County, contractor trying to reconnect on canceled compost job

KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii County and Hawaiian Earth Recycling agreed Thursday to work toward resolving their present contract differences, the county announced in a press release Friday.

Representatives of the recycling company, headed by its Executive Director Mark Cummings, met with Mayor Harry Kim and the County Department of Environmental Management, and the parties have agreed to work toward addressing concerns with the present contract.

Kim in February announced he was canceling the contract for the proposed $10.3 million composting facility. He later received criticism from some of the County Council for doing so.

Both parties, the release said, have agreed that issues of the contract that involve mulching and enhanced mulching, which is mulch that has been treated for invasive species, are important to maintain and must be continued.

The contractor’s performance of the composting segment may take some time to resolve issues such as location and operational responsibilities involving the composting.

“We agreed that working towards and resolving a contract involving mulching and enhanced mulching would be good and needed for the people of Hawaii County, and needs to be done as soon as possible,” said Mayor Harry Kim in the release. The county and the contractor are reviewing the contract to see where there are opportunities to adjust the cost of the services.

“Both sides are in agreement with this mission, and we look forward to having something definitive in the next couple of weeks, Kim said. “As stated in the past, there was never any dissatisfaction with this contractor, or the work performance on the mulching.”