Kula Community Association hosts candidate forum | News, Sports, Jobs

By MEGAN MOSELEY

editor

WAILUKU – Local politicians running for office next Election Day (Nov. 5) shared their thoughts and intentions Wednesday night during a Kula Community Association candidate forum at the Kula Community Center.

Members of the Kula Community Association asked forum participants questions about affordable housing, county planning, infrastructure, transportation and water management during the more than three-hour session, which began at 5:30 p.m.

Candidates participating included Gabby Macaraeg, running as a Republican, and incumbent Lynn Decoite (D) for the 7th State Senate District; Carol Lee Kamekona, running for a seat on the Kahului City Council against Tasha Kama, who was absent; Yuki Lei Sugimura, current Maui County Council Vice Chair in her Upcountry District seat and her opponent Jocelyn Cruz; James Forrest, running against incumbent Council President Alice Lee in her Wailuku-Waihe'e-Waikapū District seat; Dan Johnson, a Republican running for the 12th State House of Representatives District against incumbent Kyle Yamashita (D), who was absent; John Pele, running against incumbent Keani Rawlins-Fernandez for the Molokai County Council seat; Incumbents Tom Cook and Kelly King for the seat in South Maui and Nara Boone, present, and absent Nohelani U'u-Hodgins, for the seat on the County Council representing the district of Makawao, Ha'ikū, Pā'ia. Lorien “Lolo” – That is the answer to this question. The evening concluded with Acquintas, County Councilor, who is running for West Maui County Council.

The views of elected officials and their challengers on various issues varied, particularly when it came to the future of Maui's water supply.

Many agreed that county residents need access to more water.

“As Jeff Stufflebean, the director of the water authority, said, 'We don't have enough water for affordable housing.' Excuse me? You don't have enough water for affordable housing when there are many luxury housing projects in the planning stages? Where is the care for our people? Where is the priority of putting them first?” Kamekona said this when asked a question about improving the council’s work.

Forrest and Lee were asked to answer the question: “Much of Maui's water comes from wells in your community. What do you think about large amounts of water flowing from your community of Wailuku to new developments in South Maui? Will you possibly impose restrictions on future diversions?”

Forrest believes that water use by hotels needs to be limited, and water prices for the biggest users, such as hotels, should be increased and put into an affordable housing fund.

“By increasing the water tax on hotels, we create an incentive for them to use less water, so we have to send them less, and we also collect money again,” he added.

County Council Chairman Lee responded: “We have limited water in Wailuku in central Maui. Our largest aquifer, the Iao aquifer, has a sustainable yield of 21 million gallons per day and we are close to reaching that limit,” she said.

Lee also pointed to aquifers in Waikapū and possibly Kahakuloa and had questions about where two major projects in South Maui get their water from.

“We have tons of water in East Maui, underground,” she added.

Dan Johnson, a University of Hawaii finance graduate who has worked with contractors and in public works, believes the lack of access to water contributes to the high cost of living in Maui County.

“I believe that the lack of sustainable water supply contributes to the high cost of housing and the inability to build new housing,” said Johnson.

Kelly King, who served on the County Council from 2017 to 2022, spoke about supporting affordable housing in Kihei during her previous term, her belief in increasing taxes on hotels and vacant homes, and her efforts to protect South Maui's last 25 remaining acres of wetlands.

She asked a water-specific question about her opponent, Tom Cook, asking why his council committee had tried to put forward a proposal to sell the inland water system to a venture capitalist.

“Why didn’t you tell the municipality first, and have you ever thought about checking whether we could drill the well ourselves so that the water would be ours?” Said King. “That was the intention of the amendment to the Water Authority’s charter, which was passed with flying colors at the last election.”

Cook responded in detail to how “It was discussed in detail” and the people were informed and the “The water was not sold to foreigners or anyone else… The water belongs to the people of Hawaii.”

“It’s true, the water belongs to us,” King replied. “The point was that we would sell the water system to another private company, which would then sell the water back to the county at a higher price,” she said.

Cook believes that access to water must be improved to support construction.

“I think our housing problem is that we are not creating housing,” he said. “Maui County needs to expand and improve infrastructure and provide the source, storage and transmission so landowners can build their own homes.”

Cruz and Sugimura were asked: “How do you rate the current council's ability to meet the needs of the people of Maui? If so, why is the County Council unable to meet those needs? Please provide your assessment and suggestions for improvement.”

Sugimura and Cruz both said the shortage was water.

“It’s once again about the fact that we need more local control over our valuable resources,” said Cruz.

Sugimura added: “We need more water. Water is the solution to more affordable housing. I think the council's failure is that we don't have control over water.”

“If we had more control over the water, we could find solutions to our water problems,” Said Sugimura.

Rawlins-Fernandez and Pele discussed their approaches to ethical decision-making, their professional backgrounds, their accomplishments, the Molokai axis deer, the Molokai Hunting Club and what the county could do to improve the quality of life on Molokai.

Boone spoke passionately about amplifying the voice of the people, increasing taxes on non-owner occupied homes so the county can support the sale of luxury homes and fund affordable housing and infrastructure such as our sewer systems and roads.

Boone wants the county to work with Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) grants to help local people get the water they need.

“Water was a big topic tonight. There are federal subsidies for flood protection,” said Boone.

Her opponent in the race is incumbent Nohelani U'u-Hodgins, who was not present at the event.

Lorien “Lolo” – That is the answer to this question. County Councilor Acquintas, who is running for West Maui County Council, showed up to the forum at the last minute. He mentioned the need to address water solutions such as the watershed and the urgency of rebuilding in Lahaina.

Tamara Paltin, chair of the Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs and Planning Committee, who currently represents West Maui on the Maui County Council, was not in attendance.

You can watch the forum online on Akakū’s YouTube channel.