Maui Emergency Management Agency lays out progress and plans for fiscal 2026

Maui County Council members heard about progress and plans for future needs Tuesday from the Maui Emergency Management Agency, now less than two years after the August 2023 wildfires disaster.

Last year, in the wake of the wildfires that destroyed most of Lahaina town and claimed at least 102 lives, the agency has “gained valuable insights” for its mission and found a path forward with numerous after-action reports and strategic assessments, with findings that “highlight our most pressing needs,” Administrator Amos Lonokailua-Hewett told members of the Council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee.

Urgent needs include adequate staffing to effectively respond during emergencies; the need for clear, robust and effective plans, procedures and programs; and the importance of comprehensive training and exercises to ensure that staff and response partners are qualified and prepared, said Lonokailua-Hewett, a retired Maui Fire Department battalion chief.

His agency released an after-action report on the Maui wildfires in January 2025. He took over as agency head in January 2024, succeeding former administrator Herman Andaya. The report was compiled by AC Disaster Consulting, in partnership with Emergent Global Solutions, based on over 40 interviews, various document reviews and an interagency after-action meeting.

On Tuesday, Lonokailua-Hewett told council members there’s a “critical need” for MEMA to conduct “community engagement to enhance information sharing, capacity building and overall preparedness.”

The agency’s appearance before the Budget Committee came a day after it announced a new evacuation notification platform, the Genasys Protect, to enhance emergency operations for residents and visitors on Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. 

The platform will allow Maui County users to view predetermined evacuation zones, track live statuses and receive real-time notifications through a mobile app. The development was positively received by council members.

Lonokailua-Hewett said the technology is being implemented as a key component to a broader plan to enhance evacuation management capabilities throughout the county.

The Budget Committee, chaired by Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura, is continuing its department-by-department review of Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed $1.5 billion fiscal 2026 budget.

Today, the panel Budget Committee meeting begins at 1 p.m. in the eighth-floor Council Chambers of the Kalana O Maui Building. The committee will take up the Department of Management and the Office of Recovery.

The meeting will be televised on Akakū Maui Community Media, cable Channel 53.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, the committee will review the budget requests for the departments of Human Concerns and Housing. At 6 p.m. Thursday, the panel will hear from the West Maui community at the Lahaina Civic Center.

On Friday, committee deliberations will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Council Chambers. Then, at 6 p.m., the panel will visit with Molokaʻi residents at the Mitchell Pauʻole Community Center in Kaunakakai.

Overall, the Maui Emergency Management Agency’s 2026 budget request calls for spending $108.4 million, down $10.7 million, or 9%, from $119 million in fiscal 2025, the current fiscal year. Most of the expenditures stem from federal grants arising from the 2023 wildfires. A detailed explanation of the grant funding is available by clicking here. (See Page 189.)

The agency’s workforce went from nine employees in fiscal 2023 and 2024 to 22 employees in fiscal 2025. The agency wants continued funding for the 22 positions and to add another three employees next fiscal year, bringing its total to 25.

The expansion positions include a community outreach specialist and an information and education specialist, both aimed at improving communications with the public.

Lonokailua-Hewett said the agency has been preparing strategic and integrated preparedness plans. “These documents outline our vision and approach,” he said.

He asked for Council support of Reserve Core staffing, “enabling us to recall up to my experienced personnel to assist the Emergency Operation Center or in the field.”

Proposed funding for the Reserve Core includes $30,000 for contractual service; $79,891 for travel; and $8,735 for registration and other expenses for additional training of Reserve Core staff. Travel per diem requested is $26,706.

“Travel expenses are directly related to our efforts to educate, train, certify and empower our team members to excel in their roles,” Lonokailua-Hewett said. “This investment is necessary to ensure the workforce remains effective and capable of handling emergencies.”

Another $148,700 is requested for development of educational materials for community events, workshops and media campaigns. The funding also is planned to pay for recruitment advertisements to attract highly specialized quality applicants.

Lonokailua-Hewett also raised concerns about significant changes and the uncertainty of grant funding from federal emergency management performance grants, homeland security and other grants.

Reduced funding from federal sources “could impact MEMA’s ability to provide essential training and exercises that have been instrumental to our success and critical to our mission,” he said.

Later, it was the first time for the Council’s Budget Committee to examine the new Department of ʻŌiwi Resources, led by Kaponoʻai Molitau, founder and chief executive officer of Native Intelligence, which opened in 2009 in Wailuku as a Hawaiian cultural resource center and retail business.

“We are committed to upholding and realigning the rights, responsibilities and stewardship of ʻōiwi resources,” Molitau said.

One of the County’s smallest departments, ʻŌiwi Resources proposes an overall budget of $1.9 million for fiscal 2026. It’s requesting a staff of 13, six more than what was approved for the current fiscal year.

Expansion positions include a chief Hawaiian cultural specialist, an information and education specialist, an archaeologist, an archaeology-cultural monitor/intern, an ʻāina advocate and a geographic information system analyst.

With a mission that includes integrating Hawaiian language into county operations, managing cultural resources, and ensuring the correct use of place names, Molitau said the department stands “grounded in our mission, embracing both the privilege and responsibility of our collective work.”

Both department heads expressed gratitude for the Council’s past support and emphasized the importance of continued investment as Maui County heads into a new fiscal year beginning July 1.

On Monday, the committee reviewed the proposed budgets for the Department of Fire & Public Safety and the Department of Planning.

One item that stands out in the department’s proposed operations budget is $6,559,818 for “special projects.”

The department explained that the budget item is exclusively for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant sub-award for a Māʻalaea project to purchase property for shoreline retreat.

“The department will play a role in long-range planning for the proposed project, but the actual acquisition will be handled by the Department of Finance,” the department said in an April 7 letter to committee members. “The project is currently in the development phase and the department cannot comment on how our portion of the project will proceed at this time.”

“Funding to enhance regional community-based coastal stewardship in Māʻalaea and a Māʻalaea Regional Resiliency Laboratory,” the department’s budget proposal says. “Funding will be used to restore natural infrastructure, including wetlands and dune systems, that buffer against climate and weather hazards. It will also be invested in community-centered proactive management strategies that address escalating threats to coastal communities, cultural resources, and ancestral burial sites. In addition, 423 acres of coastal land will be purchased by the County of Maui to support both immediate and future resilience-focused land uses.”

The nearly $6.6 million budget item is largely responsible for pushing the department’s operations total to $10.18 million, an increase of $7.2 million or 241%.

The Planning Department’s total budget is almost $17.1 million, an increase of about $8 million or 87.9%.

In fiscal 2024, the department reviewed 2,155 building permits, and it estimates 1,500 such reviews this fiscal year. It anticipates 2,500 in fiscal 2026 because of an expected increase in building permits related to wildfire recovery.

How to participate in ongoing budget deliberations:

Oral testimony is limited to three minutes at the beginning of the meeting. Testifiers can speak on any agenda item, in this case the proposed fiscal 2026 budget.

Online testimony can be offered via Teams link: http://tinyurl.com/BFED-Committee; or by calling 1-808-977-4067 and enter meeting code 420 614 452#

Written testimony is accepted via eComment. (Search for the meeting date on mauicounty.us/agendas, click on the eComment link, then select the agenda item to submit comments on.)

Testimony also can be submitted via email to BFED.committee@mauicounty.us or postal service to BFED Committee, Maui County Council, 200 S. High St., Wailuku 96793.

For more information on testifying, visit www.mauicounty.us/testify or contact the Office of Council Services.