Then-Corporation Counsel Moana Lutey speaks during a council meeting in 2019. Lutey and former First Deputy Corporation Counsel Richelle Thomson were unanimously approved as county clerk and deputy clerk, respectively, after their appointments were approved only temporarily while the county sought more applicants for the jobs. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Maui County’s former corporation counsel and her first deputy were confirmed Friday by the Maui County Council to now lead the County Clerk’s Office.

The votes Friday evening were unanimous to confirm former top county attorney, Moana Lutey, as county clerk and former First Deputy Richelle Thomson as deputy county clerk. The two had been temporarily approved in January while the county recruited more applicants.

Lutey beat out about 10 other candidates and Thomson bested about nine other candidates; some candidates had withdrawn after submitting their applications, some council members said. Candidates included applicants from the Mainland as well as current and former Maui residents. At least one candidate had never voted before, another worked for Tesla and another worked for the City and County of San Francisco and had experience in elections.

Lutey will earn $156,982 annually and Thomson will earn $149,132 annually, according to the resolutions confirming the two. Outgoing Clerk Kathy Kaohu’s salary when approved by the council in 2020 was set at $105,000 annually and former Deputy Clerk James Krueger’s salary was at $94,000.

During the vote, Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura pointed to testimonies by Department of Corporation Counsel staff who had worked under both Lutey and Thomson. One attorney called his former bosses “good people.”

Sugimura also pointed to a letter the County Clerk’s Office staff sent to the council in support of confirming Lutey and Thomson, which she said “spoke volumes” of what the two had already done in their temporary positions at the office.

Council Member Shane Sinenci had concerns about the higher salaries, as he said he received calls from residents also concerned about the bump in pay.

He said the positions had previously been funded at lower rates, due to the nature of the duties and job responsibilities, and that no legal degree is required. If the council would like to change the duties to require a law degree and have higher salaries, then it should do so, and then advertise the position, Sinenci said. This could have attracted other additional applicants, he added.

The higher salaries are similar to Office of Council Services attorneys and are not higher than the mayor’s salary, Lutey said during the meeting, in clarifying public testimony.

Last April, the Maui County Salary Commission voted to give 5 percent salary increases to elected officials, bumping the mayor’s salary to $159,578.

During the daylong meeting with around six hours of testimony on various agenda items, some testifiers shared concerns over the higher salaries for the positions along with concerns that Lutey and Thomson were part of former Mayor Michael Victorino’s administration, which took a legal case over the Lahaina injection wells all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The council at the time and community members urged that the case be settled instead.

Former County Managing Director Sandy Baz, who served under Victorino, testified in favor of Lutey and Thomson and said that corporation counsel were not the drivers of the legal action, but were simply assisting their client.

Lutey and Thomson were only temporarily approved for the jobs at the council’s inaugural meeting of the new term on Jan. 2, as members said they wanted to do a full recruitment and consider the list of applicants for the jobs.

At Friday’s council meeting, Director for the Office of Council Services Traci Fujita said the clerk positions were advertised and posted on the county websites, social media accounts, the newspaper and other similar ways it’s been done in the past.

She acknowledged that the county did not post the jobs on Indeed.com. There had been a posting on the site that caused some confusion and drew applicants, but the majority of those applications came in incomplete. The county did contact those with incomplete applications to have them resubmit before the deadline, Fujita said.

In other council action, the council passed a resolution urging the state Legislature to enact a statute permanently exempting birth attendants from state licensure requirements. Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez the lack of exemption disproportionately impacts rural communities in Maui County with limited access to hospitals and birthing facilities.

The majority of testifiers in the all-day meeting Friday discussed and supported the resolution.

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