Outgoing Council to vote on mayor’s picks for corporation counsel, prosecutor for next term

The outgoing Maui County Council will vote this week on Mayor Richard Bissen’s picks for corporation counsel and prosecuting attorney, two positions that begin under the new Council elected Nov. 3.

The Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee, chaired by Council Member Kauanoe Batangan, will take up the resolutions Thursday morning. They are on the full Council’s agenda for approval Friday.

Bissen is asking the Council to approve Mimi Desjardins as corporation counsel and Andrew Martin as prosecuting attorney. Both appointments would take effect Jan. 2, 2027, the day the new Council is sworn in.

The nominees

Desjardins is the first deputy corporation counsel, the No. 2 position under current Corporation Counsel Victoria Takayesu.

Takayesu, who has led the department for four years, would move to a deputy corporation counsel role, according to County of Maui spokesperson Laksmi Abraham. Takayesu wants to spend more time with her family and supports Desjardins’ appointment, according to Abraham.

“The two have worked closely together and share tremendous mutual respect and a strong commitment to serving Maui County,” she said in an email.

Takayesu will continue leading Maui County’s efforts to reach a resolution for wildfire survivors and see the settlement litigation through to its conclusion, according to Abraham.

Desjardins, a graduate of the University of Puget Sound School of Law, has worked for Maui County’s Department of the Corporation Counsel since 2018. She became first deputy in June 2023 and supervises the department, manages its budget and advises the mayor, departments, boards and commissions, and the Council.

She spent years in private practice focused on family law and criminal defense and served as a Second Circuit Family Court judge from 2012 to 2013. She also worked as a legislative attorney for the Council in 2017 and as a county deputy corporation counsel in the Litigation Division in 1996 to 1997, according to her résumé.

Martin, a graduate of Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, has been Maui County’s prosecuting attorney since January 2021 and leads a department of about 90 staff, according to his résumé. He joined the department as a deputy prosecutor in 2005, spent five years in private criminal defense practice, and returned in 2015 as second deputy and circuit court supervisor. Martin’s résumé reports that he led the department’s response to the 2023 Maui wildfires, including a Family Assistance Center, and worked on a statewide effort to allow attorney license reciprocity.

His appointment would continue his service under Bissen’s second four-year term.

Why the vote is happening this week

The timing comes from a 2022 amendment to the Maui County Charter that voters approved in November 2022 and that took effect July 1, 2023, according to the Office of the Mayor and Office of Council Services. The amendment created the Independent Nomination Board, which is supposed to give the mayor a list of candidates for these jobs.

The board hasn’t worked as envisioned, and the Council asked voters to dissolve it in a proposed Charter amendment this election year. In the resolution that put the question on the ballot, the Council said the amendment’s process, which lets an outgoing mayor nominate and an outgoing Council approve a corporation counsel and prosecuting attorney for the next mayoral term, was “inappropriate.”

The Council also said the board had slowed appointments and lengthened some vacancies. The resolution called for simplifying the process for appointing members of boards and commissions and dissolving the Independent Nomination Board. The resolution was adopted 9-0 on July 7.

However, voters narrowly kept the board: 20,781 voted against repeal (41.3%) and 20,509 voted for it (40.8%), while 8,952 left the question blank (17.8%), according to final election results from the Hawaiʻi Office of Elections.

The Charter says the Independent Nomination Board must submit its lists at least 90 days before a vacancy. For these positions, with current terms ending Jan. 2, that deadline was Oct. 4.

Abraham said the board advertised the jobs and received two applications for prosecuting attorney and three for corporation counsel. Temporary Investigative Groups set up by the board interviewed one candidate for prosecuting attorney and two for corporation counsel.

But the board never sent the mayor any names. Abraham said it lost its quorum after a member resigned Sept. 8. The board’s Sept. 23 agenda shows that board Chair Dwight Burns resigned Sept. 8.

Five of the board’s nine members remained, Abraham said, and one of them stepped aside from both appointments because of a conflict of interest. That left four members eligible to act, too few to take a formal vote.

As of Nov. 11, the board’s website lists the five remaining members as Vice Chair Cory Lehano, Jennifer Sullivan, Viola Diego, Kanoe Shimizu and Gina Gormley.

When the board misses its deadline, the Charter allows the mayor to make his own appointment within 30 days, without consulting the board. That put the mayor’s deadline at Nov. 3. Bissen sent the notices to the Council on Oct. 26.

Bissen chose Desjardins and Martin based on their qualifications, experience and leadership, Abraham said. Council Services confirmed the Council did not receive a list from the board.

The timing was set by the Charter and not by the election calendar or the administration’s preference, Abraham said. Even if the board had submitted lists on time, the process would still have called for nominations before the new term began, she said.

What happens if the Council doesn’t act

The Council has 30 days to act on a nominee, according to the Charter. Council Services said the deadline is Nov. 25. If the Council misses it, the nominations are deemed approved.

That deadline falls before the new Council takes office, so members elected this month will not vote on the appointments. Council Services said the incoming council members were not consulted because of the Nov. 25 deadline.

Council Services also said this is the first time the timing has come up. It said it knows of no earlier case of an outgoing Council acting on appointments that begin with a new term, because the nomination board process is new.

What’s next?

The committee meets at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, and the full Council takes up Resolutions 26-179 (Desjardins) and 26-180 (Martin) on Friday. The regular Council meeting begins at 9 a.m. Oral testimony is accepted in person, online or by phone, with three minutes allowed per item. Written testimony may be emailed to county.clerk@mauicounty.us and should arrive at least 24 hours before the meeting.

Council committee meetings are staffed by the Office of Council Services, and full Council meetings are handled by the Maui County Clerk’s Office.

The Council’s last four regular meeting dates for this year are Nov. 13, Nov. 25, Dec. 9 and Dec. 23, Chair Alice Lee said Tuesday.

For more information on how to testify, visit www.mauicounty.us/testify or https://www.mauicounty.us/teams/.