Council panel recommends confirmation of Jonathan Scheuer to East Maui Regional Community Board

The Maui County Council’s Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee has recommended full Council confirmation of Jonathan Likeke Scheuer as the Hawaiian Homes Commission representative to the East Maui Regional Community Board.

The board oversees the East Maui Water Authority, its director and provides input to the state’s long-term East Maui watershed plan.

The committee, chaired by Council Member Shane Sinenci, recommended approval of Resolution 25-50. It notes that the Maui County Charter requires one member of the regional board to be a representative of the Hawaiian Homes Commission. Scheuer has already been serving on the board. His term expires March 31. Commission Chair Kali Watson nominated Scheuer for another two-year term.

According to biographical information posted online, Scheuer holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz; and is a principal at Kahālāwai Consulting LLC. He served as a state Land Use Commission member from 2014-2022, and as a director at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs from 2004-2010.

East Maui Water Authority Director Gina Young attested to Scheuer’s effective organizational skills, professional manner, his deserved reputation for fairness and inclusion, expertise on water management and knowledge of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ needs.

“Board members chose him as their chair and his facilitation of board meetings has been exceptional,” Young said. “He draws out all opinions and shows respect for all points of view. His input into the board’s strategic vision was essential to its adoption, and he has worked tirelessly to set the board up as a voice for the community. His knowledge on a wide range of land, water [and] cultural issues has proven extremely useful, as has his understanding of state government operations and policies.”

Haʻikū resident Trinette Furtado praised Scheuer for his knowledge, experience and ability to find common ground while coping with contentious water rights issues that come before the board.

“He has finesse,” she said. And, by that, she said she did not mean “he knows how to slide under stuff.” Rather, “finesse in recognizing that there are different perspectives and different roles that people have, and they are coming with different information that perhaps they weren’t able to collaborate, to discuss.”

Council Member Tom Cook recognized Scheuer’s expertise in water and asked him about the current status of East Maui’s water supply, especially with ongoing drought conditions and the identification of groundwater resources.

Scheuer said he could recommend experts for a more thorough explanation to council members, but “things are critical in the short-term.”

“People who measure stream flow around Hawaiʻi have been seeing record lows among extremes… measured for over a century,” he said. “In the long-term period, looking towards the middle and end of the century, projections are mixed on how things (might) go, but definitely the leeward sides of our islands are expected fairly uniformly to be much drier, which will mean much more significant demands from west sides of the island.”

Council members also asked about the board’s understanding of water needs for various stakeholders, including farmers and the county. Scheuer said the board has met approximately 18 times and been working to assess the short- and long-term water needs of various groups.

He also discussed the complex issue of water allocation, noting that current estimates are likely “significantly less” than the 85 million gallons per day previously estimated in 2005 due to changing environmental conditions.

Scheuer noted that the state Commission on Water Resource Management sets stream flow standards, which will be used to determine the amount of water available for off stream use.

He told committee members that the board has been working to develop a mission statement, vision and principles. “And one of the key principles is that the board, as a body, wishes to support the broader independence of other regions, including Upcountry Maui,” he said. “We’re very supportive of those alternate sources coming into play to do whatever we can within our legal authorities under the charter to support that. But it is primarily the work of the Department of Water Supply and not us.”

Council Member Tasha Kama said she was impressed with Scheuer’s work so far with the board and its public outreach, especially with Hawaiian Homes Commission homesteaders’ associations.

Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez expressed strong support for Scheuer’s reappointment, praising his advocacy for wai and homesteaders, and “his deep knowledge of institutional history.”

“He is a skilled meeting facilitator who possesses a lot of qualities that I aspire to exhibit myself as a meeting chair and human being… empathy, patience, and as our earlier testifier mentioned, finesse,” she said.

Council Chair Alice Lee said that while she appreciates Scheuer’s “outstanding qualities,” she remained concerned that he doesn’t live on Maui, and that his reappointment would be contrary to what Maui County voters understood would be staggered terms on the board.

Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura said she would vote “no” because she’d rather have someone with firsthand experience with Maui water issues.

“I really would like to have somebody who played in the streams, grew up with it, as a lot of my members in my community did. So, I’m going to be voting no,” she said.

Rawlins-Fernandez said she hoped questions about the appointment process could get resolved by the time the committee’s recommendation reaches full Council for final action.

The committee ultimately voted 6-2 in favor of recommended Scheuer’s confirmation, with Council Member Gabe Johnson absent and excused. Lee and Sugimura cast dissenting votes.

As a side note, the committee vote was an instance in which majority council members broke ranks and voted with the minority. Majority Council Members Kama, Cook and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins joined minority members Rawlins-Fernandez, Tamara Paltin and Shane Sinenci in supporting Scheuer’s confirmation.

As a non-Maui resident, Scheuer’s confirmation requires a two-thirds vote, or at least six council members, voting in his favor. The committee recommendation now advances to the full Council for a final vote.