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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-19 SWAC Meeting Minutes SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I MEETING MINUTES Monday, March 19, 2018 10:10 a.m. to 12:39 Hawai‘i County Building Puna Conference Room #1501 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Committee Members present: Georjean Adams Steven Araujo Barbara Bell Paul Buklarewicz Robert Ely George Hayducsko Alan Okinaka Adam Scharf Staff present: Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel William Kucharski, Director Diane Noda, Deputy Director Gregory Goodale, SWD Chief Tina DeMello, Secretary Mary Fujio, Assistant Secretary 1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Opening and introductory remarks were made by Gregory Goodale at 10:10 a.m. Mr. Goodale introduced himself as the Solid Waste Division Chief for the Department of Environmental Management and expressed his appreciation to all the members for being a part of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) and for making the commitment to help the County. He explained he is not technically a part of this group but wants to welcome everyone and express appreciation for the Mayor appointing everyone and everyone accepting to be a part of this committee. Mr. Goodale introduced the following people: William Kucharski, Director of Environmental Management, and Diane Noda, Deputy Director of Environmental Management; Mary Fujio and Tina DeMello, who work with the Department and will be helping and assisting at these meetings; Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel; David Tarnas, who will be helping with facilitating these meetings; and Dennis Lee, who is the Senior Project Manager Dennis Lee and a consultant with Wesley Segawa and Associates (WSA), which is the prime consultant for this project. Mr. Goodale turned it over to Director William Kucharski to say a few words. Mr. Kucharski thanked everyone for being part of this committee. It is an important effort on the County’s part to plan and planning is important. He thanked the members 1 for volunteering to be on the committee, because the plan is critically important to the County and the people who live here. His door is always open, and if there are any issues, don’t hesitate to ask him. . 2. INTRODUCTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND STAFF George Hayducsko gave an overview of who he is. Most of his career was in Wisconsin, where he worked for three different counties and designed two recycling programs. He has over 30 years of experience from landfills to waste to energy, and he designed two successful recycling programs. He hopes his experience will help Hawai‘i County in this process. He thanked all of the members for being here and taking time out of their day to volunteer for the community in helping making the recycling and solid waste programs better. He asked the committee to introduce themselves and explain their role today and connection with solid waste and recycling. Barbara Bell: She was the Executive Director for Recycle Hawai‘i before Paul Buklarewicz for a couple of years. She was also on the last two SWAC commissions and through that became the Director of Environmental Management, from where she retired in 2007. Adam Scharf: He works currently at Pohakuloa Army Training Area as the Program Manager of Solid Waste and Recycling for the United States Army on the Big Island. Pohakuloa manages over two million pounds of refuse a year and began a quality recycling program 38 months ago. They were at a five percent diversion rate, diverting waste from the County of Hawai‘i’s landfill. They are tracking 63 percent of all refuse generated at Pohakuloa and diverting it from the County’s landfill by way of composting (food waste, grind and chip wood and turn it into organic matter). They also manage all the metals, ferrous and nonferrous. He has a lot of boots–on-the-ground experience in building programs, approaches, and techniques to approve diversion rates. He recognizes the importance of this committee, and that’s why he had volunteered to be a part of it. He does a lot of data analysis and analyzes the waste stream on a regular basis to come up with metrics and posts and tracks the data to ensure they are always tracking who the large contributors are and what they are contributing, and then build programs around that and measure improvements. He knows he would be of value to this committee to help build a better plan for the next ten years. Georjean Adams: She is currently retired and is the Vice President and secretary for Recycle Hawai‘i. She is also on the board of the homeowners Association for where she lives at Mauna Lani Resort. She started her life as a Junior Bureaucrat with EPA after graduating college and worked with a group that defined what hazardous waste was. Then she got a job at 3M, where the focus was on product stewardship/lifecycle management, trying to figure out how to make sure that products that 3M makes do not cause issues upon disposal. She has been active with the American Chemical Society and has worked as an independent consultant for three years. She brings an industrial perspective, working with companies and their products and issues on how to manage 2 waste through the commercial stream. As a resident of this island, she wants to keep it the best and make it better. Steven Araujo: He owns and operates D&D Rubbish Service and have been doing it for twenty-five years. He started back when Steven Yamashiro was mayor and has seen the changes from that time until now. He does believe in some of the programs and is also a realist, asking questions such as is it going to work? How much is it going to cost the taxpayer, is there an actual benefit? And how is this going to affect his business and the rest of the rubbish businesses? Paul Buklarewicz: He has been the executive director for Recycle Hawai‘i for the past 15 years. Recycle Hawai‘i is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit. Education is the primary mission, and resource management recycling promotion. He has been facilitating, initiating and expediting a lot of the recycling programs here on the island (E-waste collection, used motor oil, home composting) and along with Barbara served on the last go around of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee ten years ago. Keyra Wong: She is a deputy corporation counsel and advises DEM, DPW and the Real Property Tax Division. Her capacity here is to help this committee and provide legal advice. Robert Ely: He is a retired chemical engineer and environmental engineer and is 77 years old. Right now he is fully employed as a consultant in a project that has nothing to do with what the SWAC is about. He provided some background on projects he has worked on --the design and management of Chem’s Security Systems Hazardous Waste Landfill at Arlington Oregon; Casmalia Hazardous Waste Landfill in Casmalia California; he worked for Zeffro, which is based in Wisconsin, as a manager of process design on sludge management systems; he helped design the anaerobic digestive systems for Alaska Lumber and Pulp in Sitka Alaska; he got involved heavily in the Ainakoa Pono Project and came in contact professionally with Bill Kucharski when Bill was with AECOM; and during the last go around with the incinerator, he worked for Covanta as a consultant looking at both political aspects and technical aspects. He is hoping to lend professional expertise to this group. Alan Okinaka: He is a retired manager from GTE Hawaiian Tel. He was formerly an electrical engineer and initially managed technology but ended his career managing people. He feels the least certified with anything to do with solid waste management, but being a part of the committee is privileged to be a part of group that is trying to manage something that is very difficult to solve. Has two compost piles and embraces 1, 2 and 5 plastics for recycling. He gets upset if he has more than one 32 gallon bag of trash every week and flattens all corrugated boxes down religiously. Mr. Okinaka asked how the Environmental Management Commission, the Solid Waste Commission and the Department of Environmental Management interact. Mr. Goodale responded that Bill Kucharski and Diane Noda oversee the Department of Environmental Management and the two divisions that are within it, which are the Solid Waste Division and the Wastewater Division. The Environmental Management 3 Commission’s members are also appointed by the mayor, and it is more of a formal commission that address solid waste management issues as well as wastewater management issues. The SWAC takes on solid waste management by itself and is required by the State of Hawai‘i to develop an updated plan every ten years. Ms. Noda explained that the Environmental Management Commission is created by the County Code, and part of its duties are to advise the Department on solid waste and wastewater programs, including waste reduction strategies, recycling, litter control, community involvement, and other issues. The Solid Waste Advisory Committee is created by State law, and its limited purpose and limited duration is only until our revised solid waste plan is submitted to the State Office of Solid Waste Management. The deadline for this is November 2019. A consultant has been hired to submit the plan. She explained the binders they were given included HRS Chapter 342G which addresses the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. It establishes that each County is to have a committee appointed by the mayor. This committee is convening because the ten-year mark is next year. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC None 4. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR Mr. Buklarewicz nominated George Hayducsko as chair and Ms. Bell seconded the nomination, and all voted in favor. Ms. Adams nominated Mr. Okinaka as vice chair; Ms. Bell seconded the nomination; and all voted in favor. Ms. Noda explained that the Charter points out that for an advisory committee, you would need a majority of those present to make any action valid, and for a committee of eight members, they will need five for a quorum. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Orientation by Office of the Corporation Counsel on: (1) Sunshine Law Ms. Wong provided a brief overview of the Sunshine Law. It applies to this committee because this body was created by State statute; and committees, boards and commissions created by State statute are subject to the Sunshine Law. According to the County Charter, Section 13-20, this committee is subject to open meetings provisions. This committee has broad discretion to make decisions and form public policy. They have to protect the public’s interest and the right to know about the committee’s decision-making and deliberations. The Sunshine Law requires no discussing board 4 business outside of an open meeting. Every meeting must be open to the public, unless there is an executive session or limited meeting as allowed by statute. Boards must provide notice, accept testimony, and keep minutes; and they cannot consider matters not included on the agenda. This becomes important because people from the public may testify on matters not on the agenda. If that happens, it would be the chair’s role to tell that person it is not on the agenda. Committee members also should not allow a discussion to get tangential, because the public would not have had the right of notice and would not have known that would have been discussed. Basically, they cannot discuss issues that are not on the agenda. Mr. Scharf asked whether, if they were working on a component of this project and he had a question for Mr. Okinaka, he could call him and ask the question or if he had to ask it at an open meeting. Ms. Wong said it had to be at a meeting. Two members are allowed to discuss matters but cannot commit to voting on anything. Mr. Okinaka whether the committee has the authority to accept public testimony on something that isn’t on the agenda, and Ms. Wong said they would have to amend the agenda by 2/3 votes to accept the topic. If it’s a reasonably important topic that would affect a number of people it cannot be added to the agenda, and it could be placed on the next agenda. It is up to the chair’s discretion. Mr. Buklarewicz said that Ms. Adams is on the Board of Directors for Recycle Hawai’i, and he is not on the board but attends the meetings. If the SWAC has discussion on something that is also discussed at the board meetings, he and Ms. Adams may need to recuse themselves. Ms. Wong said that if they discuss matters in the board meetings that somehow relate to the SWAC and its purpose, then he should not participate in that discussion. If the SWAC is going to make a decision which would impact how he does his business, he should recuse himself from voting on that decision. Ms. Wong continued with her Sunshine Law presentation, as follows: • “open meeting” requirement. Every meeting will be an open meeting and all persons will be permitted to attend unless otherwise provided by in the constitution. Portions of meetings can be closed if they go into executive session or for other limited exceptions. All meetings will need to be held in a public place, and board shall take official action and votes in public. They cannot vote in executive session. . • If someone is disrupting a meeting to where the meeting cannot carry on, the chair has the discretion to remove that person. • Any interested person may submit written or oral testimony on any agenda item. Most boards set a reasonable time limit of 3 minutes. • The notice and agenda must list all items that the Board intends to consider, and the agenda must be sufficiently detailed as to provide the public with 5 adequate notice. The notice and agenda must be filed with the county clerk at least six days prior to the meeting. • An agenda may be amended with a 2/3 votes of all members, but an item of reasonably major importance which would affect a significant number of people cannot be added. It would need to go on the next agenda. • The Sunshine Law does not apply to social events attended by board members in which board business is not discussed, and it does not apply to non-board members. There should be no discussion with non-board members regarding matters discussed in closed sessions. • Two board members may discuss board business outside of a meeting to seek information so long as no commitment to vote is sought or made. Beware of serial communications--the language is found in HRS 92-2.5a. • Other permitted interactions: Ms. Wong described other permitted actions pursuant to the Sunshine Law. • Executive meetings are closed to the public. A motion to enter executive session shall be stated in open session, and a two-thirds vote of the board members present is necessary in order to go into executive session. • Minutes are required to include the, date, time and place of the meeting, members absent or present, the substance of what was discussed, votes taken, and any other information that any member wants to add to the minutes. Executive minutes may be withheld, and minutes may be transcribed or summarized by notes taken. Ms. Wong said that if the rules are not followed and someone brings an action within ninety days, a person could actually be charged with a misdemeanor and then removed from the board. (2) Rules of Procedure Ms. Wong explained that the SWAC will follow the general rules of procedure formulated by a combination of the Robert’s Rules of Order, the County Charter, and the Hawai’i Revised Statutes. A quorum is the majority of the members of the board or committee, which would be five for the SWAC. Prior to calling the meeting to order, the chairperson has the duty to determine whether quorum is present. If quorum is not present, the chairperson either waits until there is one or, if it is known that quorum is not going to be met, than the chairperson calls the meeting to order, announces the absence a quorum, and entertains a motion to adjourn. However, you can still receive testimony and presentations on the agenda items, and question testifiers and/or presenters, provided 6 that no deliberation, and no decision-making or voting is made until the next meeting. Members shall create a record of the testimony or presentation, and this would be presented in the minutes before deliberation or decision-making at the next meeting, the board is required to present a copy of the testimony and presentations received at the canceled meeting, and the committee has an opportunity to report to the other members who weren’t there about what was said. If a member is not able to make it to a meeting, please call the department and let them know in advance. Mr. Okinaka asked whether, if a member of the public submitted a large document with their testimony, if it needed to be accepted, and Ms. Wong said they would need to receive and accept the whole testimony and document. Ms. Wong explained that Robert’s Rules and general procedures provide for order, decorum, fairness, efficiency and clarity. Generally when there is a motion, it is then seconded, then there is a discussion, and then you call for the vote. For boards advisory boards such as SWAC, the affirmative vote of the majority of those who are present at the meeting shall be sufficient to make any action valid. The chair’s role is to be the manager of the meetings, and the chair cannot make motions or second any motion. The chair can only recognize the motion and the second. The chair must maintain a neutral position to provide credibility for rulings, protection of minority positions, and to maintain the public’s trust. Active participation on of the chair taints the ability to properly manage the meetings. The chair has to manage the meeting, help it be productive, and demonstrate the power of process. The chair may relinquish his or her duties to the vice chair, and it would be best to do so prior to deliberations taking place. However, the ability to relinquish shall not be used frequently and cannot be used back and forth for convenience. The acting chair must accept limitations for the agenda item, keep the peace, and maintain order and decorum. Leadership and conflict resolution is required both for board members and anyone in attendance. Public participation should be encouraged, but the rights of one person should not trump the rights of the rest. It is easier to maintain order if all parties believe that the chair is being a fair and reasonable person without predispositions. Everyone should know their role as a board member. The members set the pace. When motions are made, they should be valid, clearly articulated, and easy to understand. Avoid getting involved in personality issues, respect others who have the floor, and wait your turn. If a member wants to make a statement or motion, raise a hand to get the chair’s attention and wait until called upon by the chair. Addressing others casually is okay; but using surnames is recommended. Keep the meeting on track and don’t rely on the chair to keep discussion focused. If discussion becomes repetitive or irrelevant, state as much to the chair as a point of privilege, and the chair should redirect deliberations or call for the vote. Ms. Wong said she has a cheat sheet on the Robert’s Rules available. 7 Mr. Scharf asked about the process for a special field trip, and Ms. Wong said it would count as a limited meeting. The State would need to be asked for permission, and the limited meeting would be closed to the public. Minutes would be required. Members can discuss but cannot vote. If the SWAC wants to have a site visit, they need to make a request to the Corporation Counsel, who will help get permission from the State. There is a requirement to advise the public of the limited meeting and that it is closed for the public. Chair Hayducsko called for a five-minute recess at 10:58 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 11:07 a.m. b. Solid Waste Division program overview. Chair Hayducsko gave an overview of the County’s recycling and solid waste programs using a PowerPoint presentation. The main points are summarized below. HI5 Deposit Beverage Container Program – Certified Redemption Centers - We have 11 County sponsored sites at the transfer stations. - There are 8 private Certified Redemption sites around the County. - The HI5 Beverage Container Redemption Program for FY 2016-2017 diverted 6,071 tons of recyclables from the County’s landfill. - The HI5 percent redemption rate for Hawai‘i Island is 87%. - 2-Bin Recycling - The 2-Bin program consists of 2 distinct collection bins: a Mixed Recycling bin and a Glass bin - The 2-Bin Recycling program for 2016-17 diverted 5,990 tons of recyclables from the County’s Landfill. - Signage is provided at the 2-Bin sites at the transfer stations, but they are seeing quite a bit of contamination at the sites, when the public does not abide by what recyclables are to be put into the containers. Education is critical and needs to be done constantly or you will lose the effectiveness of the program. Mr. Ely asked if there is any data available as to the cost of these individual segments of the program? Mr. Hayducsko said yes, there is cost associated and it is tracked. Mr. Scharf asked why there is a drop off in 2Bin recycling and Mr. Hayducsko said the containers are sometimes not available to the public because they are full, and they are trying to address that. Mr. Scharf said residents can be lazy, and there is a culture in the home to dispose of trash in whatever way is convenient. Traffic flow could be another problem. Chair Hayducsko said these are things that they will need to look at and address. Ms. Bell asked what the contamination is percentage wise and whether they had done a waste comp study recently, and Chair Hayducsko said he was not sure and that a 8 waste comp study had not been done for ten years. They are not anticipating doing one. E-Waste Recycling - E-Waste Recycling for FY 2016-17 diverted 235 tons - The County Electronic Waste Recycling Program for residences in Hilo, Kealakehe, Wai‘ōhinu and Waimea - The County contracts with Mr. K’s. At Mr. K’s it is free for residences on Saturdays (the County subsidizes on Saturdays), and there is a reduced rate on Saturday for commercial entities. Sunday to Friday there is a fee for both residence and commercial entities. Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) - Over 2,882 participated in HHW during FY 2016 - FY 2016-17 collected 53 tons of materials - There are 4 locations Island wide: Hilo – twice a year, Kealakehe – twice a year, Waimea – once a year and Pāhoa – once a year. Mr. Okinaka asked how much it costs to run a day of collecting hazardous waste, and Chair Hayducsko said it costs around $50,000 per event. The contractor required to provide personnel and move items collected off island. There is no disposal site on the island. Scrap Metal/White Goods/Automobiles - Scrap Metal/Automobiles(AV) for FY 2016-17 diverted 9075 tons Used Motor Oil - 16,547 gallons of Used Motor Oil was processed for FY 2016-17 - The County has volunteer Used Motor Oil collection sites, island wide. Mr. Ely asked what is meant by “processed”, and Mr. Hayducsko said it means what is received and taken for re-use--It is not just collected and stored, it is being utilized. Tire Education - They are educating tire vendor throughout Hawai‘i County of their obligation to charge customers for acceptance and disposal of used tires. Mr. Goodale wanted to make full disclosure regarding tire education. They had received a notice of violation regarding tires, and as part of a settlement with the state they developed the tire program, which communicates to the retailers their obligation to take used tires. The fee has to be charged regardless. It has produced relatively beneficial results, but a main task is making sure everyone knows about it. Green Waste - Greenwaste received in FY 2016-17 in East Hawai‘i – over 10,000 tons; in West Hawai‘i – just under 30,000 tons. 9 - The current commercial tipping fee to dispose of Greenwaste is $21.25 per ton, which is 25% of the current tipping fee. There is no charge for residential customers Mr. Okinaka asked what the County does with the greenwaste, and Chair Hayducsko said they contract with HER to grind up greenwaste and create mulch. In East Hawai‘i, they contract to make enhanced mulch which destroys vectors. In West Hawai‘i they don’t make enhanced mulch due to the lack of vectors in the mulch. Both sites are tested for fire ants on a monthly basis. Reuse Centers - The reuse program helps to ensure usable materials are diverted from the County landfills. - The Reuse Centers diverted 350.66 tons from the landfill during FY 2016-17 Education and Outreach - The program focuses on educating the community about the value of recycling, reuse programs and diversion of materials from the County landfills. Transfer Stations - There are 22 transfer stations island wide - Landfill tonnage for FY 2016-17: South Hilo Sanitary Landfill 72,247 tons (36,291 Commercial, 35,956 County); West Hawai‘i Sanitary Landfill 122,915 tons (78,892 Commercial, 46,023 County) c. Preliminary Discussion on Goals and Objectives. Mr. Scharf said it would be great to bench mark where they are today, to provide a baseline for today as a part of setting goals. Ms. Adams asked how they are going to scope and update what was done ten years ago and suggested they compare numbers from ten years ago, which would be interesting. Would be interesting to compare what those numbers were ten years ago. Mr. Araujo said he would like to see the cost of Recycling Program contracts, and Ms. Bell said they would like all available data. Mr. Okinaka said they should look at new methods, landfill mining – metal, plastics that can be recycled; devices/containers developed for safe back yard burning; bon fires – clear out acres and have bon fires. HOW ABOUT: Mr. Okinaka said they should look at new methods of landfill mining, looking at what metal and plastics can be recycled and whether there are objects that can be safe for backyard burning. They could clear out land and have large bon fires. Mr. Scharf said there is food waste technology that turns food into pig/chicken feed. 10 Chair Hayducsko said he doesn’t want anyone to be hesitant to throw out any thoughts or proposals. As a group it’s good to throw out ideas. Mr. Buklarewicz said the Zero Waste Implementation Plan on the Recycle Hawai‘i website shows that 90% of the plan was adopted into the ISMP. Chair Hayducsko said the objective is to update the ISWMP, not to rewrite it. They all want to protect the land and environment. For the schedule, they were thinking of having monthly meetings, and then completing and submitting the plan to the state by the end of 2019. There will be draft plans the consultants will present to the SWAC for review and debate. There is a lot to do. Mr. Ely expressed concerns about what the consultants would be doing, whether they would be reporting to the SWAC on a regular basis, and what their timeline was for a first draft. Mr. Goodale said they could provide the scope of work and what they expect to get for the money they are paying the consultant. The SWAC will have a lot of influence over the direction the plan takes. He would arrange to have the consultant contract available for the SWAC’s review. Mr. Lee explained that he worked for the consultant, and they had been hired to do basically four tasks: first is the design process--the methodology to determine how they are going to do the update. The second is to present a preliminary draft. The third task is to conduct public hearings, and the last is to finalize the draft and submit to the Department of Health. There is a schedule with detailed tasking, general tasking, and milestones for each task along with the scope. d. Discussion on frequency of meetings, best time and day to meet, and location. With Mr. Tarnas’ assistance, the group settled on the second Wednesday of every month, from1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for their regular meetings, or at such other date, time, and place as may be specified by the SWAC. Motion and Vote: Msr. Bell moved to meet on the second Wednesday of every month, starting on April 11, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Hilo, unless otherwise noted. Mr. Scharf seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. e. Decide on date, time, and location of next meeting. - See above. 6. ADOURNMENT Motion and vote: Mr. Scharf moved to adjourn the meeting, Ms. Adams seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. 11 The meeting adjourned at 12:39 p.m. Respectfully submitted: __________________________________ Tina DeMello, Secretary 12