Maui Council adopts dual track Kahului seat vacancy process, clashes over Bill 9 delay

The Maui County Council ended a contentious special meeting to determine a process to fill the vacancy left by the death of Council Member Tasha Kama with a final, tense 8-0 vote.

The vote settled the agreed-upon process for filling Kama’s vacant seat, but the political undercurrent of the 4-4 Council split broke to the surface in a sharp dispute over a contentious piece of legislation just before the final vote. (To see a video of the meeting, visit the Maui County Council’s YouTube channel here.)

After a number of attempts to reach consensus on the details of a resolution to fill Kama’s seat, Chair Alice Lee was moving toward the final vote on a motion as amended to approve the vacancy procedure Resolution 25-202. Before that could happen, Lee called a recess to quell a floor dispute over the delayed scheduling of the full Council’s first reading of Bill 9, the controversial short-term rental phase-out measure.

The bill to end short-term vacation rentals over three to five years in apartment-zoned districts had been set for first reading on Nov. 12. In July, it passed out of the Housing and Land Use Committee, then chaired by Kama, by a vote of 6-3.

The Monday Council floor spat saw Council Members Tamara Paltin and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who both support Bill 9, accusing Lee of “abuse of power” by delaying full Council action on the measure.

The Council has 30 days from Kama’s passing to appoint her successor to the Kahului residency seat. If not, the appointment passes to Mayor Richard Bissen.

Public testimony brings pleas to honor Kama’s ‘final request’

The meeting began with council members observing a moment of silence in honor of Kama and condolences from Lee, who called the official duty of replacing the former council member the “saddest responsibilities we as council members will ever have.”

Then, during public testimony, regardless of Lee’s repeated requests not to speak in favor of a specific candidate, testifiers urged the Council to honor Kama’s publicly stated preference for a successor — Kauanoe Batangan, previously the deputy director of the Maui County Department of Transportation and currently serves as executive director of the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Courteous reminders to stay on the specific agenda item appeared to come after testimony from those who pushed back on the idea of honoring Kama’s request, while little or nothing was said to testifiers who connected their grief of losing Kama with their appeal to respect her finish wish.

After some comments for civility after one vociferous testifier, Rawlins-Fernandez requested even-handed enforcement of the request, pointing out that since some initial speakers had advocated for “specific people,” the rule against supporting nominees should “apply to everyone.”

Wailuku resident Kathy Fleming warned against some council members using Kama’s death for political gain, calling it a “morally bankrupt act” and directly named the preferred successor: “But she has recommended Mr. Batangan, a leader with irreproachable qualifications.”

Kama’s son-in-law, campaign manager and her senior executive assistant, Evan Dust, testified that Kama emphasized transparency and efficiency, concluding that she “charged me with doing everything humanly possible to see that her final wishes were carried out.”

Maui Chamber of Commerce President Pamela Tumpap affirmed that the organization “support(s) honoring her wishes.”

Stacey Alapai expressed support for the original resolution’s process, calling it “the most fair and democratic way possible to go about this really difficult process.” She asked the Council not to let the vacancy hold up the rest of its work. “It would be disrespectful, I think, to Tasha’s legacy, to put all of the important work of the people… on hold,” she said.

Kanealii Williams pushed back against the idea of honoring a final wish.

“None of these seats, these Council seats, nobody’s sitting them, is a king or queen, okay?” he said. “These are not thrones… last wills and wishes don’t decide who gets put into a seat.”

The official process of nomination will begin soon, with a special Council meeting and public hearing scheduled for Nov. 20 to consider nominees. Applications and financial disclosure statements from Kahului residents seeking the seat are due no later than noon Nov. 10. Council members’ nominations are due 9 a.m. Nov. 20. (See the Maui County Clerk’s Office announcement here for more details.)

Recently, another candidate has expressed keen interest in the Kahului residency seat. Aunty “NTY” Carol Lee Kamekona, a retired 22-year US Navy and Navy Reserve veteran and longtime community organizer, announced her intent to run for Maui County Council in 2026. 

Kamekona said her campaign’s focus would be affordable housing, workforce development and government transparency, and she expressed support for Bill 9 to return apartment units to residential use and to ensure working people are not priced out of living on Maui.

Council finalizes dual-track nomination process

The Council adopted a process that allows for both Council- and public-led nominations. The dual-path approach was adopted despite a recommendation from Office of Council Services staff to choose only one method for legal clarity.

Under the finalized procedure, which formalizes the requirement for a majority of five votes from the remaining eight members:

• Council: Any Council member may introduce a resolution nominating a person.
• Public: Any interested individual may submit an application directly to the County Clerk’s office.

Paltin advocated strongly for the dual approach: “I am in favor of, I’m a proponent for, as much transparency, accessibility, inclusivity and democracy as possible.”

Council Member Tom Cook argued against complicating the procedure, saying he would “abide by” the non-political staff recommendations. However, the motion to allow both tracks passed 5-3 (Ayes: Council Members Paltin, Rawlins-Fernandez, Gabe Johnson, Shane Sinenci and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins; Noes: Council Members Lee, Cook and Yuki Lei Sugimura). Earlier, Council members were divided along alliance lines on motions to allow Council-only or public-only processes.

The Council also agreed to a final voting schedule to ensure all members could be present. The special meeting will begin on Nov. 20 to hear testimony and conduct nominee interviews, but it will recess to allow the final vote to be taken on the deadline day, Nov. 25, to accommodate Rawlins-Fernandez’s travel schedule.

Bill 9 dispute triggers abrupt recess

Before the final 8-0 vote adopting the vacancy resolution, as amended, the focus of the meeting abruptly shifted to Lee’s decision to postpone full Council action on Bill 9.

Paltin criticized the delay and the manner in which the decision was communicated. “The process of scheduling meetings has not been democratic, transparent, or fair,” she said, adding later (after the abrupt recess) that “I don’t like being ambushed with a press release.”

Rawlins-Fernandez was more direct in confronting the chair, who voted “aye, with reservations” for the bill in committee. “I know you don’t support Bill 9. I know you’ve been undermining all of it all this time, so just schedule it,” she told Lee.

Lee defended her actions, saying, “I think all that we are doing is transparent. You have a different point of view,” she told Rawlins-Fernandez and insisted that the matter of rescheduling Bill 9 was not properly listed on Monday’s Council agenda for discussion.

As the heated exchange escalated, Lee abruptly called for a recess. After a while, the Council returned. Paltin made a statement protesting the process, but ultimately the vote was 8-0 in favor of the amended resolution for the dual-track process for filling the vacated Kahului residency seat.

In her news release Sunday, Lee explained that she wanted time for the Council to “carefully consider” to appointment to Kama’s Kahului seat, and then “allow the new council member time to adjust to this new role before taking up major actions.”

The Council chair called the proposal to phase out vacation rentals “one of the Council’s biggest policy issues this term.” She also pointed out that the full committee report on Bill 9 is still pending the committee chair’s approval, and that will be done by panel Vice Chair Uʻu-Hodgins.

In response to an email query from Maui Now on Monday, Lee said that now it’s the Council’s priority to select a replacement for Kama.

“We have until November 25^th to make a decision or else the Mayor will,” she said. “We need nine members to function properly.  We can’t afford to have tie votes especially on important matters.”

The 30-day, Nov. 25 deadline for Council action comes from Section 3-4 of the Maui County Charter.

Kama died at 9:25 p.m. Oct. 26 at Maui Memorial Medical Center. She was 73.

Kama held the Council’s Kahului residency seat since January 2019, after defeating former Mayor Alan Arakawa in the November 2018 general election. In this current term, she chaired the Housing and Land Use Committee.

For those seeking to apply for the Kahului residency seat

Applications are available for download at www.MauiCountyVotes.gov. Office seekers may also request an application by emailing County.Clerk@MauiCounty.us, or visiting the Office of the County Clerk, Kalana O Maui Building, 200 S. High St., Room 708, Wailuku, from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.