Mayor Billy Kenoi and his
campaign manager, who was
hired in April to head the Office
of Aging, are the subjects of an
ethics complaint alleging polit-
ical favoritism in county hiring.
The
com-
plaint, which
also
targets
unnamed offi-
cials in the coun-
ty Department
of
Human
Resources,
maintains that
Office of Aging
Director Kimo
Alameda doesn’t
have the two
years supervi-
sory experience
required in the
job description.
The $110,000-
plus position oversees a depart-
ment of 12 employees.
Scheduled to be heard by
the county Board of Ethics at
its July 8 meeting in Hilo, the
complaint was filed by Kapaau
resident Lanric Hyland. Hyland
wants Alameda terminated and
officials involved in his hiring
disciplined.
He cited the portion of the
county charter specifying that
no appointing authority shall
appoint any person to a posi-
tion that is exempt from civil
service laws until satisfied by
proper investigation that the
person is fully qualified by
experience and ability to per-
form the duties of that office.
Hyland previously filed eth-
ics complaints against Kenoi
and Finance Director Deanna
Sako for Kenoi’s use of his
county-issued purchasing card,
or pCard, for personal and
campaign purchases. Those
complaints are pending and
Kenoi’s activities are the sub-
ject of a state attorney general
investigation.
“It is another example of
the mayor’s arrogance that
he’s above the law,” Hyland
said Wednesday of his newest
complaint.
Kenoi told West Hawaii
Today on Wednesday that
Alameda was selected “after a
fair and impartial process” that
included applicants being vet-
ted by the HR Department,
followed by a review and inter-
view process by a panel selected
by that department.
”We are very proud to
have such a well qualified
and respected individual like
Dr. Alameda to have been
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INDEX
VOL. 47, NO. 169
18 PAGES
BIG ISLAND SPORT
HALL OF FAME
GETS NEW HOME
SPORTS, 1B
Co-op seeking to buy HELCO adds consultant
Protestors:
Hokulia must keep promises
The nonprofit Hawaii Island
Electric Cooperative has
retained an investment banker
with years of experience with
mergers and acquisitions as it
continues to explore the idea
of public ownership of the Big
Island’s electric utility.
Bill Collet, who was a key
figure in Kauai Island Utility
Cooperative’s acquisition of
Kauai Electric in 2002, will
work as an adviser to the fledg-
ling nonprofit.
In documents filed Tuesday
with the Hawaii Public
Utilities Commission, Collet
writes he is “employed by,
retained by or assisting”
HIEC and KIUC — both
intervenors in the pending
$4.3 billion sale of Hawaiian
Electric Industries to Florida-
based NextEra Energy — and
requested access to confiden-
tial information covered by the
commission’s protective order
filed in March.
Collet is president and
founder of Kansas City-based
financial advisory firm Collet
& Associates, which concen-
trates on strategic acquisitions
by cooperatives, the develop-
ment and financing of util-
ity-scale renewable energy
facilities, and financing alter-
natives for energy efficiency
and conservation programs,
according to his website.
“(Collet) is recognized for
developing a template for the
successful acquisition of utility
properties on behalf of elec-
tric cooperatives,” the website
reads.
In an email Wednesday to
the Hawaii Tribune-Herald,
Collet said his policy as an
adviser for the last 25 years has
been not to comment on his
clients’ work.
Marco Mangelsdorf, presi-
dent of ProVision Solar and
director of HIEC, said Collet
has been working with KIUC
since its beginning and that
HIEC recently brought him
on board on an advisory
basis. However, when asked
why HIEC retained Collet
and what role he would play,
Mangelsdorf referred the
newspaper to the Collet &
Associates website.
In 1999, a group of Kauai
leaders came together to form
the nonprofit KIUC. Three
years and one failed purchase
attempt later, it successfully
bought Connecticut-based
Citizens
Communications’
Kauai Electric for $215million.
David Bissell, president
and CEO of KIUC, said Collet
“played a key role” in the Kauai
co-op’s formation and advised
KIUC on valuation — how
much to offer — to support its
successful purchase offer.
“Bill was not associated
with the first, failed purchase
attempt,” Bissell wrote in an
email. “Bill also provided
financial analysis, projections
and testimony to the Hawaii
PUC in support of the KIUC
transaction.”
Bissell added Collet has
“extensive experience” in elec-
tric cooperative merger and
acquisitions, and has advised
on the majority of the co-op-
erative acquisition deals that
have taken place over the last
decade.
In addition to KIUC, Collet
& Associates has been involved
in acquisitions by utility coop-
eratives in Alaska, Vermont,
Oklahoma,
Illinois
and
Wisconsin.
In a previous interview,
Bissell said he sees a strong
potential for the Big Island
to follow in Kauai’s footsteps
and control its own electricity
destiny.
Meanwhile, in documents
filed with the PUC, HEI and
NextEra have made clear that
spinning off any part of the
company, including Hawaii
Electric Light Co. Inc., is not
something the companies have
considered or plan to consider.
HIEC and KIUC are among
29 entities granted intervenor
status in the proposed HEI-
NextEra merger. The PUC,
which still has to sign off on
the merger for it to go through,
has set an interim deadline of
Aug. 31 for all intervenor testi-
mony to be complete.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.
With protesters waving
signs outside their gate, devel-
opers of the Hokulia luxury
subdivision say they are com-
mitted to moving quickly to
create plans for burial sites,
and will sit down with area
descendants to craft plans for
how graves should be protect-
ed and cared for.
Descendants, the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs, archaeolo-
gists and officers with the state
Division of Conservation and
Resource Enforcement met
with Hokulia for discussions
several times this week and
toured 15 sites that were of
concern to residents whose
ancestors are buried on the
1,280-acre coastal subdivision
south of Kailua-Kona.
DOCARE has ordered a halt
to construction of a stone buf-
fer wall at one of the grave
sites while the division inves-
tigates allegations a contractor
improperly used a conserva-
tion area for staging equip-
ment and gravel, and con-
structed a fabric containing
wall, which it anchored using
stones from the site. Also con-
tained at that site beneath a
tarp are remains unearthed in
2002.
In addition to the complaint
about illegal construction,
descendants are upset that
numerous graves have gone for
years without burial treatment
plans, and that Hokulia is
using herbicide at grave sites,
leading to soil erosion and
causing rashes on those who
visit. Descendants also claim
they haven’t been consulted as
required on burial treatment
issues.
In a letter to Hokulia, the
State Historic Preservation
Division
last
November
detailed a lack of implemented
burial plans for eight sites and
a dozen sets of remains and
teeth from eight other graves
being contained at the Hale
Iwi without burial plans. In a
Dec. 15 letter to John Shaw,
general manager of The Club
at Hokulia, OHA cited reports
of “deplorable condition” at
some burials and a failure to
engage descendants in conver-
sations about burial treatment,
BY CHRIS D’ANGELO
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
BY BRET YAGER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Ethics
complaint filed
against Kenoi,
campaign
manager
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
SEE
HOKULIA
PAGE 7A
SEE
ETHICS
PAGE 7A
Iwi lay beneath a tarp where they were unearthed in 2002. In the past few weeks,
contract work to build a buffer wall at the site was halted over allegations that work was
done and equipment was stored in a conservation zone. Printed with family permission.
LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Alameda
Kenoi
Documents filed with the PUC,
HEI and NextEra have made
clear that spinning off any part of the
company, including Hawaii Electric Light
Co. Inc., is not something the companies
have considered or plan to consider.
“
“
