Kaʻū News Briefs, Saturday, December 15, 2018

Keiki perform at the Hawaiian Winter Concert at Kaʻū Historic Gym last night. Festive costumes and live music brightened up the night. See story and pictures, below. Photo by Julia Neal

AN ELECTRIC COMPANY RATE INCREASE of 3.4 percent, to begin late next year, is proposed to the state Public Utilities Commission by Hawaiʻi Electric Light Co. The hike would increase the typical residential bill for 500 kilowatt-hours on Hawaiʻi Island by $8.21 per month, according to HELCO. The increase would earn HELCO an extra $13.4 million per year.
     A statement from HELCO released Friday says the extra income is needed to help pay for repairing damages from the Kīlauea eruption this year and to increase operations at power plants to offset loss of electricity generated by the Puna Geothermal Ventures plant that was covered, in part, by lava. PGV officials said they hope to reopen their geothermal plant, which accounted for some 30 percent of the electricity used by HELCO customers.

Lava approaching Puna Geothermal Venture in May. While the facility escaped being entirely covered by lava, the facility remains closed. USGS photo

     According to HELCO, "Until the Kīlauea eruption shut down the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) facility, Hawai‘i Island led the state in the use of renewable energy, increasing from 35 percent in 2010 to 63 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Even without PGV, Hawai‘i Electric Light continues to be a renewable energy leader, with wind, hydroelectricity and solar generating nearly half the island's electricity."
     HELCO stated, with the rate increase, it would upgrade the power grid to be able to receive more renewable energy, including more rooftop solar from the 12,000 customers that installed it.
     Grid modernization would include installing fault indicators to pinpoint outages faster and detect problems ahead of service interruption. HELCO would also trim and remove more invasive albizia trees. The statement said that recent trimming led to a 50 percent reduction in outages caused by vegetation during the last five years.
     HELCO also seeks to put the Waiau hydroelectric plant back online with repairs and upgrades that would double its capacity. The company would also upgrade, repair, and replace other equipment for more reliability, and would enhance its cybersecurity to keep the grid secure and customer information safe, according to the HELCO proposal.

Ed Nesmith, one of three part-time employees on short hours due to the freezing of the bank accounts, drives the tractor back to the office after trimming the grass of the sides of the Ranchos roads. Photo by Annie Bosted

HAWAIIAN RANCHOS PROPERTY OWNERS LOST CONTROL OF $210,000 IN BANK ACCOUNTS after six people, claiming to be the new Ranchos Road Maintenance Corp. board, presented paperwork alleging they were duly elected, and asked the bank to turn over access to the money. To the surprise of the board serving since the last election, the bank froze the accounts rather than honoring the authorized signatures on file with the bank.
     Without access to operating funds, the non-profit Hawaiian Ranchos Road Maintenance Corp. reduced most of the hours and delayed pay for its three part-time employees, and temporarily shut the office. The security gate sat unrepaired until volunteers stepped up to do the job. Funds are inaccessible until the bank unfreezes the accounts.
     According to Ranchos Road Maintenance Corp. President, Phillis May, more than 85 property owners signed a petition to the bank, asking that the accounts be reopened to the signers that have been on record at the bank for terms ranging from one to five years.
     Hawaiian Ranchos is a large subdivision makai of the highway in Ocean View with 1,227 properties. All property owners are automatically members of HRRMC, tasked with maintaining about 50 miles of private paved roads, a security gate, and easements. Members elect a board of volunteers annually to run the corporation. The board appoints officers with signing powers on bank accounts.

Phillis May, President of Ranchos Road Maintenance Corp.

     In recent years, a group of about a dozen members campaigned against the board by various means, including filing a law suit, circulating petitions, and demanding a special meeting, explained May, who was elected President in October 2017.
     Said May: "According to HRRMC's bylaws, a special meeting can be held if petitioned by 25 or more members in good standing. The board rejected as invalid the petition from this group for two reasons. Firstly, the petition did not meet the requirements of the bylaws, which are very clear. Secondly, by the reckoning of our secretary, Linda Sommers, the number of valid signatures did not amount to 25."
     She said those demanding the board change proceeded on their own and on June 6 announced a special meeting through a mailing to members. They used Ocean View Community Association's mailing address as the return address, and as the address to mail ballots. OVCA officers issued a press release to deny involvement in the notice of the meeting, the ballot, and the meeting site. Any ballots sent to the OVCA would be returned marked as undeliverable, OVCA announced.
     May said that the eight-page mailing, sent on June 6, anonymously asked HRRMC members to vote Yes or No on the question "Should the entire Hawaiian Ranchos Board of Directors be removed immediately?"
     "The HRRMC bylaws and Hawaiian law prescribe that corporate meetings can only be called by the appointed officers and the elected board," said May. "The board is given the authority to designate the date, time, place and the agenda. Our bylaws are very clear on that."
     The group seeking to replace the board met at a private home on July 21 without the approval of the elected board or a majority of the members of the organization, said May. May attended. "I told everyone there that the meeting was illegal. It was not apparent to me how the votes were received, or how they were handled or counted. They claim they got 114 votes to remove the board. I don't know how that number was arrived at."
     She said that during the unsanctioned meeting, the "usurpers" declared six members to be the "new board." They mailed green postcards to HRRMC members demanding that the existing HRRMC board and officers hand over the keys, records, and other assets to the "new board."

The Ranchos security gate remained unrepaired until volunteers stepped up to fix it. Photo by Annie Bosted

     On Aug. 17, those claiming to be the new board demanded the bank recognize "new" account signers. Bank officials in Honolulu froze both HRRMC accounts, without consulting the board that was elected in October 2017, nor those whose names were on the existing signature cards, said May.
     May said the board first discovered the problem when checks were returned unpaid. She contacted the bank to discover the cause of the bounced checks and said that the bank could not tell her the reason. After persistent questioning, a bank employee admitted that the accounts were frozen.
     A month after the freeze was placed on the account, the bank sent a form letter addressed to four duly elected members of the board and the four who claimed to be the newly elected officers. All eight letters were mailed to HRRMC's mailing address. The letter informed the "individuals" that the bank account had been "frozen."
     The letter stated: "Due to conflicting demands raised, we cannot determine which person(s) are authorized to handle the Account and funds in question. We also do not believe it is appropriate for us to reach any legal conclusions based on the documentation which is being presented."
     May asserts some blame on the bank, saying that since it locked the account with no proof of a change in rightful access, its protocols are faulty.
     "The bank acted without due consideration and prematurely," commented May. "The bank has a signature card on file, and it never asked us to present 'documentation.' We were told it was decided by the Honolulu legal department, but we were given no way to contact anyone in Honolulu.
     "We have had to open another account at a second bank, where we were told that the bank would never have frozen an account under those circumstances. The bank said that they would have checked our listing at the Dept. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
     "We entrusted the bank with our funds five years ago, and it has let us down. The bank is now forcing us to go to court and this could be expensive and time consuming," explained May, adding, "By causing us the cost of a court order, the bank is not recognizing the obvious fact that we are a democratically elected board. We got 94 percent of the vote in the October 2017 annual members' meeting. Only 12 votes were cast against the incumbents, the proposed budget and other board proposed measures."

Volunteers work on Ranchos gate, as money for the work is frozen. Photo by Matts Fokelvik

     May went on to point out, "It is ironic that although the usurpers claim to be the new board, six of them are on the ballot for our official upcoming election at the annual members' meeting. I see this as legitimizing our current board."
     Ranchos resident Annie Bosted told The Kaʻū Calendar that she, and other HRRMC members, were concerned that by requiring a court order, the bank was submitting the volunteer board to unnecessary stress and the organization to unnecessary expense.
     "We held an informal meeting of HRRMC members," explained Bosted. "We decided to directly request the bank to unfreeze the accounts with a petition stating the names of the duly elected officers that have signing powers. The petition was e-mailed to seven senior managers of the bank. They have refused to discuss the case, but at least we found out the names of those behind the decision, which the board was unable to do.
     "The bank's attitude is playing right into the hands of the would be usurpers," continued Bosted. "Per our bylaws and Hawaiʻi law, a duly elected board has control over a non-profit corporation's funds. We live in a democracy, but our bank is using its position as keeper of the funds to bully us into getting a court order, which is sure to be a stressful, drawn-out process for our volunteer board. We have liability insurance, but that won't cover this situation because the board has not been sued. The board has not been sued because it has done nothing wrong. So members pay.
     "Why is democracy not good enough? Banks should be on the side of law and order, not hell raisers," she added.
   

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A CHRISTMAS LIGHTING PARADE in Nā‘ālehu takes place this evening, sponsored by Kaʻū Roping and Riding, starting at 6 p.m. The nighttime parade, with marching units, floats, trucks and ATVs, begins at Nā‘ālehu Elementary School, travels along Highway 11, and ends at Nā‘ālehu Community Ball Park where chili and rice will be offered for free to all. Parade line-up starts at 5:30 p.m. Those interested in participating in the parade are asked to sign a waiver and meet at the school by 5 p.m. For more info or to sign-up, contact Tammy Ka‘apana at 929-8079.