Bill 78 - Addressing illegal dumping

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Permalink Reply by Gregory Cuadra on January 12, 2010 at 9:58pm

Derek: The bill does require inspectors to either catch the offenders, have a complaint or have reasonable suspicion before citing offenders. Then and only then would a citation be issued, and the alleged offender would have 7 days to remove before fines would kick in.

I think this is a good start.As for apartments, as stated before, they should provide trash cans or a sanitary storage for regular trash. But bulky items are the responsibility of the generator. As an owner/manager, I amresponsible for all the appliances in my units.When an appliance fails or I remodel I am responsible for disposing of the debris. If a tenant gets a new bed or couch they are responsible for disposing of the item. If they follow the city's bulky item rules I have no problem with them putting it on the curb in front of my property. if they put it out early, I will haul it away and charge them for such. I put that language in each and every one of my contracts.

Condos with a mangement company/AOAO are a different story. They often have an association, and a management co, as well as a resident manager. I propose the resident manager should know who is moving in or out, and if they don't they are not doing their jobs. The management company should be imposing fines on violators. and the AOAO should have by laws that prohibit illegal; dumping of bulky items. (in other words they should police themselves prior to the city having to get involved)

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Permalink Reply by Derek Kauanoe on January 16, 2010 at 12:05pm

Gregory Cuadra said:

Derek: The bill does require inspectors to either catch the offenders, have a complaint or have reasonable suspicion before citing offenders. Then and only then would a citation be issued, and the alleged offender would have 7 days to remove before fines would kick in.

With three inspectors for all of Oʻahu, it is unlikely that an inspector will catch violators in the act.
It is currently unknown (to the public at least) how many complaints are actually made in proportion to the number of actual violations. My instincts tell me that for every 1 complaint there are probably 10 violations. That may even be conservative. However, Section 9-5 is not very clear. It states in Section 9-5(a)(1) that an inspector can write a citation if s/he "receives a report from a private citizen witnessing a violation ...."

I consider a report to be different from a complaint. Regardless of how I interpret these terms, the Bill does not define the two. Complaints are often made to the city by phone. Reports are often perceived as written documents. Are private citizens required to file a written report in order for an inspector to investigate and write a citation? I believe Greg and I are probably among only a handful of people who are willing to make written reports to the City. Without any clarity, this part of the Bill may have no real impact.

The language of the bill also allows an inspector to write a citation based on probable cause. Basically, a city inspector will "invoke" probable cause as a reason for writing a citation when s/he does not catch a violator in the act. (If an inspector catches a violator in the act s/he does not need probable cause.) It is most likely that probable cause will used in one of two instances:

• 1.) on the inspectorʻs own s/he comes across illegally dumped bulky items or
• 2.) in conjunction with a report received by the inspector from an private citizen.

In the first instance, it may be difficult to find probable cause. In the second instance, whether or not there is probable cause may depend on the quality of the report of the private citizen.

The bill would be better if it allowed inspectors to write citations based on reasonable suspicion but right now it actually requires probable cause. Probable cause is a higher standard than reasonable suspicion, at least under general legal understandings of the two terms.

That the city is having this discussion is a good start. But, there is much room for improvement if we want city legislation that will have an actual and measurable impact.

I firmly believe that empowering our own communities to deal with these issues can and will provide better results.

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