City worker admits
to abusing resources

A supervisor at the city's Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant has admitted he fixed a leaking water sprinkler at the home of a fellow supervisor's mother while on the job.

Harry K. Hauck III, 50, pleaded guilty yesterday before Circuit Judge Michael Town to a reduced charge of third-degree theft, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The charge involves theft valued at no more than $300.

Hauck and a fellow supervisor, Jay Gonsalves, were indicted in July on felony charges of bribery and second-degree theft, all punishable by five years' imprisonment.

Hauck was accused of going to the Enchanted Lake home of Gonsalves' mother on a Sunday in July 2001 with another waste-water employee to install and repair a sprinkler system while on overtime and using supplies from the city storeroom.

"He admitted he had gone to Jay's (Gonsalves) mom's house to fix the leaky sprinkler that they installed when they weren't on duty," said Rodney Ching, Hauck's attorney. "What started out to be a five-minute repair ended up taking a little longer."

Hauck maintains they were there no more than an hour and that it was not at Gonsalves' request. "I was told it was leaking, and I went on my own," he told the judge.

Deputy Prosecutor Paul Mow said the state was willing to accept Hauck's plea to the reduced charge rather than go through the expense of a trial. In exchange, the state will drop the bribery charges.

Hauck is expected to argue for a deferral of his guilty plea Jan. 19, which would enable him to erase the charge from his record. He faces a maximum of one year in jail or probation if a deferral is denied.

Outside the courtroom, Mow said he will be seeking jail time. "He's responsible as manager to be custodian for the city's resources -- parts, labor and how workers allocate their time -- and he violated all of that."

Gonsalves, whose case is still pending, was also charged because he was present at his mother's home on at least one of the occasions when the work was being done. While he was not on duty at the time, he did benefit from the services Hauck and the city employee were providing, Mow said.

Hauck, a shift supervisor at the Kailua facility and a senior employee, was temporarily assigned four months ago to serve as plant supervisor. He remains on the job.

Although he pleaded guilty yesterday, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said the administration will take no further action against Hauck.

Hauck has already been suspended without pay for two weeks as a result of administrative action taken against him, she said. He filed a grievance with the United Public Workers union, and it was reduced to one week.

A lawsuit filed by four former and current waste-water employees against the city and waste-water officials, including Hauck and Gonsalves, is pending. In that suit the employees allege they were retaliated against and harassed by their supervisors when they reported abuses of overtime and illegal use of city resources.