LIHUE — A split Kauai County Council confirmed a mayoral appointee to the county Board of Water, despite that he may have to recuse himself in some important decisions due to potential conflict of interests. Additionally, the board continues without
LIHUE — A split Kauai County Council confirmed a mayoral appointee to the county Board of Water, despite that he may have to recuse himself in some important decisions due to potential conflict of interests.
Additionally, the board continues without a consumer advocate — at a time when customers have just experienced four rate increases since January 2012 and have had their billing schedule change from bi-monthly to monthly.
By a 4-3 vote, the council approved Hugh Strom to the board. The senior vice president for Aqua Engineers and a board member for the company had been cleared by the Board of Ethics on April 19 to be Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s pick for the Board of Water.
“It’s my feeling Mr. Strom will not be able to fulfill the responsibilities of a board member,” Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said Wednesday.
To her, there is no one on Kauai more qualified for the Board of Water than Strom, but because of his position at Aqua Engineers, she said there may be many conflicts of interests and he may have to recuse himself in major upcoming water projects for the island.
“Recusal may get Mr. Strom out of offending anyone, but it also gets him out of doing his job as a board member,” Yukimura said.
In her opinion, the majority at the Board of Ethics did not look deeply at the issue, she said. And their decision to clear Strom wasn’t unanimous — the chair and a board member dissented.
“Once Mr. Strom retires and divests himself from any major financial interest in Aqua Engineering, I would welcome his service with open arms,” Yukimura. “It would be a wonderful day for Kauai because then we would be able to fully utilize his incomparable technical and administrative expertise on behalf of the public good.”
Councilman Gary Hooser agreed with Yukimura, and said he had a “difficult time” confirming the appointment.
It isn’t about the integrity of the person, he said.
“But it places the individual in what I believe is an untenable situation of having a fiduciary responsibility to two different organizations, and just be stuck in this inherent conflict,” Hooser said. “As much as any individual would want to manage that, the conflict will be there, both in reality and perception.”
Councilman Tim Bynum said the Board of Water is unique in that the county engineer and the planning director are voting members. The Kauai district engineer for the state Department of Transportation is also a voting member. The remaining four members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council.
“In my opinion, the history of the people on the water board has been highly weighted to business interests over the last five or six years,” he said.
As excellent as Carvalho has been in his appointments, Bynum said, the mayor needs to look closely at balance.
“The inclusion of Mr. Strom will continue a board that has virtually all members that are not county employees, that are businessmen who have interests, whose clients have interest with the water board at times,” Bynum said.
Farmer Roy Oyama, former head of the Kauai Farm Bureau, recently left the board. His presence on the board was important to keep agricultural water rates in check, according to Bynum. There are women, members of the Farm Bureau, that could be good candidates for the position, he said.
“I’m uncomfortable with putting all business people making these decisions,” Bynum said. “We need a consumer advocate whose goal with the Water Department is as a ratepayer — and not have other business interest — to give balance to these decisions.”
For the first time, Bynum said, he would vote against a mayoral nominee — not because of the individual, but because of the lack of balance on the decision. And having a balance perspective, he said, is what makes the county boards and commissions work really well. If Strom wasn’t the fourth business member in four appointees, Bynum said he would certainly vote for him.
Support
To Councilman Ross Kagawa, an appointee like Strom fills a big gap in technical and construction expertise that the board could use. There are a lot of old lines in Kauai’s water system that are constantly being patched and covered up, only to be worked on again a few weeks later, he said.
“We need some long-term planning and some expertise from the private sector so that we can address some of these things in an efficient manner, instead of going out and doing patch work,” he said.
Strom can provide advice and help that the Board of Water could use, Kagawa said.
“I hear the concerns, however, I believe that he would be a good addition to something that is really important,” he said.
The balance that Strom would provide is the efficiency of being from the private sector, where unlike in government jobs, “you don’t cut it, you get fired,” Kagawa said.
Councilman Mel Rapozo said he was satisfied with the ruling from the Board of Ethics, and if looked at far enough, there would be a conflict with every council member.
Rapozo mentioned Board of Water member Sherman Shiraishi, who “takes care” of a lot of development.
“Are we going to vote him out?” said Rapozo, adding the council needs to apply the same standards across the board.
Council Vice Chair Nadine Nakamura said she was disappointed that the council wasn’t able to fill the position with a female candidate. But she praised Strom’s technical background and said she feels comfortable he will recuse himself in matters where he may have conflicts.
Council Chair Jay Furfaro said he dealt professionally with Strom for 11 years. When Furfaro used to be a resort manager, Strom’s company worked in the waste water treatment facilities at Furfaro’s resort.
“He impressed me very much in being able to deliver the bad news to me as a customer, when there were attempts we wanted to improve systems, weighing out costs,” Furfaro said. “He always seemed to give the right kind of strategic thinking to us.”
Furfaro echoed Bynum’s and Nakamura’s concerns, and said Carvalho needs to hear from the council that there is a need for a consumer advocate in the board.
But Furfaro also said he’s comfortable with having someone with Strom’s expertise on the Board of Water.
“I will be supporting this first term for Mr. Strom,” Furfaro said. “Obviously it gives an opportunity to evaluate him again on a second term if some of these issues come up.”
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@thegardenisland.com
