEN GRIFFITHS Interim Environmental Management Secretary Return to: Home Page | Table of Contents | Commission Page ©Copyright 2001 County of Hawaii, Hawaii file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011