PUHI — Apollo Kaua‘i and the Associated Students of Kaua‘i Community College are hosting a candidates forum from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today for the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Board of Directors elections. Doors open at 6 p.m.; no charge.
PUHI — Apollo Kaua‘i and the Associated Students of Kaua‘i Community College are hosting a candidates forum from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today for the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Board of Directors elections.
Doors open at 6 p.m.; no charge. Ballots for KIUC board elections will be mailed out separately from members’ electric bills in late February. Members can vote online or by phone. Voting ends March 19.
The seven candidates running in this year’s election — JoAnne Georgi, Pat Gegen, David Iha, Teofilo “Phil” Tacbian, Peter Yukimura, Kuulei Santos and Ken Stokes — responded to these three questions: 1.) Why are you running to serve on the KIUC Board of Directors? 2.) What expertise and experience will you bring to the board? 3.) What will you do to help KIUC meet its renewable energy goal of generating at least 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2013?
Responses from Gegen, Iha, Tacbian, Yukimura, Santos and Stokes were published earlier this week and are available at www.thegardenisland.com.
Here are Georgi’s answers.
1.) I am running because the current KIUC board does not seem to listen to its members. For example, why does KIUC mail out the calendar at a cost of $8.043, not including the cost of the printing, when most people throw it away and my P.O. (‘Ele‘ele) never received theirs? Why did KIUC send four students and two chaperones to Washington, D.C. for two weeks for a conference? Is this a wise use of our money? According to Randall Hee, KIUC spent $2 million on charity. I am sure the senior citizens and single parents would rather not be forced to contribute their share of $65. Why does KIUC advertise in The Garden Island newspaper? One ad on hydroelectric appeared six times for a cost of $10,080. Why are we mailing the Currents magazine at a cost of $6,730 per issue? Couldn’t this information be included in our bill like Kaua‘i Community Federal Credit Union does? Why are the patronage checks sent in a separate envelope? Why couldn’t they be included in our bill, or better yet deducted from our bill. It costs $14,700 to send each mailing for the postage alone, not including the printing and processing of the checks. You can have four or five pieces of paper in an envelope for the same cost of $0.42. KIUC should do all it can to bring down rates by cutting unnecessary costs.
2.) I have a degree in business administration from Western Michigan University and have owned my own businesses. I previously served as the head of the stewardship committee at church and presently I am the state treasurer of the American Association of University Women. I’m used to planning ahead — looking at least several years into the future. I feel the KIUC board should be more forward-thinking. For example, KIUC is installing toxic creosote poles instead of fiber glass poles. Creosote poles have been banned in some areas because of the damage to the environment. Fiber glass costs a little more but would last much longer. With the construction of Kaumuali‘i Highway between Kaua‘i Community College and Lihu‘e, why doesn’t KIUC and the state put the utilities underground? It should have been designed into the plan when it was originally drawn up. If it is done retroactively, I understand it would cost $1 million per mile.
3.) I believe we should investigate all load-bearing methods of renewable energy, including hydro electric, oil, gas and nuclear. Wind and solar and photovoltaic are not load bearing and could be part of the solution, especially for homes. Oil is not reliable because all it takes is one person pushing a button in the Mideast and we have about two weeks of electricity generation left. Nuclear power using the new compact, safe reactors is an exciting option. The state legislature would have to change the law to allow it. However, the Navy could put a small nuclear generation plant at PMRF to meet their needs. The Navy has extensive experience in running nuclear submarine and carrier power plants and has the experienced, qualified technicians to maintain a system using even older technology. The newer, turnkey nuclear systems, don’t even require maintenance (the entire shipping container-sized unit is simply shipped back for the factory for refurbishment or decontamination at the end of its useful life). It would cost $200 per family per year to have nuclear. It is the least expensive option. Vermont and France have had success with nuclear. It has to be on the table.
