unless authorized by an
approved exception.
A
memorandum
explaining the rea-
sons for the exceptional
expenditure along with
copies of the written
request for authoriza-
tion, documentation and
the signed authorization
must be submitted to
the Finance Department
director within seven
days of the expenditure.
The Finance director
must maintain a log of all
travel expenditures that
are authorized through
an exception and must
make the log available
for public inspection,
under the amendments.
“It adds a little more
accountability and a little
more transparency,” Wille
said.
Council members gen-
erally liked the changes,
but Hilo Councilman
Aaron Chung said the
language still needs some
work.
“I’m OK moving this
forward, but it needs to
be tweaked,” Chung said.
Puna Councilman Dan
Paleka worried that the
requirements for approv-
al in writing for gifts
could be troublesome
for last-minute purchas-
es caused by scheduling
changes when visiting
other officials.
“I’m not the type to go
empty-handed,” Paleka
said.
If necessary, he’ll just
pay for gifts out of his
own pocket, he said.
“For us as a council
member, we’ve got to do
what we think is right,”
he added.
The changes come in
the midst of an investiga-
tion by the state attorney
general, following a West
Hawaii Today report that
Kenoi had used his pCard
at Honolulu hostess bars
and to buy personal items
including an expensive
surfboard and bicycle.
Kenoi generally paid the
money back, but $9,559
in reimbursements didn’t
occur until months later,
after the newspaper broke
the story.
An
audit
by
Legislative
Auditor
Bonnie Nims found sev-
eral problems, primari-
ly in the Mayor’s Office
and the Department of
Liquor Control, with
cards being used for
personal purchases and
purchases, such as for
alcohol, against county
policies.
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4A
paraphernalia present in
the area.
Camacho pushed the
school to move the loca-
tion to a safer location
— possibly back to the
location near Kuakini
Highway or at the
Mormon church.
Souza said they are
working to move the stop,
but it will take some time.
This includes several dry
runs of potential routes
to check for safety, he
said. The transportation
department and Roberts
Hawaii, the contractor,
are at work already, he
said.
For the time being the
school has worked with
police to sweep the area
during times students are
present. A vice principal
will also be in the area
during those times, Souza
said.
This shows how effec-
tive a community can be
when they encounter a
problem, Souza said.
DANGER:
Officials are working to move the stop
continued from page 1a
PCARD:
It adds a little more accountability
and a little more transparency
continued from page 1a
bill over five meetings so
far this year. But oppo-
nents —Hilo Councilmen
Dennis “Fresh” Onishi
and
Aaron
Chung,
and Puna Councilmen
Greggor Ilagan and Dan
Paleka — still have con-
cerns the changes will do
more harm than good.
The contractor prohi-
bition particularly con-
cerned them.
“What is the percep-
tion that we’re trying to
fix?” asked Ilagan. “That
employees have some sort
of inside information and
are able to go through the
system and somehow get
that contract?”
Ilagan said county
employees could possibly
be the low bidders, and
hiring them could save the
countymoney. As a steward
of the county funds, Ilagan
said he has a responsibility
to see the county gets the
lowest price.
Chung said the coun-
cil would be better off
strengthening the pow-
ers of the Board of Ethics
so it could better inves-
tigate and respond to
complaints.
“I think that what we
have currently address-
es any ethical prob-
lems,” Chung said. “As
long as you’re not in the
bidding-loop, the deci-
sion-making loop, why
not be able to work for
the county.”
ETHICS:
Kenoi first proposed the bill in September 2009
continued from page 1a
cost effective than the Hawaiian
Electric companies, Reed offered
an unequivocal, “No.”
“The economics of forming a
new utility are very challenging,”
he said. “The cost to acquire a
utility often overshadows the new
utility for decades. In addition to
the high acquisition costs involved
… there is no inherent advantage
of a co-op or muni on the largest
component of a customer’s bill
— fuel mix. As the commission
points out (in a previous decision),
‘the Hawaiian Electric Companies
essentially do not earn a profit or
experience a loss due to changes in
fuel prices. These expenses repre-
sent 80 to 85 percent of the total
power supply functional costs and
60 to 65 percent of the total cost of
electric service.’ … In Hawaii, the
advantages related to fuel diversi-
ty do not exist for a newly formed
utility.”
HIEC director and spokes-
man Marco Mangelsdorf, who
also is president of Hilo-based
ProVision Solar, responded via
an emailed statement on Tuesday,
saying that Reed’s testimony
belied “a regrettable ignorance of
the diverse generating portfolio
existing today on Hawaii Island,
a portfolio heavy on renewable
energies that NextEra utilities
can only dream of.”
As an example, Mangelsdorf
pointed to the fact that 50 percent
of the kilowatt hours consumed
on the island last year came from
renewable energy sources, includ-
ing geothermal, wind, solar and
hydroelectric power.
“And that diversity will continue
to grow robustly here in a timeline
measured in years, not decades,”
he said.
Mangelsdorf argues that HIEC
would have multiple tools at its
disposal to lower electric rates
on the Big Island, including “tax
exempt status, the lower cost of
capital available to co-ops, and
the ability to keep all profits …
on island, as opposed to being
beholden to profit-driven share-
holders far and wide.”
Reed held that the recent trend
has been toward privatization of
utilities instead of municipal-
ization, with his research show-
ing that eight of 10 privatiza-
tion efforts since 2000 were
approved.
“Nearly all of the more than 900
cooperatives and 2,200 munici-
pal electric systems were formed
in the early 1900s, and rarely
through an acquisition approach,”
he said.
Mangelsdorf countered that
recent years have seen a renewed
interest in the co-op utility model.
“While it’s true that the 1930s
and 1940s experienced the boom
in co-ops sprouting across parts of
the mainland, thanks to the 1936
Rural Electrification Act, there’s
been something of a renaissance
in the co-op movement over the
past 20 years, with dozens of
co-ops being added to the over
900-strong existing co-op family,”
he said.
In Monday’s testimony, Reed
also warned the PUC that the time
required for a co-op to explore the
possibility of acquiring HELCO’s
assets could be counterproduc-
tive, and a delay of the proposed
transaction for even a year “would
likely lead to the current offer
from NextEra Energy being
terminated.”
He added that “when the finan-
cial analysis has been conducted,
and all the costs have been iden-
tified, municipalization efforts are
most often abandoned.”
“Of the 22 municipalization
efforts that were studied since
2000, only two have been com-
pleted,” he said. “Nearly all of
these efforts were either rejected
by voters, denied by the regula-
tory commissions, or abandoned
by the municipality during the
process.”
Mangelsdorf, however, argues
that his organization intends to
see the process through.
“HIEC remains as committed
and confident as ever that the
cooperative model for our island
offers compelling advantages and
benefits that are well worthy of
consideration during this once-in-
a-lifetime period for us to bold-
ly determine the best path for
Hawaii Island’s energy future,” he
said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@
hawaiitribune-herald.com.-
MERGER:
50 percent of the kilowatt hours consumed on the island
last year came from renewable energy sources
continued from page 1a
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