Councilman could have been
more proactive on sewer
Due to the delays in the Lono Kona sewer project, not only has the cost of the county’s portion gone way up, but the cost to connect to the sewer for each individual property owner has gone way up.
If Dru Kanuha was an effective leader, he would have addressed this issue, as he is the council representative for the Kona area. It is unfair to ask the property owners to pay the additional costs, which have been created by the failure of the county to act in a prompt manner.
Michael Wilson
Captain Cook
Capt. Zero’s opinion valued
This opinion is regarding Mr Elarionoff’s response (WHT Aug. 1) to Capt. Don Zero’s (retired) July 26 letter to the editor.
First of all, and foremost Capt. Don Zero is a retired U.S. Army veteran and senior citizen. Unfortunately for Mr. Elarionoff, Capt. Zero’s opinion is valued, and not “worth zero” as he so states. Capt. Zero calls it as he sees it, and his opinion is extremely valuable to all us because of his life experience. None of us have to agree with Capt. Zero, but he is entitled to have an opinion, and I for one value it highly.
In an informal poll taken some months ago, a majority of the West side Hawaii County taxpayers agree with Capt. Zero – Okamoto and Takamine both need to be replaced.
Why? Their self-inflicted mistakes, and their inability to get a job done properly, as well as their real lack of public information dissemination regarding the status of our precious water wells. But does our county government remove the incompetents?
Answer: No. Our county government gives them, and others pay raises! Additionally, it is time to change the County Charter regarding pay raises for county officials. Currently, there is no incentive for these people to perform. Oh, I forgot, why have performance-based pay, when you can just go to work and screw everything up and get a raise!
Anybody check out our Mass Transit system mess lately? What has Mass Transit Administrator Ms. Maria “Sole” Aranguiz done for the taxpayers of Hawaii County lately?
Again, the answer is nothing. Broken, and unusable dirty buses, cash money laying around in the lunchroom, unaccountable ridership numbers, the list of incompetence goes on and on in her department.
Her vision statement (as reported on http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/mass-transit) is: “To create a transportation agency the rest of the world recognizes as the best.” Is she kidding me? How about a vision statement to the likes of “Get a Hawaii County agency out of the biggest mess it has ever been in.”
Councilman Tim Richards had it right a few months ago when he stated that the Mass Transit agency should be shut down and fixed. Truer words could not have been spoken.
I certainly advocate that most if not all Hawaii County government agencies should be run as businesses. Each department should be self-sustainable to the degree possible. Do we have that now — nope, and we won’t, until we get a mayor in office that can shake this place upside down, and fire the incompetents that create or sustain the mess we call government.
There really are plenty of great people out there ready to step in and bring a businesslike environment to our county, and the taxpayers deserve it. The old boys network was great in the old days, but today, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and duty to the taxpaying population is the number one demand of the citizens, Democrat, Republican, or independent. Competency is not politically based, but it is required for public service.
Rant over Mr. Elarionoff, but Capt. Zero is not a part of the problem, you are.
Wilson Pepper
Keauhou
