Kenoi, Kim spar over credit for projects

The county’s current mayor and his old boss-turned mayoral rival disagreed Monday night over whose administration could take credit for at least one big West Hawaii project.

“Every single project as far as roads that were built were started under my administration,” former Mayor Harry Kim said during a forum at Kealakehe High School.

Mayor Billy Kenoi disagreed.

“Ane Keohokalole Highway was merely a line on a piece of paper (during Kim’s administration),” Kenoi said. “It was designed, engineered and built during this administration.”

Kim came back to the issue during his closing remarks.

“We’re not arguing about the construction of the highway,” Kim said. “The hardest part of making any highway was the preliminary work, which we did.”

Kenoi said he feels his administration was one that “worked with less and got more done” than previous administrations.

The failure of the Kenoi administration to resolve the county’s impending solid waste problems was one of Kim’s disappointments in the last few years.

Kim said he attempted to get a waste-to-energy plant developed when he was mayor, from 2000 to 2008, but lost the battle before the County Council.

He said he was glad to hear Kenoi say he supported waste-to-energy as the right technology to replace the closing Hilo Landfill.

“I want to know what (Kenoi has) done in the last three years,” Kim said. “He’s just joined that bandwagon.”

Kenoi said his administration was ready to issue a request for proposals for a waste-to-energy plant. He noted the county has known since 1992 the landfill would be closing.

“There’s no more excuses,” Kenoi said. “There’s no more kicking this down the road. We know we can do it in the next four years.”

The two also went back and forth about geothermal energy and energy costs. Kim said the county may not have regulatory authority over Hawaii Electric Light Co., but it can let HELCO know how unhappy people are with energy prices.

Kenoi said HELCO already knows that, and probably knew that during Kim’s terms as mayor as well.

Kim criticized the idea of basing some county cabinet members in Hilo and others in Kona.

“I never did believe separating your core management is a good management style,” Kim said. “Placing someone here or there is not the answer to communicating with the public.”

Kenoi said he would continue the practice.

“We’re as connected to the people as we could be,” he said. “Four years ago, people in West Hawaii were talking about two counties.”

He also took on criticisms that his administration hasn’t supported community development plans.

“We embrace community development plans,” he said. “If we weren’t in support of community development plans, we would have used the budget as an excuse not to fund it.”

The evening kicked off with questions posed to the candidates for prosecuting attorney. One of the biggest differences between the two candidates for prosecuting attorney is how the county should respond to shrinking space for incarcerating criminals. Mitch Roth, currently a deputy prosecuting attorney, said the county — and state, for that matter — isn’t putting enough effort into innovative solutions to address crime problems.

“You can have consequences without necessarily having to put people in prison,” Roth said, adding one such program, the ignition interlock program for people convicted of drunken driving, is paid for by the offender.

Other potential programs include electronic monitoring and transdermal alcohol detection. Those programs could confine offenders to their homes, except for when those offenders are working, which could save taxpayers money, he added.

Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida, a former deputy prosecutor, said programs are good, but the people will still be sentenced to jail time.

“Crime is occurring in our community,” Ashida said. “It’s very positive we have programs in place to deal with crime reduction, but those are no magic bullets.”