Committee referral item sparks discord among Maui County Council members

It was mostly smooth sailing for the Maui County Council’s first regularly scheduled meeting of 2025, but then decorum hit choppy waters as the Friday agenda drifted to a planned referral of three bills to the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee.

Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez couldn’t get a flight to Maui and was participating on-line from Molokaʻi. Council members agreed to the usually routine committee referral of three bills and appeared to be moving on. Then, Rawlins-Fernandez said, after the vote, that she opposed to sending Bill 6 to committee. She voted “no” on committee referral, but Chair Alice Lee apparently didn’t see her “no” vote or objection. And, the vote had already been taken.

Bill 6 proposes to amend the county’s fiscal 2025 budget to increase Department of Housing personnel from 17 to 23 in the newly formed department, which did not get enough support personnel when it split off last year from the former Department of Housing and Human Concerns.

“I thought housing was important to you, chair,” Rawlins-Fernandez said, sharply. “I thought it was a priority. I thought it was something that you wanted the Department of Housing to get on their feet, and that’s what they’re asking for right now.”

She referred to the Council’s Jan. 2 organizational meeting and minority members’ criticism of how the Housing and Land Use Committee has struggled to get its work done. “And part of it is because the staff ended up going to the Department of Human Concerns, a lot of support staff, and so now we’re asking for support staff.”

According to a Jan. 10 transmittal letter from Budget Director Lesley Milner, the six additional positions were for three secretaries, a program specialist, an accountant and a research analyst.

“No additional funding is being requested for the fiscal year 2025 budget as the department has sufficient cost savings from vacancies to fund these positions for the remainder of the fiscal year,” she wrote.

The letter did not ask for first-reading passage on the Council floor on Friday.

Rawlins-Fernandez said sending Bill 6 to committee would result in an unnecessary delay for a matter that’s essentially a no-brainer.

Lee said the Council had already voted, but that Rawlins-Fernandez could ask for reconsideration. Council members then backtracked and reconsidered Bill 6, although Budget Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura still moved to refer it to her committee with no immediate first-reading passage on the Council floor.

Council Member Tamara Paltin then moved for an amendment, which was seconded, to pass the bill Friday on the Council floor, then refer it to the Budget Committee for discussion. She said the Housing Department got “the short end of the stick” because the Human Concerns Department retained its support staff.

Sugimura said she discussed bills with the administration’s Budget Office, and there was “no urgency on their part.” She said she was planning to hear Bill 6 at her first Budget Committee meeting on Feb. 4.

Rawlins-Fernandez said that, from simply reading the Council agenda, it should have been obvious that there was no need for the matter to be referred to committee. “What is being requested? Secretary, secretary, secretary, program specialist, accountant, research analyst,” she said. “As you can see, it’s just support staff so that they can do their work.”

“I don’t need to talk about why someone would need a secretary,” she said.

Council members contacted Housing Director Richard Mitchell, who joined the meeting online and confirmed the personnel were “very important” and urgently needed to process the amount of work handled by the fledgling department. Already, the department has six unfilled positions.

He said the transmittal letter should have requested Council action on Friday, “so that is an oversight, so forgive us for that.” He did not immediately have the dollar amount needed for the new positions.

Rawlins-Fernandez said Sugimura’s justification was “weak” for sending the matter to committee, simply because the Budget Office didn’t flag it as urgent.

“The county would be better served by having a Budget chair who can think for herself,” she said.

Later, Sugimura pledged to hear the bill at her first committee meeting in February. “There was no malice in terms of trying to withhold the best thing for the County of Maui, and I don’t appreciate other members making those kinds of allegations, chair. (I) will not stand for it.”

But Rawlins-Fernandez wasn’t done. “We’re nine adults capable of critical thinking,” she said. “I think requesting action be taken on the floor today is a non-issue.”

Ultimately, council members voted 9-0 to pass the bill on first reading, but still have it referred to Budget Committee for further discussion, if needed. Then, the bill will return to the full Council for second-and-final reading.

In other action, council members passed two measures on second-and-final reading that impact county water systems.

Bill 146 would change the Department of Water Supply’s methodology for estimating domestic water demand and assessing development impact fees. Instead of counting water fixtures, the new method will be based on projected water usage in gallons per day.

And, Bill 180 would allow the private use of water catchment collection and storage tank systems of up to 30,000 gallons in agricultural, residential and rural districts.

Council Member Gabe Johnson introduced both measures after working with the county administration and the Agricultural Working Group, which is made up of farmers and ranchers. He said the bills would encourage more efficient and effective water use and allocations.

“Codes and policies get outdated,” Johnson said. “When we look to the constituents who our laws impact, we can learn about more commonsense, innovative and effective ways of doing things.”

For example, he said, the water fixture count methodology is outdated and doesn’t account for actual water use or water-intensive features like swimming pools.

“By changing the system so that water demand is assessed using actual projections of gallons-per-day usage, homeowners who have been unnecessarily restricted by fixture counts may finally be able to build the expansion, farm dwelling or ʻohana units they need to increase housing options.”

The water catchment bill exempts private water catchment systems of up to 30,000 gallons from building permits, with some project design restrictions, Johnson said. Currently, only systems up to 15,000 gallons are exempt.

A “30,000-gallon water catchment system can be constructed safely without the need for burdensome, lengthy and costly permit applications and reviews, as is done in other municipalities,” Johnson said. “This legislation makes it easier to use and store rainwater and condensation so that farmers and residents alike can be resilient and productive during dry seasons or drought.”

Earlier, by a 8-0 vote, with Kahului Council Member Tasha Kama absent and excused during voting, council members passed on first reading a bill authorizing Mayor Richard Bissen to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Hawaiʻi State Historic Preservation Officer for the demolition of the historic Spring House in Lahaina and the Lahaina Public Library after the devastating Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires.

The blaze reduced both historic structures to concrete slabs, walls and other debris. The memorandum of understanding would allow the Army Corps to demolish the buildings, now considered unsafe and a threat to public health.

Pohaku artifacts found at the library and Spring House would be placed at Mokuʻula in Lahaina as a temporary crypt site, said Kaponoʻai Molitau, director of the county Department of ʻŌiwi Resources, in a Dec. 20 transmittal letter.

Council members heard that the private owner of the Spring House, at 666 Front Street in the Lahaina Historic District, was not interested in selling the property to the county and would be pursuing demolition. Theo Morrison, executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, testified against demolition of the historic property, maintaining that it can be rebuilt.

Paltin said she also opposes demolition, and that that has been the consensus she’s heard from the West Maui community.

Built in 1823 by the Rev. William Richards, the Spring House had a water pump that was used to replenish ships’ freshwater supplies in large wooden casks. The fresh water was in an artesian well near the missionary compound.

The library also has artifacts that officials want to preserve. The library is on state-owned property.

A copy of the memorandum of understanding is attached to the bill here.