Hilo, Hawaii, Mayor Pushing to Renegotiate Composting Contract

Kim said the contract holder Hawaiian Earth Recycling agreed Thursday to work toward resolving contract differences. Representatives of the recycling company, headed by executive director Mark Cummings, met with Kim and the county Department of Environmental Management, a press release said.

“We’re going to work now to see how we can resolve these issues,” Kim said in a telephone interview, listing costs, location and feed source as primary sticking points. “I feel very good about that.”

Kim said he’d told the council in a public meeting that his administration was going to sit down with the contractors and try to reach resolution. He said the process could take some time.

Poindexter was happy to hear the news.

“That’s awesome,” she said Friday afternoon.

Still, she said, she’d like to see the resolution, scheduled for a council meeting Wednesday in Hilo, go forward.