HPP Mailboxes

[dmbwest]

"if the board had their act together"

[PaulW]

I heard an ad on the radio the other day in which the USPS claimed to deliver to "every address in the US".
Why not in HPP? Dirt roads?

[leilanidude]

how does Leilani estates, a private sub get mail delivered?

Leilani doesn't have "private roads", they are paved and county maintained with proper width right-of-ways.

[kalakoa]

It appears that only Leilani is platted 60-feet; side roads are 40-feet.

[mermaid53]

9 Feb 2018 Special Board mtg...

R Mizuba sd the USPS authorized 8,753 boxes for $600,000. She will give a more thorough report at the next board mtg. Ruth sd L Laucik has been a major obstruction to their moving forward on community projects. D Roe asked "isn't it true that had we moved forward with your proposal (1 yr ago), that we would've been out of a significant amount of more $$$? That "today" we have a better deal? R Mizuba sd that was a yr ago.

P Murdoch sd it wasn't the community's decision. The only decision was to take it to the membership. The membership decided, and it turns out we're correct. Bc we kept at it, the postal svc finally decided this. R Mizuba sd she thought last yr's proposal was still a good deal and it was shot down by the membership.
_________________

Last yr Dist 6 rep P Murdoch sd the USPS told HPP we had to buy over 8,000 boxes or there was no deal...ALL or NOTHING. Here's discussion from last yr on detailed costs and some of the details aren't going to be much different today.

Feb 6 2017 Special Board Meeting minutes Mailbox Committee discussion:

"The mailbox unites are the largest cost. Estimated at about $50,000 per site to accommodate mailbox centers with lighting included in the budget bid. Full budget bid comes in just below $600,000 for all four sites. They asked an outside contractor for a bid and it was bid at $182,000. One of the ideas was for solar lighting that stands alone at the ends of each island bank of boxes. A spreadsheet was distributed and showed how the bid broke down to $795,598 e.g. approximately $800,000 for the full project to put in the four sites. Largest cost is in the box stands themselves coming in at $600,000 with about just under $200,000 for construction."

It doesn't appear like the current mailbox situation has changed per R Mizuba's report at last night's special board meeting except that perhaps the USPS will front the $$$ and the $$$ will be reimbursed to USPS via individual mailbox purchases?

Per a reliable source: Has something changed much since just this past January 2018? The plan was for HPP to collect $$$ from the membership after the boxes were installed by the USPS. Question was what if some members don't want to pay the est. $200+? Will the association pay the difference if some don't want to pay for a box? The mailbox committee chair had no response. This was the same exact argument 1 yr ago..nothing new, and still no answer?

Add'l questions: The board has NOT approved this yet R Mizuba has moved forward like it has been. The board has had no discussion on it at any recent board meeting, and the FC hasn't heard anything about it.

Who's going to maintain the area, what kind of security will there be when you have 4,000 mailboxes in one place? How's this going to affect the neighborhood and the main drag traffic wise? Who will manage the $$$ esp if the FC is being castrated from being the checks and balances for the membership? Will the $$$ get commingled like the road maint fee $$$ did with chip seal? Usage of 20 acres question hasn't been resolved and may take some time until it is. The current zoning is the issue. And last someone checked, the Watamull's weren't interested in leasing any of their 20 acres that are zoned for community development so that option may be out. Lots of questions that need answers from R Mizuba FIRST. ASK HER and P Murdoch to give you ALL the finer details bc it seems the cart is being put before the horse AGAIN.

Like I've said many times, I want everyone to have a mailbox in HPP BUT make sure it's done right so there are NO repercussions. This will take careful planning and decisions...not done in a reckless manner that may cause potential liability and waste of lot owner $$$.
Ask Questions, get answers from R Mizuba who is running the show.

[mermaid53]

Strange...there are mixed messages going on in the community. At the mtg last night R Mizuba did not say the mailboxes were FREE. We have heard this before from R Mizuba a couple yrs ago. Then last yr we were told the USPS would charge us and we'd have to buy over 8,000 bxs or get nothing....now we have an offer of 8,753 Free boxes again?

R Mizuba sd she'd give a thorough Mailbox Committee report at the next board mtg and I would assume at the membership mtg as well.

[Eric1600]

I've come to the conclusion that there's no viable solution to getting mailboxes in HPP.

Most members are apparently unwilling to pay for anything. Many people won't even pay their road fees and forget getting those who have mailboxes to pay anything. It won't matter if it was all completely free because then you get people complaining that their box moved. It's an impossible, irrational and selfish situation.

[mermaid53]

There's someone on the Mailbox Committee who was looking into the federal angle of changing our status from a lesser rural area to a higher rural area because of the number of homes we have now. The goal is to see if we can get home mail delivery. I wouldn't discount it until someone confirms that the USPS absolutely won't deliver to our homes. I would bypass the Keaau postmaster and go further up the chain to find out. There were 2 different schools of thought on that Mailbox Committee. And of course Dist 2 rep is the chair, so there you go. It's a board run committee.

One yr ago at the membership mtg, when the mailbox fiasco occurred, a member tried to form a membership mailbox committee bc he wanted a membership committee handling this. One of the board members obstructed that, former Dist 5 rep who had just come in filling a vacancy. He was pretty upset about that. She used her board platform to obstruct his motion to form the committee. This really should be a membership committee in many peoples opinion. The board should be focused on roads.

Why not go to the next Mailbox Committee mtg and ask about this "federal angle"? Their meetings are supposed to be open to the membership.

IF, and that's a big IF, we could get home delivery, it would solve all the problems we're facing as a community. The burden would be on USPS, not us. It upsets me to see elderly people being left w/this burden. Some use their electric wheelchairs to get their mail. It's dangerous. Others have to depend on someone else to get their mail. And w/the aging community in HPP....

Good luck Eric...I understand your frustration. We also were faced w/the same issues for a couple years. For 1 yr we paid for a private mailbox in Hilo. 1 yr later, we got a PO Box at Keaau and were charged $25/mo. We found out some people were charged and others weren't being charged.

Maybe someone can try again at this Feb membership mtg to form a Membership Mailbox committee and do your own research.

[mermaid53]

I spoke with someone on the Mailbox Committee. She said she had checked with the Honolulu USPS and the trend is to move towards cluster boxes and away from home delivery. Would someone be interested in taking it all the way to the top to find out if it's truly definitive that there are no other options for HPP?

Dist2 R Mizuba VP and Dist6 P Murdoch are once again taking the membership on a merry go round w/their mailbox agenda. According to Mizuba's report at the board meeting this past Wednesday evening, she has every intention of using 1-2 acres on one of our 20 acre deed restricted lots to install free mailboxes. THEY CAN'T DO THAT for 2 reasons. 1) The board hasn't voted for it at any board meeting I've been to. 2) If Mizuba and Murdoch and the rest of the majority board violate the deed restriction, any lot owner in HPP can file a suit against the association = All of us. It's in black and white in the deed. Can't bring in mailboxes free or not if there's no land to install them. We saw the cart before the horse maneuver last year.

Options to acquire land for mailboxes? Fund raise, grant write, get donations to buy lots in HPP for mailboxes? Then you'll have "NOT in my back yard issues". Members should form a mailbox committee and find out what the possibilities are (and not under board control).

HPP wants mailboxes but it needs to come about by legal and well planned decisions. Dist2 rep Mizuba has said she doesn't care that 600+ members voted no last year. None of our money should go into Mizuba and Murdoch's mailbox project. Are they willing to risk a lawsuit and throw OUR money down the toilet? Don't know if this is just plain stupidity or a total disregard of the law and how our money is spent.

The deed restriction properties were discussed thoroughly at a board meeting last year when L Laucik, the former transparent board director was president. Mizuba and Murdoch were present. The conclusion was that HPP can't use any of the 20 acre lots for mailboxes. What part of "can't" does Mizuba and Murdoch not understand? Now that they and their people are back in power on the board, do they somehow think that changes the deed restriction verbiage?

The $100,000 they have in their mailbox piggy bank came from road fees. At the last board meeting Dist6 rep P Murdoch was remarking AGAIN that funds are very limited for road striping. (How about using that $100,000?) The lack of a proper center line on our main drags is a very very serious safety issue. It's evident that their priorities aren't about road safety.

[Obie]

"I spoke with someone on the Mailbox Committee. She said she had checked with the Honolulu USPS and the trend is to move towards cluster boxes and away from home delivery."

It's not a trend, it's policy.

Read the USPS POM !