HILO — As Mayor Harry Kim announced late Friday he’s reopened negotiations on a multimillion-dollar composting contract he’d canceled, County Council Chairwoman Valerie Poindexter said she’d still like a council resolution to go forward giving the council authority to hire an outside attorney to look over the contract and make recommendations.
Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung’s Resolution 134 would pay an outside attorney up to $50,000 to look over the contract to, among other things, analyze the mayor’s “unilateral authority to cancel contracts that were specifically authorized by the council,” the resolution said.
Kim said the contract holder Hawaiian Earth Recycling agreed Thursday to work toward resolving contract differences. Representatives of the recycling company, headed by its Executive Director Mark Cummings, met with Kim and the county Department of Environmental Management, a press release said.
“We’re going to work now to see how we can resolve these issues,” Kim said in a telephone interview, listing costs, location and feed source as primary sticking points. “I feel very good about that.”
Kim said he’d told the council in a public meeting that his administration was going to sit down with the contractors and try to reach resolution. He said the process could take some time.
Poindexter was happy to hear the news.
“That’s awesome,” she said Friday afternoon.
Still, she said, she’d like to see the resolution, scheduled for a council meeting Wednesday in Hilo, go forward.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” she said.
The recent events illustrate the tension between Kim and the council and bring to the surface a recurring issue — who does the Corporation Counsel’s Office work for anyway?
The council sent a unanimous message to the mayor at a committee meeting last week, refusing to approve a multi-year contract to replace the contract Kim had canceled. Kim said neither that nor Chung’s upcoming resolution had an impact on his decision to reopen the contract.
Council members also sparred with Corporation Counsel Joe Kamelamela, questioning his strenuous support of Kim’s decision.
The Corporation Counsel, the top civil attorney in the county, is different from other department heads in that the attorney represents both the legislative and executive branches of government, according to the county charter. Sometimes, those branches of government are at odds.
Council members presciently quizzed Kamelamela on this issue during his confirmation hearings in January, trying to get reassurances that Kamelamela would represent them, as well as the administration. Kamelamela was a consistent supporter during Kim’s mayoral campaign.
“Your loyalties are heavily with the mayor,” Poindexter said during Kamelamela’s confirmation hearing.
Kamelamela on Friday disagreed with that assessment. Rather than being seen as servicing two masters, Kamelamela said he serves the people of the island. He advises the council and the administration, he said, and they make their own decisions.
“I always give them the same advice,” he said. “I basically represent the people of this island and I’m always looking at the interests of the people of Hawaii.”
Recently, sparks have flown in particular between Kamelamela and Chung, as the two attorneys face off, sometimes with voices raised, on issues in public meetings.
“It’s becoming really clear that when we have nine strong council members against what the administration is doing … what side does Corporation Counsel argue,” Poindexter said Friday. “In the real world, we wouldn’t ask an attorney to represent two parties in a dispute.”
It may take a charter amendment to resolve this, she added.
“Do we as a County Council decide it’s time for separate representation?” she asked.
The county charter allows the council to hire temporary outside attorneys by a two-third vote. The mayor has no veto power over the resolution.
“I don’t think the Corporation Counsel has correctly assessed the county’s liability exposure. Contrary to what they have told us in open and closed sessions, we could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages,” Chung said Friday. “We owe it to the taxpayers to get a second opinion on this issue.”
Chung was happy to hear later about Kim’s renewed contract negotiations. He said he’s ready to hang onto the resolution rather than push it forward. It might be needed later, he said.
“Maybe we should keep it in abeyance until we get a better picture as the negotiations are ongoing,” Chung said.
Kim said Friday he hasn’t read the resolution, but he leaves it up to the council to handle those, since he has no say.
Chung, despite strong words about the issue during public meetings and sponsorship of the resolution that goes around the Office of the Corporation Counsel, said he hopes to keep a good relationship with the mayor.
Chung’s words Friday morning proved prophetic.
“I know that Mayor Kim has the best interest of the county at heart. But so do we,” Chung said. “While we may be disagreeing with him now, I am still hopeful that Harry will consider our concerns and be able to figure out a compromise to this matter. He’s always had a reputation for being able to do that.”