Kauanoe Batangan officially sworn in as Maui County Council member; Committee memberships assigned

Kauanoe Batangan began his term on the Maui County Council Monday morning, stepping into the Kahului residency seat held by the late Council Member Tasha Kama, a fulfillment of her final wish for him to succeed her.

“I will weigh the positions that she had taken very heavily, but I’ll also listen to community and vote my conscience when it comes to the issues,” Batangan told Maui Now in a brief interview before his swearing-in ceremony Monday in Council Chambers.

Batangan will chair the Council’s Government Relations, Ethics, and Transparency Committee and serve as vice chair of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee and as vice chair of the Housing and Land Use Committee.

In a brief special Council meeting following Batangan’s swearing-in ceremony, council members congratulated Batangan and adopted a resolution to include their new member into Council committees. The resolution also somewhat shuffled leadership responsibilities for other members.

Batangan stepped immediately into three influential positions: as chair of the Government Relations, Ethics, and Transparency Committee, previously been led by Council Member Nohelani U’u-Hodgins; as vice chair of the Budget Committee, chaired by Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura; and as vice chair of the Housing and Land Use Committee, now chaired by U’u-Hodgins.

In December, Mayor Richard Bissen appointed Batangan to the Kahului residency seat vacancy after the 4-4 divided Council remained deadlocked regarding a successor. Batangan previously served as the executive director of the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization and as a deputy director for the Department of Transportation.

In an interview with Maui Now, Batangan said he’s “ready to get started” in his new role, although “it’s a little bit of an emotional time for me right now.”

“We obviously really miss Council Member Kama, (and) all the great advocacy work she did for our community. It’s going to be really missed,” he said.

For this next year, Batangan said he’s honored, humbled and excited to have the opportunity to serve in the Council’s Kahului residency seat. He said he intends to honor the legislative priorities Kama campaigned on for the people of Kahului.

Batangan described Kama as being “very independent in her thinking.”

“I think that’s part of why she approached me and asked that I finish on her term. It’s because I have a similar level of independent thinking,” he said.

Kama had been part of the five-member Council majority, including Chair Alice Lee, Tom Cook, Sugimura and U’u-Hodgins.

Batangan’s appointment comes at a time when the Council has been split on several key issues, including sensitive land use matters. When asked if he would become a “swing vote” with the Lee-led faction, Batangan rejected the idea of a rigid majority-minority split on the Council.

“I try not to view it as a majority-minority divide,” Batangan said. “Council Member Kama herself was very independent in her thinking. If the arguments resonated with her, she would vote with her heart and with her district. And I think I’d be similar in the way that I vote.”

Batangan identified multi-generational support services as foundation of his personal legislative agenda. He highlighted his commitment to kūpuna and keiki care, drawing from his personal experience moving home to Maui to care for his grandmother.

As a father of two young children, Batangan said he wants to ensure that “we have a future that allows them to not just stay here, but to thrive here.”

“Those are the kind of issues that are really dear to my heart,” he said.

His professional background in transportation is also expected to influence his work on the Council. Batangan said he fully supports the establishment of an inter-island ferry system, a project he was involved with during his time in the executive branch and with the Maui MPO.

Batangan expressed gratitude for the services provided by the County and local nonprofit partners, which he said made his own family’s life easier during his time as a caregiver. He noted that while he will support existing committee chairs and their respective priorities, he intends to be an active voice on infrastructure and social service issues.

Batangan will serve the remainder of the term through the end of the year.

At 1:30 p.m. today, the Housing and Land Use Committee will take up recommendations from a Temporary Investigative Group on policies and procedures for transient vacation rentals after the enactment of Bill 9.

That controversial bill, now being challenged in 2nd Circuit Court, phases out vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts. The committee will consider a proposal to establish new hotel zoning districts for former vacation rental properties and whether to transmit it to the Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi planning commissions.