Gina Young will be the East Maui Water Authority’s first executive director. Courtesy photo

Maui County Council met Friday morning and voted on a number of matters including a new East Maui Water Authority Director, a resolution regarding recycled water, funding for a Maui nonprofit and more.

With all council members present, the four-hour meeting started with public testimony lasting nearly two hours with residents voicing their support on matters including Gina Young’s appointment to become the East Maui Water Authority’s first executive director, as well as support for Bill 148, which would fund nonprofit Malama Kakanilua for beach, shoreline and dune restoration and management at Waiohuli Kai in the amount of $150,000.

Young said she was grateful the council passed a committee report that recommended the adoption of Resolution 24-129, CD1, which essentially gave the approval for her spot as the authority’s director, a position she’s been operating in since April.

She said the authority’s purpose is to act as a voice for the community.

“It’s really to secure water rights, long-term water rights for the county and to give the community a voice and water management to get some kind of local control of our local water resources,” she said.

She added: “It’s been controlled for, I don’t even know, 150 years by one company. And there wasn’t really an avenue for the community to participate in decision-making.”

She said her new role is important now that the world is facing consequences related to climate change.

“If you look at what’s been happening around the world, especially with climate change, we’re facing new issues that we’ve never had to deal with before, and we’re starting to understand water in a different light,” she said. “I mean, it’s all around the world, but especially here in Hawai’i. It’s not a commodity. It’s a public resource.”

Also on the agenda was a committee report on Resolution 24-161, CD1, which urges the Maui County administration to prioritize the increased production and expansion of the distribution of recycled, or R-1, water to preserve potable water for the construction of affordable housing.

The resolution, which was amended during a recent committee meeting to include language to use R-1 water to support fire protection, greenbelts, agriculture and cultural uses in the County of Maui, passed Friday.

Kai Nishiki, co-executive director of Maui Nui Resiliency Hui, provided testimony in support of the resolution.

“It is very important in West Maui due to all of the water issues,” she said.

West Maui council member Tamara Paltin voted in support of the resolution but said that, without action, it will have no effect.

“This is a resolution without the force and effect of law,” she said. “The way we turn it into action is by passing Res. 24-174 today.”

Res. 24-174 refers to a Maui Planning Commission proposal to amend an ordinance relating to the change in zoning for a West Maui project in District 5 known as Pulelehua.

According to the resolution, the project is having difficulty getting off the ground because of water-related restrictions.

“What West Maui really needs right now is some kind of hope. We don’t need another door slammed in our face,” she said.

Council voted in favor of Res. 24-174 Friday, which essentially moved the resolution along for further discussion.

Paltin said she will be holding discussion on the matter during the Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs, and Planning Committee at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Also on the agenda Friday was Resolution 24-178, which will be on the agenda for next Wednesday’s committee meeting as well.

The resolution urges the administration to provide for the establishment of the proposed West Maui Hospital and Medical Center through the guarantee of a state special purpose revenue bond issuance.

Council agreed to “lay it on the clerk’s table” for further review.

On Wednesday, the Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs, and Planning Committee will receive a presentation from Jo Anne Johnson Winer, president of the West Maui Hospital Foundation Inc., and Charles Slaton, chief executive officer of the Critical Access Healthcare Management LLC, on the establishment of the proposed West Maui Hospital and Medical Center and the financing of the hospital through state special purpose revenue bonds, and other related matters.

No legislative action will be taken.