By NANCY COOK LAUER Stephens Media ADVERTISING The County Council hasn’t held meetings on the west side of the island since November, despite the new $50.5 million West Hawaii Civic Center that was supposed to make public access easier. “One
By NANCY COOK LAUER
Stephens Media
The County Council hasn’t held meetings on the west side of the island since November, despite the new $50.5 million West Hawaii Civic Center that was supposed to make public access easier.
“One of our responsibilities is to bring government to the people,” South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford said Wednesday, expressing frustration with delays in getting a $1.3 million audio-visual system into operation.
“Everybody in West Hawaii on the council is concerned that we’re not holding meetings here,” Ford said, adding, “It is not the fault of the County Council or the county clerk.”
The county charter requires the council meet at least quarterly in West Hawaii. The goal has been to hold one meeting a month there, Ford said.
Meetings originally planned for West Hawaii will once again be held in Hilo next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The AV system has not worked properly since it was installed, and the council was making do with a temporary travel system. But it was racking up additional expenses, with the county paying an extra $6,000 the last six months the council held meetings in West Hawaii.
The public is still able to testify through the AV system in one of the council conference rooms in the facility and a County Council member occasionally attends from there as well. But the room isn’t large enough to accommodate the entire County Council and the public, Ford said.
It’s been more than a year since the county obtained “substantial occupancy” and started moving into the complex.
The council on Dec. 7 held an executive session with county administration on the issue, seeking ways to put the contractors’ feet to the fire to get the project completed. The Department of Public Works, which routinely holds back 5 percent of a project’s cost to distribute incrementally as certain milestones are met, agreed not to release the final $1.2 million until everything is complete.
“The county has elected not to release any of the project retention until these matters are adequately addressed,” said DPW Director Warren Lee in a Dec. 19 memo to Managing Director Bill Takaba. “The county and contractor have been working to correct physical or mechanical design issues and compile all required closeout documents.”
Lee did not return a telephone call requesting an update Wednesday afternoon.
The county punch-list details as unresolved issues an incomplete audio-visual system, gutters and downspouts that appear to be caulked rather than soldered and overheating of electrical and telecommunications rooms because of bad design.
At the complex’s second formal blessing in April, Mayor Billy Kenoi said he’d pressed the contractor to bring it in on time and under budget. Administration officials said the contractor had done so. Lee has said the project is still considered on time and under budget, because the county took occupancy on its target date. He said having lingering punch-list items isn’t unusual for big projects.
The subcontractor is Boca Raton, Fla.-based Simplex-Grinnell, supplier of access control, security, fire alarms and AV systems. Project Manager Jonathan Lung is on the mainland and couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. A receptionist at the Aiea, Oahu, office said no one else could comment on the contract.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
