• Common sense could save taxpayers money • Splash Bash success • Sister barnyards Common sense could save taxpayers money Thank you, Walter Lewis, for continually trying to educate the people of Kaua‘i about what must be done for them
• Common sense could save taxpayers money •
Splash Bash success • Sister
barnyards
Common sense could save taxpayers money
Thank you, Walter Lewis, for continually trying to educate the people of Kaua‘i about what must be done for them to have “A Better Kaua‘i.”
Your excellent article, “County needs to better safeguard citizens’ money” (Forum, July 9) was not the exception to the way our government is run but, regretfully, more the norm.
What kind of an administrative branch of government would give their legislative branch (our Council) an “estimate” of a project (“$28,000 for a short segment of the Eastside path”) that actually cost $338,500 that didn’t even include $100,000 for the acquisition of the necessary land for the segment?
And, possibly even worse, how could six members of our Council be ready to approve this project until Councilman Rapozo wisely investigated this transaction, found out about this phony estimate and halted the approval.
And yes, three members of the council are “new kids on the block” and possibly are not familiar with the investigative process. But hereafter, let’s hope that all six members will take a page from Rapozo’s book and make sure they do their due diligence before voting.
The two major points that Mr. Lewis made were clear, to the point and all council members should adhere to them.
He said, “First, the council should require that satisfactory and complete justification be received before it authorizes any expenditures.”
And second, “For any expenditure as to which there would be a contribution from the state or federal government, the council should consider carefully whether the expenditure could be justified if the state or federal funds were not forthcoming.
Without intending to circumscribe the discretion that our council should have, observance of these two guidelines would serve to assure that spending of our citizens funds would be better safeguarded.”
Really nothing but common sense that could save the taxpayers a lot of money.
And, our Administration should do their homework before ever sending a request for funding to the council.
Glenn Mickens, Kapa‘a
Splash Bash success
This past Saturday, Mokihana Aquatics hosted a premier family sporting event call “Splash Bash” or more commonly referred to as the Lollipop meet.
We call it a premier family sporting event because it was open to swimmers as young as 5 years old and their parents also.
We had a total of 178 entries. That’s how many lollipops were handed out. 1 per entry.
We also served 80 jumbo hot dog lunches with all the trimmings. Best part, it was all for free. That’s right free. No entry fees, no lunch charges, no fee’s of any kind.
While we had intermittent passing showers it did not but a hamper on our festivities as apparent by the smiles, laughter, applause and general happiness show by all present.
We even handed out free shave ice and popcorn compliments of Rosa storage. What a spectacular day it was.
Mahalo to Jojo’s Anuenue, Kaua‘i Electronics and Loves bakery for providing the 80 free lunches. Mahalos also go out to the County of Kaua‘i parks and recreation Aquatics Division supervisor Jeremy Haupt for the great idea and providing Mokihana Aquatics with the pool time needed to prepare for our splash bash. Also a big mahalo to Mayor Bernard Carvalho who had some kind words for all, got the first lollipop and started the first race.
A great big mahalo also goes out to Kelsey Tanaka who served as head coach this summer and Chloe Stokes who assisted Kelsey in what was nothing short of extraordinary training opportunities.
Most importantly, mahalo to our own Mokihana Aquatics swimmers and families better know as the MokiOhana for all the hard work in pulling off such an awesome community event. It’s our way of giving back to a community that has supported us for the last 29 years.
Thank you Kaua‘i and Imua Mokihana Aquatics as we head into our 30th year of providing the best in aquatics recreation.
Orlando S. Anaya, Mokihana Aquatics Head Coach/CEO
Sister barnyards
Having read the article in The Garden Island about the plague of noisy roosters in San Juan Bautista I was immediately empathetic with their situation.
My wife and I had an enjoyable holiday in this charming city in 1968 BC (before chickens) and had enjoyed its beauty and tranquility.
Since many of the residents and visitors of Kaua‘i now experience similar rooster noise intrusion I wondered how we could demonstrate our solidarity with the residents and visitors of San Juan Bautista for their loss of tranquility.
How about declaring us sister cities? No, that doesn’t work since they are a city and Kaua‘i is a county.
Perhaps a new category of civic sisterhood could be considered — sister barnyards.
Peter Nilsen, Princeville
