A proposal to give the City Council more power over the Honolulu Board of Water Supply remains alive, but the board has gained some breathing room.
Council Vice Chairman Ikaika Anderson, who introduced the plan, said he will request the matter be discussed at the Council’s meeting next month.
The Council had intended to give the measure its first airing Wednesday but opted not to because the matter had not been placed on the agenda soon enough to comply with state law.
"There is definitely a lack of oversight of the Board of Water Supply and of direct accountability to the ratepayer and the voter of the City and County of Honolulu," Anderson said last week.
But the chief of the agency said he sees no need for additional oversight.
The board is already "under severe scrutiny by the (Environmental Protection Agency) and the state Department of Health to run a reliable, safe, affordable water system," said Ernest Lau, Board of Water Supply manager and chief engineer,.
The Council decided not to take up Resolution 13-177 Wednesday after concerns were raised by agency leaders and several Council members that not enough public notification time had been given. It was not placed on the formal agenda at least six days in advance, as required by the state open meetings law.
Councilman Breene Harimoto said state laws prohibit "items of reasonably major importance" from being placed on the agendas of government agencies after the agendas have been posted.
"A charter amendment, I believe by definition, is a matter of widespread importance, and specifically, with the Board of Water Supply governance, I think it impacts a large number of folks," he said.
Anderson said he was OK with holding off.
The Charter amendment would give the Council the final say on the board’s operating and capital improvement budgets, require the Council to review proposed land transactions by the board and require water board members and employees to follow the city’s standards of conduct.
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PASSED
Among the resolutions approved on final reading by the Council on Wednesday:
>> Resolution 13-158, urging the city Department of Emergency Services to evaluate the need for a second provider for backup ambulance service
>> Resolution 13-146, urging the Caldwell administration to review the city community recreational gardening program
>> Resolution 13-153, renaming Manana Neighborhood Park after the late Pearl City community leader Shigeo Ushiro
>> Resolution 13-161, approving a collective bargaining contract with the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, giving raises to Hono?lulu police officers
>> Resolution 13-116, asking the administration to look into establishing a hygiene center as a pilot program to help the island’s homeless
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"As the (board) does not receive any funding from the city, it makes sense that the board has the responsibility and authority to fix and adjust water rates to ensure that appropriate funds are available for the activities proposed in the annual operating and capital budgets," Lau said in written testimony.
The board holds public hearings before fixing the waters rates and adopting its budgets, he said.
Anderson has said that the amendment would still allow the agency to set water rates and to hire and fire its manager.
Lau told the Star-Advertiser after the Council’s meeting Wednesday that the agency was established as a semiautonomous body "because you want to have decision-makers and policymakers there that would support long-term planning," he said.
Further, he said, the five voting members of the board are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Council.
Lau acknowledged that "a minority of our customers" have been frustrated by billing problems in the last eight months. As many as 15 to 16 percent of an estimated 166,000 total customers received estimated bills in May rather than bills based on usage.
The need to temporarily estimate bills arose largely due to glitches in implementing a new billing system and the switch to monthly from bimonthly billing, officials said.
The board also took heat for the conversion to monthly billing because it effectively doubled the amount of billing fees — now $7.70 — to 12 times a year from six. (The fee was $7.02 until July 1 and is scheduled to increase to $8.44 on July 1, then to $9.26 on July 1, 2015.)
Lau said the extra charge was needed to cover existing and new expenses for maintenance, repair and replacement of customer meters and related costs.
To help resolve the problems, the agency has hired additional customer service and accounting employees.
Lau said he apologizes to customers for the problems.
"But I don’t believe this is a reason to change the governance of the Board of Water Supply," he said.
He said the agency is complying with the national Safe Drinking Water Act, is not under a consent decree and is self-sustaining.
Like all proposed Charter amendments, the Council will need to vote to approve the resolution three times by a six-vote majority before it will go to the Oahu electorate.
