#Maui mayor Richard Bissen

The Kibou for Maui Project in Japan hosted a Maui leadership delegation and a youth cohort of 11 students from Lahainaluna High School to facilitate an educational and strategic exchange between Maui recovery effort leaders and disaster experts in Japan’s Tohoku region.

Mayor Richard Bissen and his administration will host community budget meetings throughout Maui County starting next week for residents to share their priorities and provide input on the budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins July 1, 2025.

The new fiscal year begins today, July 1. “Our housing crisis, exacerbated by the fires, remains a top priority for all elected officials and administrators,” said Council Chair Alice Lee, pointing to a report that indicates more than 4,000 residents have already left Maui in search of housing elsewhere. “We must take care of and protect our families,” she said.

The Kibou for Maui Project in Japan hosted a Maui leadership delegation from May 19 to 23, 2024, to facilitate an educational and strategic exchange between Maui recovery effort leaders and experts in Japan’s Tohoku region, which underwent significant rebuilding after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The past year has brought significant shocks to the housing market in Hawaiʻi. Per the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO), overall transactions in 2023 was only half of what it was in 2021, and fewer single family homes were transacted in Hawaiʻi last year than in any of the last 25 years.

Under the mayor’s budget this year, is the establishment of the East Maui Water Authority as a separate department. In addition, there’s a proposal to transfer $6 million in grants from the Administration Program to the Office of Economic Development. Caires also highlighted the addition of one expansion position, requests for public information officers, and CDGB funding for senior affordable rental housing and a resiliency center to serve wildfire survivors.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, Jr. delivered his 2024 State of the County Address on Friday evening from the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. During his address, the mayor focused on wildfire recovery efforts and discussed housing solutions as the county continues to find its way through the rebuilding process and economic recovery following the August 2023 wildfires.

The public is invited to attend the 2024 State of the County Address, which will be presented by Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr. at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15 at Maui Arts and Cultural Center’s Castle Theater. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Fitness and wellness specialist Justin Yanagida and affordable housing developer Highridge Costa were honored as Volunteer of the Year and Benefactor of the Year, respectively, at Maui Economic Opportunity’s 38th Volunteer Celebration held Wednesday.

At the end of a nearly four-mile walk, community organizer Archie Kalepa addressed a crowd gathered at Launiupoko saying, “The depth of our grief and the warmth of our aloha is overwhelming. Today marks a different kind of point in the history of this place.”

Prayer, ʻoli (chanting) and protocol were practiced during the Lele Aloha Hoʻūlu Lahaina Unity Walk held Saturday morning in West Maui. “We need to come together all of Hawaiʻi. We have the opportunity to rebuild Lahaina in a pono way,” said Kalepa. “Lahaina will take the lead but we need everyone’s support.”

Mayor Richard Bissen submitted to the County Council a bill to amend a section of the County Code in an effort to immediately increase the inventory of housing available to survivors of the August wildfires.

A remembrance service was held at the Kahului Fire Station on Maui, marking the 22 year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, and honoring the 2,977 people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and onboard United Flight 93. 

The number of missing and unaccounted for individuals on Maui has been narrowed from the thousands of names first compiled in the wake of the deadly Lahaina fire on August 8. According to Mayor Bissen,the list of missing persons still unaccounted for has been narrowed to 850 individuals.  

Governor Josh Green, M.D., today signed the much-anticipated Emergency Proclamation on Housing that aims to accelerate relief from the statewide housing crisis.

Mayor Richard Bissen will deliver his first State of the County address at 5 p.m. today, Tuesday, March 21 on the front lawn of Kalana O Maui, the County Building in Wailuku.

Mayor Richard Bissen will deliver his first State of the County address at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 on the front lawn of Kalana O Maui, the County Building in Wailuku.

Maui’s new Mayor Richard Bissen called for sensible spending, explained his stance as a nonpartisan, and embraced traditional knowledge in his inaugural address on Monday evening at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater.

Mayor-elect Richard Bissen announced the appointments of: Kauanoe Batangan, Deputy Director of Department of Transportation; Koa Hewahewa, Deputy Director, Department of Agriculture; Saumalu Mataafa, Deputy Director of Department of Housing & Human Concerns; Robert Schmidt, Deputy Director, Department of Environmental Management; Wendy Taomoto, Deputy Director of Department of Public Works; and Steve Tesoro, Deputy Director of Department of Finance

Mayor-elect Richard Bissen announced the appointment of Josiah Nishita as deputy managing director, as well as the appointments of first deputies for the Department of the Corporation Counsel and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, Budget Director, and Economic Development Director.