Posted on: Friday, April 20, 2001

Hawai'i County to hire equal opportunity official

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Hawai'i County has established a permanent equal opportunity compliance officer within the Civil Service Department in partial response to complaints about discrimination against the poor and minorities in the distribution of federal highway money.

The Highways Division of the state Department of Transportation already has created a permanent compliance position in response to a citation issued in November by the civil rights office of the Federal Highway Administration.

A group of Big Island residents filed a complaint with the federal agency charging that the state Department of Transportation and the county Planning Department were violating the civil rights of low-income residents and Native Hawaiians in Puna and Ka'u by not giving their districts a fair share of federal money for road improvements.

One resident, Bonnie Goodell of Volcano, said the state has been fundamentally in conflict with the federal guidelines since 1994, when President Clinton required federal agencies to ensure highway spending is equitable.

Investigating the complaint, Edward Morris of the highway administration's civil rights office issued a citation in November against the state and county and set a March 31deadline for a response.

Morris' report said Hawaiians, many of whom are low-income, "are not being treated fairly in Puna and Ka'u" because of "discriminatory" practices contained in the state's Hawai'i Long Range Transportation Plan and the county's General Plan.

The report said the state and county failed "to recognize actual land uses and populations" in the two districts.

Hawai'i County Planning Director Chris Yuen agrees that the present General Plan probably misidentifies the uses of many Puna properties that have become bedroom communities of Hilo rather than orchards or agricultural lots. Pending amendments will resolve that, he said, by converting the agricultural designations to rural residential.

The county will advertise for candidates to fill the new compliance position, which will pay between $48,984 and $66,983 annually. The compliance official, to be called a program administrator, also will be responsible for the county's meeting the Americans With Disabilities Act and affirmative action programs.

Such functions previously were assigned to different people in the mayor's office.