Two Big Issues

There has been a lot of attention on the Mamalahoa Bypass and the Wheelabrator waste-to-energy proposal that is before the County for consideration. I would like to talk about both those issues here.

Wheelabrator's Waste-to-Energy Facility:
There has been a lot of misinformation regarding the Wheelabrator contract that the council finance committee is looking at. I asked County Finance Director Bill Takaba to help explain the terms of the contract.

I have not made up my mind regarding the proposal, as I would like to see more information on what the actual and true price will be. Looking at the letter, the council in the inital development period would be requiring the vendor to perform certain tasks that would get the council more information. This development period stretches from 1-6 months.

All during this time, as Mr. Takaba states, there will be time for the council to terminate the process at no cost to the county. Mr. Takaba's comments of should not exceed 1 million dollars is very important in understanding the million dollar cap that is included in the contract. If the cost does exceed one million dollars, then we are responsible for the difference above the one million dollars.

The bottom line, The initial development period is the 6 months, and the balance of development period will be after the sixth month. The real decision which is probably binding will be if we agree and vote to continue into the balance development period. I hope that people will understand what is involved in the process. If there are any questions, please post a comment, and I will respond to your questions. I would just like to get more information, especially if it will not cost the county anymore money.

Mamalahoa Bypass:
I submitted a resolution a few weeks ago to proceed with construction over the former Richards/Coupe property. The land became property of the County on Dec. 3, 2007.

I am against the idea of diverting traffic through Halekii Street because of safety and community issues. Halekii was not designed to handle the traffic of Mâmalahoa Highway. Besides the safety issues, the costs for the County's Dept. of Public Works to implement safety and mitigation measures would more than quadruple costs for that portion of the project. And the County has also made agreements with the community 8 or 9 years ago which say Halekii will not become a major thoroughfare.

I am glad the County is trying to solve the bypass, but routing traffic to Halekii Street is not the answer. I am concerned the County is recklessly rushing things along for Halekii Street without fully understanding the implications. The bypass solution needs to be the correct one, done the right way, in the right order.

My resolution to proceed with construction of the Bypass has been approved at the committee level and should be placed on the agenda to be voted on by the full Council at the April 9th Council Meeting.

Aloha,

Stacy Higa