#maui county charter

The Maui County Board of Ethics voted 6-0 Wednesday to decline processing two new complaints against Council Member Tom Cook, finding the identical allegations lacked foundational requirements for a formal hearing.

A Maui County Council committee tried to breathe life Wednesday into the languishing 304-acre Pulelehua development in West Maui, a “shovel ready” housing project with the promise of hundreds of affordable units but long dying of thirst. Chaired by West Maui Council Member Tamara Paltin, the Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee voted 7-1, […]

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. A final vote is slated to be taken on the deadline day, Nov. 25.

The Maui County Council will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m. Nov. 3 — and take public testimony — to establish a process to fill the Kahului residency seat vacancy left Sunday by the death of Council Member Natalie “Tasha” Kama.

Maui County Council Member Tasha Kama died at 9:25 p.m. Sunday, surrounded by her loved ones, according to a family statement posted on the Kahului council member’s Facebook page. She was 73.

On a day full of intense tension and high drama, the Maui County Council voted 5-4 to approve amendments on second-and-final reading for the hotly debated Honuaʻula project. But the final vote of the Council meeting came amid a noisy floor fight between Council Chair Alice Lee and Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez.

The budget pending second reading on Tuesday, has been reduced $9.4 million from the Budget Committee, but still $46 million more than the Bissen proposed budget. Once approved, the budget will go into effect July 1.

This morning the Maui County Salary Commission rescinded its two-week-old decision on pay raises for the mayor, managing director and deputy managing director. Then, it recalibrated raises for those top leadership positions, using as a benchmark a recent Hawaiʻi State Salary Commission pay raise for Gov. Josh Green.

The Maui County Salary Commission voted unanimously, 5-0, last month in favor of double-digit percentage salary pay hikes aimed at attracting and retaining top talent to elected and appointed executive and legislative branch seats held by public officials. The pay raises go into effect July 1 and range from a high of $325,104 and $292,594 […]

The Maui County Salary Commission has given hefty pay raises to elected and appointed executive and legislative branch public officials, based on a “classification and compensation report” carried out by government consultant MGT. In a letter to County Council members, acting Salary Commission Chair Grant Nakama reported that the commission voted in favor of the […]

The Maui County Council’s Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee has recommended full Council confirmation of Jonathan Likeke Scheuer as the Hawaiian Homes Commission representative to the East Maui Regional Community Board.

A Maui County Council plan to contract its own study of the economic impacts of Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed phase-out of Maui County vacation rentals has fallen to the wayside, and Council legislative analysts will conduct research in-house instead.

A bill to exempt state-financed housing developments from county council approval has passed second reading on the Hawaiʻi Senate floor and advanced to the Ways and Means Committee.

Companion House and Senate bills make way for the eventual return of Kalaupapa Settlement on Molokaʻi with the rest of Maui County, but after a transparent and extensive public outreach process.

Two charter amendments passed with nearly 60% of the vote. The third, which proposed consecutive terms for board members with no waiting period, was narrowly defeated.

Maui County’s voters can expect to receive their General Election ballot packages starting Oct. 18.

A new department and positions for Hawaiian language specialists are opening the doors for the rise of a language that was suppressed for decades.

The Maui County Council unanimously confirmed on Tuesday three new department heads, two to departments newly created by voters in Maui County Charter amendments in 2022.

Round 2 in a battle over Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed phase-out of approximately 7,000 transient vacation rentals in Maui County’s apartment-zoned districts will move tomorrow to a different venue and have a duration estimated at only one hour.

The Maui Charter Commission is holding a virtual public meeting Feb. 3 at 9 a.m. to hear public testimony about revisions to the draft report, which has 40 proposed amendments to the County Charter that are under consideration for the November 2022 ballot.