Scott Kouchi, president of Garden Island Disposal, said Monday his firm and Kaua’i County are in the midst of negotiations he hopes will result in a new contract that’s fair to both sides. The company is seeking a monthly rate
Scott Kouchi, president of Garden Island Disposal, said Monday his firm and Kaua’i County are in the midst of negotiations he hopes will result in a new contract that’s fair to both sides.
The company is seeking a monthly rate increase to continue its recycling duties at six sites countywide.
Garden Island, which currently receives $20,186.07 per month to recycle aluminum, cardboard and newspaper, has asked for a 9.5 percent rate increase, which amounts to an additional $1,917.68 per month.
County engineer Cesar Portugal wrote back to the company with a quite different set of numbers. He said the county has “only been able to substantiate a $287.12 increase in fuel-related costs and a $24.85 increase in oil-related costs.”
County officials informed the news media last Thursday that Garden Island Disposal had hand-delivered a letter April 30, saying the company would terminate its contract with the county June 30.
Kouchi said the matter of the letter was misunderstood.
“That’s a boilerplate letter. It’s simply a contractual procedure. We had to make our (official) response by April 30. Garden Island Disposal has always been committed to recycling,” Kouchi said.
County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said Garden Island Disposal was the sole bidder for the recycling contract.
Kouchi sounded hopeful about a meeting last Friday with county officials.
“They asked us for some information and explanation (of the requested rate hike), and we provided as much as we could. We are getting raised by the people who serve us,” Kouchi said.
The sticking point, according to Kouchi, was the county’s insistence on an itemized list of costs justifying the proposed 9.5 percent rate hike.
“You have to understand, we are a private business. We cannot disclose our costs. It would be detrimental to our business. We presented the county (last Friday) with percentage breakdowns but not itemization. We have justification for the numbers we passed on to them,” Kouchi said.
Kouchi said the information released to the media last week made it seem the hikes were only related to fuel costs.
“This is not just related to fuel and oil. There are many other factors … trucks, balers, electricity. We don’t make money” on the recycling program, Kouchi noted.
Discussions which looked stalled last week are now ongoing again.
“We are working in earnest and making every effort to negotiate with our contractor, and we remain committed to the recycling program,” Mayor Maryanne Kusaka said.
Scott Kouchi, whose brother, Ron, is the County Council chairman, agreed.
“We were very disappointed” in news coverage of the issue last week, Scott Kouchi said. “It really looked bad for business. The county has all our information and we are in the midst of a negotiation. It was never our intent” to pull out of recycling.
Kouchi said his company supports the recycling) program.
“We don’t want to lay off any workers. We want something that is fair” for Garden Island Disposal and the county, he said.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
