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<br />ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION <br />MINUTES <br />September 27, 2017 <br />West Hawai`i Civic Center, Community Hale, Kailua-Kona, HI <br /> <br /> <br />STAFF: <br />COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: <br /> <br />William Kucharski, Director <br />James Fritz, Chair <br /> <br />Marcie Toguchi, Private Secretary <br />Richard Bennett, Vice Chair <br /> <br />Joseph Kamelamela, Corporation Counsel <br />Jeffry Fear <br /> <br />Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel <br />Jon Olson <br /> <br /> <br />Susan Osborne <br /> <br /> <br />Rick Vidgen <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1. CALL TO ORDER & ANNOUNCEMENTS: <br /> <br />The meeting was called to order at 9:01 a.m. by Commission Chair Fritz. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JULY 26, 2017 MEETING: <br />Commissioner Olson moved to approve the August 23, 2017 minutes. Commissioner Osborne <br />seconded. <br /> <br />Commissioner Bennett commented since he was not at last month’s meeting, he read the minutes <br />as someone who wasn’t there and found it difficult to understand. The minutes say someone <br />“stated”, but the rest of the sentence is not in quotation marks so it’s not clear if it’s a direct quote <br />or a paraphrase. Commissioner Bennett recommends that when Commissioners speak they are <br />referred to as Commissioner so it’s clear for the record and public. Commission Chair Fritz asked <br />Private Secretary Toguchi if she could make the corrections starting with the August minutes. <br /> <br />Commissioner Olson moved to approve the August 23, 2017 minutes as amended. Commissioner <br />Osborne seconded, and it carried unanimously. <br /> <br />3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS LISTED ON AGENDA: (taken out of order <br />after item 1) <br /> Vice Chair Bennett stated, “Mr. Chairman, point of order, it is my understanding, according to <br />Sunshine Law that public comments are limited to agenda items, is that correct?” Deputy <br />Corporation Counsel Wong answered “yes, to the agenda items that are on today.” <br /> Jerome Warren commented on two items: <br /> Sewer rates – The County owned gang cesspools in Nā‘ālehu is illegal. The County didn’t <br />keep its 2004 promise to the homeowners. Instead they secretly planned a large system that <br />would benefit developers, and submitted the plan to the EPA to come in compliance with <br />the federal order of consent. None of this information was reivewd by the Environmental <br />Management Commission. If the 2007 SSFM blueprint was completed then we would have <br />a legal sewer system, and he would pay his bill. The fact that the County kept the <br />homeowners uninformed illustrates the County’s involvement in a scheme to provide free <br />Wastewater infrastructure to Ka‘ū Royal Coffee and Tea. Nā‘ālehu homeowners should <br />have never been charged because C. Brewer gang cesspool became illegal in 2005. Soon <br />the County will be paying federal fines because of this malfeasance. <br /> Letter to Dr. Pressler – The Commissions objection to using injection wells is another ploy <br />in disregarding SSFM’s plan for the Nā‘ālehu gang cesspool conversion. The only reason <br />Director Kucharski has given for not using an injection well as the solution is future <br />expansion. <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />