Panel strikes proposal to change council elections

List of charter amendments headed for ballot is being finalized

A proposal altering how the Maui County Council is elected from the current at-large voting to smaller county districts was one of the charter amendments eliminated by the Maui County Charter Commission on Thursday.

Commission members met virtually to discuss the council's alternatives to the commission's 13 proposed charter amendments.

For the past year, 11 volunteers, two appointed by the mayor and the rest appointed by the nine council members, convened to study and review the operation of the government under the Maui County Charter in a process that occurs every 10 years. The group came up with 13 proposals to possibly place on the general election ballot in November and submitted a report to the council in February. The council vetted the report and came up with its own version of amendments in March.

On Thursday, the commission had the option to accept or reject the council's alternatives. Any rejected council alternative could still appear on the ballot unless the council withdraws it.

One of the more far-reaching proposals called for changing council elections from at-large elections to electing three council members from each of three council electoral regions. It also would have required one council member reside in each of the following areas: Molokai, Lanai, East Maui, north Kahului, Wailuku, Upcountry, and would have also created a Reapportionment Commission.

The council recommended eliminating the proposal, and the majority of the commission agreed, with Chairman Grant Chun, Vice Chairman Keoni Kuoha and Commissioners Doreen "Pua" Canto, David DeLeon, Karey Kapoi, George Purdy IV and Michael Williams voting to approve the council recommendation.

Commissioners Kauanoe Batangan, Paul Deslauriers, Ward Mardfin and Ashley Olson were opposed.

Kuoha, who made the motion to accept the council's recommendation of eliminating the proposal, said that when he attended a Molokai town hall in February and gave an update on what the commission was proposing, many were against it.

"Folks like the current system, they understand the current system," he said.

He added that district voting could be brought up in the future but there is "a bit more work to do" to clarify community concerns.

DeLeon said he agreed with Molokai residents, adding that the district voting may not necessarily be an improvement over the current system. He added that a candidate may end up in three very different districts trying to deal with individual concerns.

But Batangan said he felt there were legitimate concerns for keeping council elections as is and thought it was a conflict of interest for council members to be weighing on a charter proposal that affected them directly. He wanted to leave the matter up to the voters to decide.

Deslauriers agreed that there may be "a level of bias" by members who have already been elected at-large. He said it is "much more difficult for a new person to come in and win that vote," as the "momentum is there" for the incumbent.

He believed there would be better transparency with members elected by specific regions and that it would encourage new candidates to participate.

The commission also adopted the council's recommendations for six proposals and decided to withdraw its own competing proposals.

Some of the adopted council recommendations include:

• Allowing employees in the Office of the County Clerk to participate in political activities but restricting the county clerk and deputy from doing so, including giving political contributions for any federal, state or county elective office.

• Altering the powers of the mayor to appoint and retain administrative department heads, including allowing 60 days to find, appoint and confirm or deny an administrative head, rather than 30 days. The proposal would also require that if the council denies an appointee, the individual must vacate the office immediately and serve no further time in the position.

• Bifurcating the Department of Housing and Human Concerns into two new departments.

But the commission also voted to reject four of the council's proposals, which could potentially lead to competing versions of charter amendments on the ballot.

Council members had voted to eliminate a commission proposal to require the county auditor to assess the fiscal impacts of proposed charter amendments. They had argued that it is the duty of any entity proposing the charter amendment to fully analyze fiscal and other impacts of the proposal before it goes to ballot.

Commissioners decided to retain this proposal.

They also voted to take out both the commission's and council's proposals surrounding terms for the prosecuting attorney and corporation counsel.

Also heading the to ballot is a commission proposal that removes the cap on penalties for violations of law so that they may be set by council by ordinance. The council did not provide an alternative to this proposal.

Upon receiving the commission's report of its decisions Thursday, the council will have 10 days to decide if it will keep its rejected proposals on the ballot, said Deputy Corporation Counsel Keola Whittaker.

After that, the commission will be charged with drafting the charter amendment questions for the November election ballot, including those questions proposed by the council through the commission process, he said.

He expected responses from the council by mid- to late April or early May.

But Whittaker pointed out that the council also has its own separate process to bring charter amendments to the ballot without the commission.

For more information on the commission and its proposals, including those posted by the council, see www.mauicounty.gov/1791/Charter-Commission.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.