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Health issues aside from dumped rotten carcasses, a key issue that no one is addressing is the fire threat from these green waste piles. Several firefighters I know say that illegal green waste dumping is the largest fire threat they face island-wide.
There are so many new people her in HPP and lower Puna who have no clue about the brush fires that this area experienced in the 1980s and 90s. Thousands of acres burned. Even a fire a few acres in size could cause big problems.
IMHO @Wax is wrong to say give it some slack.
As far as I'm concerned, the lack of permits on behalf of HPPOA is another example of their hubris.
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Carol, does that mean you think we should leave it in status quo? Just let bad build upon bad rather then try to fix the things that are wrong? Monkey see, monkey do? Just because past GMs did it the wrong way doesn't mean it should be allowed to continue. They may be former employees because of their (bad) performances. I'm at the point now where I think a good house cleaning of the board and Hui staff would be a good thing. AND once that's done an independent audit is seriously needed!!! We really have no idea what we have, what has been spent, where it's been has been spent and where we are with all the road improvement plans. A new start with everything laid out in the open sounds good to me.
*edited for typo
Pending fines, potential fire hazards, roads that are never grated while others are done several times a year because board or Hui staff members and/or their families live on them, and "gravel" that is either so large a person can't walk on it without twisting an ankle or so fine it's basically already dust. These are just a few of the problems in HPP right now and continuing to employ people that mismanage (even if it's just be choosing to follow past mistakes) is not going to help us in the long or short run.
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roads that are never grated while others are done several times a year
Both County and State "prioritize" road maintenance the same way despite the roads (and money) being "public", and the community lets them "get away with it", so it's not clear to me why better behavior is expected from a private HOA.
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Punawild,
If you reread my post I never said to continue with the status quo, I just said to remember that the people currently running the show at every level from road managers to HPPOA volunteers, are not the people who started this practice. Does that mean changes shouldn't be made going forward, not at all, but dumping heaps of coals on their heads is not really fair, or going to improve things.
How many of you who are suddenly so upset about this now that the board of health is involved have been driving by the 16th "dump" on a regular basis? How many of you ever thought twice about it, or asked the road manager any questions about it? But all of a sudden everyone is second guessing the decisions that got us to this place, and are demanding that the all volunteer board be punished somehow for the situation. I just think there has been a lot of 20/20 hindsight being expressed here.
I hated the "extra" dumping that was going on for literally years now, especially the pig carcasses and dead TVs, and I think the placement of the dump right by the road was asking for trouble, but rather than go postal on the volunteer board and road manager, I think it would be more productive to constructively look at alternative ways to deal with the situation that are legal, affordable, and environmentally responsible.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Well the meeting was yesterday...did anything happen?
Anybody go home satisfied or at least happy?
Any board members quit over frustration at being an unpaid volunteer and having to deal with armchair quarterbacks?
As far as fire danger is concerned, piles of wet logs in wet Puna aren't nearly as big a threat as all that Pentisetum Grass all over Kona side.
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I went to the meeting. No pitchforks or ropes were visible, and the crowd was pretty respectful. The BOD chose to kick the can down the road instead of dealing with the problem now. They accomplished this by passing a motion to delay any final action until after the elections and seating of four new board members in late June. So we still don't know what they will do. I did learn some things, though:
1. We have an engineer who also seems to think he's a lawyer and told us that he disagrees with the Health Department's interpretation of the regulations. Good luck with that approach. The same engineer has prepared a proposal for designing and obtaining permits for a greenwaste composting facility and a solid waste convenience station which would allow the HPPOA to consolidate and then dispose of non-green solid waste. His proposal also mentions that zoning would be required for such projects, and this could be problematical. We were not told what such facilities would cost, but the engineer wants $1500 for planning it.
2. The HPP crew will begin removing the accumulated waste right away. It was suggested that they rent or lease a bigger truck to do this more efficiently, but only a very general estimate of the cost was mentioned by the General Manager. I believe this was about $15,000, but it could be more. It surprised many of us present that the manager did not have this researched and a cost estimate ready because it was a rather obvious measure that would need to be done.
3. A minority on the board complained that the majority had taken a straw vote to pursue the waste facility permitting without a full public hearing and added that they had to protest to get the special meeting held. This was disputed by one board member, but not contradicted by the president. If the minority is correct, there is a real lack of transparency.
There was more, but that is what I recall as most notable. Nobody quit the board last night, although at least two dissidents have in the past six months or so. There are apparantly five of nine seats on the board vacant or up for election, but only four will turn over because one guy is running unopposed. The new board will inherit quite a mess.
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Out of curiosity, and a little sideways, is it kapu to throw pig carcass back into the imu to turn to ash, then bury ash or distribute as fertilizer in the garden? Need to learn, Thansk!
Are you a human being, or a human doing?
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he disagrees with the Health Department's interpretation of the regulations
I imagine a similar opinion applies to the "fugitive dust" issue...
