What started out with such promise seems to be ending with a dull thud!

Every 10 years, the community has an opportunity to update and improve our Maui County Charter by appointing a commission to study and review the operation of the government of the county, and to propose amendments to the document which serves as our county constitution.

After a year of numerous meetings and hundreds of hours of research and deliberation, we are left with a limited number of mostly insignificant alterations.

At one time, there were 38 proposals, many quite beneficial and significant.

What happened to changing our unsatisfactory and discriminatory system of electing Maui County Council members? How is it possible that people living in a different area get to dictate to the residents of another district who will serve on our council? How could this not be placed on the ballot?

Why did they not even discuss ranked choice voting?

What happened to community associations having a more significant status by creating regional planning commissions? What about neighborhood boards?

What happened to the county, or some other entity, finally managing our life-important water sources?

What happened to making it easier for citizens to have more direct, democratic input on government, by lowering the threshold for citizen initiatives and amendments to qualify for the ballot, allowing citizens to influence specific items?

The lack of vision of this commission was truly a missed opportunity for the residents, citizens and voters of Maui County.

Let the voters decide!

Nick Nikhilananda

Huelo