As the power outage at the Waiakea Villas apartment complex drags into a third week, residents remain without electricity or a clear timeline for when the issue could be resolved.

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As the power outage at the Waiakea Villas apartment complex drags into a third week, residents remain without electricity or a clear timeline for when the issue could be resolved.

The power went out at the 200-plus unit apartment complex in Hilo amid islandwide outages during Hurricane Lala, but Hawaiian Electric has confirmed that the extended outage is due to issues with the property’s own electrical equipment.

While management at the villas has continued to cite storm-related damage as the cause, former staff say the apartment complex’s management, owners and board have been aware of serious issues with the property’s electrical system for years.

Cheri Atkins served as the operations manager for Waiakea Villas from 2022 until February of this year. During that time, she said she grew concerned about the property’s aging infrastructure, leading her to work with a contractor to conduct an evaluation of the site.

“We did a property check around and found out that the transformers were leaking oil, and that’s when I really dove into what was really going on on the property,” she said.

Atkins said that in addition to the leaking transformers, several other electrical issues were detected, including with the property’s switchgear — which has been identified as one of the components contributing to the current prolonged outage.

She said she submitted proposals for work to address the underlying causes of the problems, which were dismissed by the property’s owners and managing board.

“All the board members who control the budget would say is it was always too much, that it’s not in our budget,” she said. “A lot of it was like, ‘let’s just fix what we can fix, what’s the cheapest option to just band-aid it and continue on?’ That was that vibe.”

Rae Hauanio, who worked with Atkins as the maintenance supervisor for Waiakea Villas, shared those concerns and also tried to get the board to fix the problems.

“It was just continuous, so I get it. After a while, it sounds like we’re just nagging, but it was super important that they get these things done, and they never did,” she said.

Atkins filed complaints with the county and requested inspections, but said those were also eventually dismissed and did not yield any action. While the Hawaii County Building department would not comment on previous inspections or reports, it confirmed that there is currently an open investigation into Waiakea Villas.

Both Hauanio and Atkins were let go from their roles at the property earlier this year. They were told by ownership it was because the board had decided to bring in a new management company, but Hauanio felt it was related to them voicing their concerns.

“For me, I believe it’s because of this,” she said. “Because we continuously brought it up and brought it up: ‘This building, you guys gotta do something about this building.’”

The Waiakea Villas property has changed hands numerous times since it was converted decades ago from a Sheraton hotel to housing units. The current majority owner is a company called Lucky Waiakea LLC. The company has a mailing address in Honolulu, and the five registered managers all have addresses in California.

Waiakea Villas’ current on-site property manager, Ruston Swain, said the board members are aware of the power outage situation, and he has been in touch with them.

“We’ve been in talks with the board,” he said. “I’ve met with them a few times, so they’ve been offering their support.”

He said one board member visited the property earlier this week and another had helped to procure the dehumidifiers that the management is using to dry out the electrical room. He said that once moisture is reduced, there are plans to install a temporary part that he hopes will allow power to be restored.

“The dehumidifiers are doing their job. It’s drying up the unit very good,” he said, adding that some additional parts were found to be damaged.

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“We are working on a temporary part that we can use in the meantime that’ll allow us to run it in place of that part until we can find a new part to actually replace it with,” he said.

Swain said that he was hopeful about this approach, but still did know when power would actually be restored.

In the meantime, residents said the situation has continued to take a toll — emotionally, physically and financially.

“It’s just hard, because they’re literally charging us the exact same as if the power would be on,” said Travis Kahekili Greenleaf, a Waiakea Villas resident and high school teacher. “That’s the biggest part for a lot of us: It’s not the issue itself, it’s the way that it’s being handled.”

Day Lum Realty, which manages the majority of the rental units in the complex, sent a notice to its tenants this week informing them they are still required to pay rent for the time without power.

“A storm-related power outage does not automatically cancel a lease or suspend rent,” it stated. “Tenants should not stop paying rent without first following the required legal process.”

Following news reports about the issue and mounting concerns from residents, Day Lum distributed another letter with a list of resources for food and other forms of assistance. Waiakea Villas management also began ice and food distribution efforts this week.

The county has also stepped in to provide support for residents, working with the Salvation Army to offer about 200 hot meals every day beginning this week until for up to seven days or until power is restored, whichever comes sooner.

“We brought a team together, and we got the Salvation Army to commit to at least one meal a day,” said Mayor Kimo Alameda. “And then, of course, they need showers, so we’re going to offer our Kawamoto swimming pool. At least the showers are warm there.

“And then, you know, just kind of monitor the situation, see how it all plays out,” he added. “Because they got their basic essentials, I mean they have shelter, but they don’t have hot water, and they don’t have electricity. So, that’s a major concern.”

In addition to the villa residents, several businesses that share the electrical system with the apartment complex have also been impacted by the outage.

Saizzean Miguel-Saturnio runs the Hale Inu Sports Bar, just adjacent to the villas. She said it has been challenging to stay open.

“Without having my regular customers, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep my doors open like this,” she said. “But I do what I can to keep the doors open. So, I run a generator from 10 a.m. to closing.”

She said she has lost income due to the situation.

“My kitchen is closed, because I can’t do my food and stuff, so that’s lost. I can’t use my jukebox, because that’s electric, and I don’t want to put that on a generator. I don’t have karaoke — that’s one of my number one things here,” she said. “So, yeah, I’m just doing what I have to do to at least try and generate as much as I can.”

Miguel-Saturnio said that in 14 years the bar has been there, there have been previous outages due to issues with the Waiakea Villas electrical system.

Hauanio, the former maintenance supervisor, said she does not think that the plans to address the current outage will be enough to prevent situations like the current outage from happening again.

“It doesn’t matter what they do. Unless they replace everything and upgrade everything at the same time, they’re gonna have a hard time over there,” she said.

Neither the board nor Day Lum responded to requests for comment in time for publication of this story.

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Email Grace Inez Adams @[email protected].