KEKAHA — The results of the recent survey on the Kekaha Host Community Benefit program will be presented at the next meeting of the KHCB Citizens Advisory Committee, scheduled for Monday at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center at 6 p.m., a
KEKAHA — The results of the recent survey on the Kekaha Host Community Benefit program will be presented at the next meeting of the KHCB Citizens Advisory Committee, scheduled for Monday at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center at 6 p.m., a county press release states.
“This is your opportunity to find out ‘first hand’ what the results are for the survey,” CAC member Jose Bulatao Jr. wrote in an e-mail. “Your interest and support in the efforts of this committee is crucially important. This can be clearly demonstrated with your presence along with your questions and suggestions focusing upon the Host Community Benefit Fund that has been allocated to the community of Kekaha.”
The survey results will be used to develop recommendations for the expenditure of the $650,000 appropriated last year by the County Council as a form of compensation for the upcoming expansion of the Kekaha Landfill, the release said.
In fiscal year 2010, Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. recommended and the County Council approved an additional $80,000 for the fund.
Approximately 1,357 surveys were delivered to Kekaha households in June and July by direct mail to homeowners and door-to-door delivery by members of a community group, E Ola Mau Na Leo O Kekaha, to ensure that renters were also included in the survey.
“I wish to personally thank all those who were involved in the house-to-house survey efforts for their diligence and time in encouraging our community residents to respond in overwhelming numbers,” Bulatao wrote in his e-mail.
About 40 percent of the surveys were returned including 86.5 percent from owner-occupants and 13.5 percent from renter-occupied units, the release said.
The survey asked residents to select their top five priorities from a list of 24 projects that could be pursued with the funding.
Some of the choices were: drug awareness programs; improvements to the Mana drag strip; beautification projects; a scholarship fund; and the creation of a revolving loan/grant fund for small business development.
There was also space in the survey for the respondent to write-in a project that was not on the list.
Earlier this year, the mayor appointed nine Kekaha residents to serve on the Citizens Advisory Committee for KHCB, including: Bulatao; Myra Elliott; Randall Hee; Robert Jackson; A. “Big Boy” Kupo Jr.; Glenn Molander; Evelyn Olores; Bruce Pleas; and Walter Stocker.
The mission of the Citizens Advisory Committee, as developed by its members at their first meeting, is “to serve as a community advisory committee to recommend projects and their administrative process for the disbursement of the HCB fund(s) allocated to, and in accordance with, the general consensus of the Kekaha community.”
AEOCOM Technical Services, an O‘ahu-based consultant, was hired by the county to facilitate the KHCB meetings and guide the CAC.
Four county employees serve as advisors and are non-voting members of the CAC including: Beth Tokioka, executive assistant to the mayor; Allison Fraley, solid waste program development coordinator; Mauna Kea Trask, deputy county attorney; and Leanore Kaiaokamalie, long range planner.
In addition, Jeff Kaohi with Waste Management of Hawai’i Inc., the company that manages the Kekaha Landfill, also serves as an advisor to the CAC.
For more information, contact Beth Tokioka at 241-4900 or via e-mail at btokioka@kauai.gov.
