Recycling bid bypasses council

YAGONG CALLS ACTIONS ‘VERY ALARMING,’ ADMINISTRATION SAYS ‘NOT
AN END RUN’

BY NANCY COOK LAUER

WEST HAWAII TODAY

ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com

HILO — The Hawaii County administration has made an end run around the County Council by soliciting bids for recycling services without the council’s blessing.

Dora Beck, acting director of the Department of Environmental Management, told the council Friday she has broken a proposed three-year contract into a one-year contract with two annual renewals, so she no longer needs the council’s vote to move forward. The county charter requires council approval of contracts expending funds over more than one budget cycle.

“It’s an action that the department has taken without the authorization of the council, which I find very alarming,” said Council Chairman Dominic Yagong.

Beck told West Hawaii Today after the meeting she simply wanted to move the process forward. The authorizing resolution was postponed again Friday until Yagong can draft legislation offering alternative programs.

The recycling contract has been stalled in the council since June, when a group of smaller haulers and interested residents said the proposed contract shuts them out and favors only one or two large companies on the island. The administration has extended its current contract with Business Services Hawaii until June while the resolution has been delayed.

“No, it’s not an end run; it’s legal,” Beck said. “I don’t think continual contract extensions are a good idea.”

But council members bristled at the department’s action.

“This council should not be a rubber-stamp in this process,” said North Kona Councilman Angel Pilago. “I refuse to believe this council is an impediment.”

Beck said, and she was backed by Assistant Corporation Counsel Katherine Garson, that county departments have the authority to put out multiyear bids without council approval; the approval only comes in when it’s time to pay the contract. Departments also have authority to ink and pay for single-year contracts without council approval.

“There’s a fundamental disconnect,” said Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann. “I can’t connect the dots.”

South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford took it a step farther.

“If you don’t have a right to award a contract, you’re bargaining in bad faith,” Ford said.

The delays on the recycling hauling contract began in June, when a West Hawaii recycling business owner, Mike Allen of Atlas Recycling, and Ocean View resident Mike Dubois, a self-described community activist involved in trash cleanups, raised questions about the cost effectiveness of the county’s two-bin recycling program.

Allen maintains the current system costs upward of $230 a ton for recycling. In comparison, the tipping fee — the amount haulers are charged to dump their load at the landfill — is $85 a ton.

Allen says the program was started in 2007, and there has never been an evaluation done to ensure the current system is the most efficient and cost-effective program. He thinks a better alternative would be to allow schools to set up closed recycling bins on campus, such as is done on Oahu, and be able to use the money collected to supplement education funds.

Yagong has apparently been taking Allen’s ideas seriously.

“If we can pay $100 a ton versus $230 a ton, why wouldn’t we consider it,” Yagong asked.

County Recycling Coordinator Linda Peters, however, has said the average cost for hauling recyclables, including a diversion grant for keeping materials out of the landfill, comes to $175 a ton. She said the current method was chosen after a comprehensive study of alternatives by a citizen committee working the Integrated Resources and Solid Waste Plan.

“It came from smart people doing hundreds and hundreds of hours of study,” Peters said.