Apparently, there are now four candidates ready to fill vacancies on the Transportation Commission. If approved by the Hawaii County Council, there will still be two vacancies after almost a year since the commission last had a sufficient quorum of five members to meet. However, I understand that at least one candidate was selected by the mayor several months ago, which, if processed, would have allowed the commission to meet long before now.
Why has the mayor been delaying the assignment of candidates that could allow the commission to function sooner?
While a quorum may soon prevail, the mayor and his staff have been complacent getting these vacancies filled. Local newspapers are willing to publish stories to help reach potential volunteers without the need for ads. There is practically nothing visible online at the county website to entice or attract volunteers (BTW: why is the county website so out of date?
At least one board “fact sheet” dates back to 2008!) The mayor’s PR Holomua publication contains nothing to persuade constituents. The mayor should be much more proactive in reaching out to each and every community and volunteer organization and especially the retired community to ask for help in getting people to submit applications to be on the commission and other boards. It may be “difficult” to fill these positions, but it is the mayor’s responsibility to do so. It takes extra work and better marketing. Not only should there be no vacancies, but there should be a backlog of candidates ready to fill vacancies as they occur. Having a bare minimum quorum is insufficient as all required positions should be filled to ensure quorums in case of absenteeism, but much more importantly, vacancies prevent full representation of all of our Big Island districts.
A more problematic situation, however, is the efficacy of the Transportation Commission itself. Even with a quorum, the commission has very little authority and business is virtually limited to approval of applications to operate taxis on the Big Island (contrary to the West Hawaii Today article, the commission is not involved with any other businesses). As noted in that article, not a single application has been denied. It’s not that there must be denials to justify the commission’s existence, but if no applications are ever disapproved, why waste time and money having a commission process?
The commission can review the driving record of taxi cab applicant/owners, some of whom do not actually drive their cabs, but does not review the records of the other taxi drivers that work for the applicants. The commission can advise the Mass Transit Department (MTD) on matters relating to the county bus system, but otherwise has no authority. The MTD, in addition to the Transportation Commission’s advisory capacity, is also under the purview of the County Council’s Public Safety and Mass Transit Committee (PSMTC).
Do we really need two separate entities to hover over the MTD? At a recent PSMTC meeting, the only agenda item was a request to add a bus stop to an existing bus route. Eight of nine County Council members were in attendance! Is this really a legislative matter that requires PSMTC approval? If MTD has the ability to approve taxi applications, albeit temporarily, as it has for the past half year, why do we need the Transportation Commission to technically “rubber stamp” them? Too much unnecessary oversight!
I have tried, so far in vain, to get these matters on the PSMTC’s agenda for discussion and further investigation. I am not the only one who feels this way about the commission, several other active and past commissioners share my views. This should also be brought up at the next Transportation Commission meeting. Unless the council can find a way to give the commission more tangible responsibility, it should be abolished and its meager duties turned over to MTD. These changes can only occur through legislative action by the County Council. But before that, a thorough evaluation of the Transportation Commission’s functions and necessity should be initiated by “agendizing” the issue. Let’s at least get this situation to the table for an honest, transparent and full review by the council.
Neal Herbert is a resident of Hilo
My Turn opions are those of the writer and not West Hawaii Today