Committee OKs bill that would raise fine for illegal dumping

A bill that targets illegal dumping of bulky items has secured preliminary approval from the City Council’s Public Health, Safety and Welfare Committee.

Bill 24 would hike the maximum civil fine for illegally dumping refrigerators, mattresses and other bulky items on public property — including on sidewalks fronting a neighbor’s property — to $2,500. That’s 10 times the current maximum fine of $250.

Introduced by Council members Kymberly Pine and Ron Menor, the measure is supported by city Environmental Services Director Lori Kahikina and Deputy Environmental Services Director Tim Houghton.

“We’re just as frustrated as you folks with our bulky (item) program,” Kahikina said. “So anything you can do to assist, we’re very appreciative.”

The program will continue to subject property owners who leave bulky items curbside more than one day before a monthly scheduled pickup date to fines of up to $250.

Kahikina said property owners who see illegal dumping occurring should take photographs and video of the incidents. “The problem is they cannot remain anonymous,” she said. “They have to be willing to go forward.”

In cases where it cannot be determined who is responsible for bulky items ditched on sidewalks fronting private property, Kahikina and Houghton acknowledged, the property owner is expected to remove them until scheduled pickup times. The same applies to bulky items illegally discarded on private property.

The bill, which went before the Public Health, Safety and Welfare Committee on Tuesday, now goes to the Council.

Also on Tuesday, the committee voted to advance the nomination of former Honolulu Firefighters Association attorney Max Hannemann to the Honolulu Fire Commission despite objections raised by a commission member.

Fire Commission member Mary Jean Castillo said Hannemann’s appointment would mean three of the commission’s five members would be current or former labor union representatives.

Among the Fire Commission’s main tasks are hiring and firing the chief and conducting annual performance reviews for the post.

Fire Chief Manuel Neves and the HFFA have butted heads over several labor disputes. In March 2014, the HFFA board tagged Neves with a rare, unanimous vote of no confidence.

Castillo submitted a petition with the signatures of 150 people urging the Council to reject Hannemann’s nomination.

Hannemann resigned from his post as president of the Hawaii Professional Firefighters Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting state and county firefighters created by the HFFA, on Feb. 15.

Menor, the Public Safety Committee chairman, meanwhile, sought a ruling from the city Ethics Commission on whether Hannemann’s tie to the firefighters union should prevent him from serving on the Fire Commission. The Ethics Commission determined Hannemann did not have a conflict of interest that would prevent him from serving.

The commission stressed, however, in its advisory opinion that in cases in which a potential conflict of interest surfaces, Hannemann “should err on the side of caution and disclose the matters to the Fire commissioners, his appointing authority and the Ethics Commission.”

Neves testified in February in support of Hannemann’s nomination.