Council Chair KELLY KING 2019

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Jason Schwartz interviews newly elected County Chairperson KELLY KING. Maui County Council change of attitudes, newly created directions for public testimony, Corporate Counsel and changes moving forward . 1-7-2019

Summary & Transcript Below…

Introduction and Overview

•       [00:00 → 07:42]
  The program begins with host Jason Schwartz introducing the show on Maui’s community radio station, KAKU 88.5 FM, featuring Kelly King, the newly appointed Chairman of the Maui County Council as of early January 2019. Jason highlights the evolving nature of their broadcasts, including plans for simultaneous radio and TV broadcasts via Facebook Live and YouTube. He sets a positive tone for the conversation, emphasizing a hopeful outlook on Maui’s governance and public engagement. Topics such as increased transparency in council procedures, better public access to documents, and improved public testimony opportunities are introduced. King’s leadership style is described as humble and grounded, with a focus on collaboration rather than conflict. The show touches briefly on pressing local issues like the landfill’s new Sunday hours and the broader challenges of homelessness and economic sustainability. Jason also notes King’s reputation for supporting renewable energy and community progress and praises her ability to unify council members and the public.

1. 1. 1. 1. Kelly King’s Background and Leadership Vision

• [07:43 → 15:11]
  Kelly King shares her long history of community involvement, dating back to her school board campaigns and advocacy for renewable energy and public spaces. She reflects on how time seems compressed given her extended service in public roles. King discusses the responsibilities that come with chairing the council, emphasizing the burden and honor of guiding the council toward “morphic transparency” and greater public service. One of her early initiatives is redesigning the council chamber so that council members face the public, fostering better communication and openness. She advocates for incorporating remote testimony technologies like Skype and Zoom while balancing the need for verification and orderly public participation through satellite offices. King highlights the importance of making council meetings more accessible and experimenting with public hearing times, including evenings, despite logistical challenges such as staffing and costs. She also stresses the value of partnerships with local educational institutions like Maui Community College to cultivate media apprenticeships and improve public engagement.

1. 1. 1. 1. Shared Vision and Countywide Policy Plan

• [15:12 → 21:52]
  Kelly King introduces the Maui County General Plan and Countywide Policy Plan as foundational documents outlining shared community goals and aspirations since 2010. She expresses surprise that these plans are underutilized in council decision-making. As chair, King proposes aligning council committees around these broad goals rather than traditional departmental structures, encouraging aspirational thinking focused on long-term community benefits. She identifies gaps in the current plan, including the absence of explicit sustainable agriculture goals and climate change adaptation strategies, particularly concerning sea-level rise. King intends to propose amendments to incorporate these critical issues, citing federal scientific reports warning of a narrow window (12 years) to address climate change effectively. She stresses the need for strategic budget planning aligned with these goals, where departments present clear objectives, resource needs, and progress measures. King encourages setting high but realistic goals, emphasizing that striving for improvement is preferable to maintaining the status quo or setting low benchmarks to avoid criticism.

1. 1. 1. 1. Governance Challenges and Council Culture

• [21:53 → 26:57]
  King reflects on the culture within county government, noting a tendency to set low performance benchmarks to avoid scrutiny. She challenges this approach and advocates for higher aspirations with accountability and understanding of obstacles. She discusses the importance of longer council terms and staggered elections to ensure continuity and enable planners to pursue multi-year initiatives rather than short-term political gains. King stresses the rapid pace of technological and environmental change, advocating for 5- to 10-year strategic plans that remain flexible and forward-looking. She highlights visible climate impacts such as flooding along North Kihei Road and concerns about new developments near vulnerable shorelines, advocating for stricter permit policies in these areas.

1. 1. 1. 1. Homelessness in Maui County

• [39:16 → 50:38]
  A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the homelessness crisis in Maui County. King shares her efforts to engage communities, particularly in South Maui, initiating meetings that brought together homeless individuals, advocates, and residents to foster compassionate understanding and collective problem-solving. The goal is to shift from “what can you do” to “what can we do” as a community. Initiatives discussed include forming a virtual resource network to coordinate aid, exploring tiny home villages as respectful, safe housing solutions, and developing mobile hygiene units funded through partnerships with local nonprofits and state officials like Lieutenant Governor Josh Green. King emphasizes the diversity of homelessness causes, including job loss, mental health, and addiction, and the need to build trust for effective outreach. She notes successes such as housing two individuals with jobs due to community coordination. The discussion acknowledges safety concerns at shelters and the importance of supervised, secure facilities. King also highlights the challenges of existing overnight car sleeping bans and the need for county-supported supervision to enable safe, legal alternatives. She stresses the necessity of community compassion and multi-sector cooperation to address the issue.

1. 1. 1. 1. Role and Challenges of Corporate Counsel

• [32:09 → 38:40, 52:58 → 55:37]
  King addresses questions about the dynamic between the County Council and the Office of Corporation Counsel, which legally represents the mayor’s office and the council but is ultimately accountable to the mayor. She acknowledges frustrations with the current legal support structure, including delays and resistance to innovative procedural changes. King highlights the charter amendment that allows council members to seek separate legal counsel if they disagree with Corporation Counsel opinions, though rules to implement this remain undeveloped. She intends to establish clear processes enabling council members to obtain independent legal advice when necessary, balancing cost and effectiveness. King praises the ethical standards and expertise of attorneys within the Office of Council Services, particularly Dave Watts, and describes recent improvements in collaboration and morale within that office. She underscores the importance of transparency and dialogue between council members, counsel, and the public to foster trust and better governance.

1. 1. 1. 1. Council Membership and Expertise

• [50:39 → 52:57]
  King reflects on the composition of the new council, emphasizing that while not every member is an expert on every issue, the collective knowledge and community connections form a strong foundation for effective governance. She stresses the importance of identifying and engaging external experts, such as tax attorneys, accountants, and environmental specialists, to inform policy decisions. King believes that good leadership involves knowing whom to listen to and bringing those voices into the conversation, rather than trying to be the sole expert. This collaborative approach is seen as a key strength of the current council.

1. 1. 1. 1. Closing Remarks

• [55:38 → 57:00]
  In closing, King reiterates her openness to community engagement, inviting civil and constructive dialogue through her office rather than social media debates. She emphasizes respect and accessibility, encouraging constituents to discuss issues face-to-face. The host thanks her for a candid and hopeful conversation, inviting her back for future discussions. The program ends with expressions of aloha and gratitude for the audience’s support.

1. 1. 1. Key Themes and Insights

• Transparency and Modernization: King advocates for making council operations more transparent and accessible through physical chamber redesigns, remote testimony technologies, and clear communication.
• Strategic, Aspirational Governance: Emphasis on aligning council work with a shared community vision, setting high goals, and using strategic planning to fund and measure progress.
• Climate Change and Sustainability: Recognizes urgent climate threats and the need to integrate adaptation and sustainable agriculture into county planning.
• Community-Centered Homelessness Solutions: Pushes for compassionate, community-driven solutions including tiny homes, mobile hygiene units, and coordinated outreach.
• Legal and Procedural Reform: Seeks to enhance council independence by establishing processes for alternative legal counsel and fostering better collaboration with corporate counsel.
• Collaborative Leadership: Values collective expertise and community input, advocating for council members to leverage outside specialists and maintain open dialogue.
• Long-Term Planning: Supports longer council terms and staggered elections to ensure policy continuity and enable multi-year planning.

1. 1. 1. Conclusion

This interview with Kelly King provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities facing Maui County in early 2019. Her leadership vision emphasizes transparency, community engagement, strategic goal-setting, and compassionate problem-solving. King’s pragmatic yet hopeful approach aims to modernize county governance, address pressing social issues like homelessness, and prepare Maui for environmental changes. The conversation reflects a deep commitment to public service and a collaborative model of leadership attuned to both local values and broader global challenges.

00:00

and end it at feeding America org brought to you by feeding America and the Ad Council Maui’s free speech station kak u 88.5 FM Kahului Maui the voice of Maui this is Jason Schwartz and around the neutral zone we’re happy to have you here we’ve got a great guest [Music] a man sold away [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] please leave you [Music] [Music] Wow that wasn’t my editing skills being tested here all right we’re set now good morning it is early January I think January 7

01:35

2009 teen and my guest today is someone that our local Maui audience knows well it’s Kelly King who is the current chairman of the Maui County Council this is only a few days old and I spoke to her office this morning and she’s busy and running stopping by the office and coming here I told her that the first few minutes on busy talent saying hello to you this year we’re going to be doing television as well as radio and you’ll be seeing some of our radio shows that are on Facebook live even now and on

02:14

YouTube on ikkaku Maui Community Media television or I call the television and we’ve been talking about issues and we’re very positive about the future we’re very positive about the attitude of our guests here Kelley King our Chairman and the attitude that the council seems to have that as pervasive and thinking more holistic than before by some people’s view some people are thinking that’s going to be combative in different ways I don’t think that’s what is in the cards I think we’re going to

02:55

make progress in great ways to making Maui more no coy you know I I don’t really think bashing is helpful but I do think we’re in a new age just to know that the dump the dump the trash waste facility is going to be open here on Sundays is a big plus I hope you don’t have a government shutdown like Washington is doing now gosh we’re not but um we have new things happening there have been a few things that we’re gonna talk with Kelly King about you know and we also are gonna be talking about changes that have

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happened and how they’re going to be impacting counsel and procedures and availability to you the public to be able to testify about things and to have all the documents available to know what’s coming up before it’s in front of us and see a lot more transparency things that you know I think that the older count the council that was here before the beginning of the year I think they did what they did and I’m just hoping that it’s better and that the public receives it better and it’s more

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effective and making things better around here instead of getting divisive and fighting and money shouldn’t be our driver sadly money is right there plain and center in everyone’s life here on Maui the homelessness problem is I think epidemic I think if you’re gonna Claire declare a state of emergency it should be here in Maui County well we can take care of the homeless we’ll see what our new mayor Victorino has immediately in store I know I spoke a little with lieutenant governor Josh green it’s

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going to be his pet project to be effective and you know the old lieutenant governor I can’t help but see the chance at Hsu is is going to be instrumental with this new land 40,000 acres that was just purchased so in agriculture we have things – can you imagine you’re a company and you have all this land and all these people that need food desperately to be self-sustainable and you buy that land and you have you put in non GMO food and you buy what’s needed and whatever isn’t needed here

05:44

local you export what a fantastic business so we hope to even make very old better wait till we start talking about technologies and things any second are Councilwoman Kelly king someone pointed out and I thought it was funny that it takes a queen to take the king role and the high podium and put herself down on the same level as the people there on council I don’t know if if any people there just waiting outside I can hear I don’t know if many people have identified what they want their roles to

06:28

be with this new council here I know that council is there to create rules and laws and move things but I really am a strong proponent for private sector working together in unique ways to be able to fund some of these projects because the the money and profits that come from it are only part of the benefit when you live here because local businesses can live in the paradise that they have the resources to support to help those that may not make this whole island better and bring up quality of jobs and income it’s nice to the bear

07:10

that’s gonna be a thousand jobs we’ll see what kind of jobs they are but whatever kind of jobs if they can’t people can live and be happy here on Maui that would be wonderful but we need a lot of things so I’m again I don’t want to get ahead of myself with my guests here coming on in a moment oh there she is welcome to the show year of the Wahine you’re on you’re on you know visual as well as sound this is Facebook live and there’s your camera or in and there’s

07:43

Mike welcome to our show wait who’s gonna help our feedback we get that microphone down let me see where we are there’s someone coming in to help me I bet there we go we should be they’ll come in if they need to adjust okay oh yeah wasn’t I wasn’t planning on having a visual but okay okay well you look fine thank you congratulations on your I guess you’d say in the time that I know you I remember way back when you were running for school board and I thought who’s this lady Oh biodiesel that’s a line

08:28

with me and that was years ago yeah I think back then actually what we hadn’t started the biodiesel project yet it started probably halfway through my term on the State Board of Education but I was running around building playgrounds on the island that I was involved in PTA my kids were both in public school and so that’s where that came from was well you know with me as I get older I compressed time to me that was way back and way back I’m gonna get closer to the mic and way back kind of gets compressed

09:01

together so that time thing wasn’t right but you’ve been an advocate of progressive renewable energy technologies and things that are good for our world and children and playgrounds and many things and you’ve I think graduated your home humility you know each time the vote happens it’s like a shock to you that you are a victorious in the way and so comfortable you’re a level of support I believe is obviously very wide you were able to garner support from six of the you know people and more as the vote came in but

09:43

I am very happy to say you know I I sit here with someone that I feel is you took yourself off the pedestal the king and you basically have just shown this you say year of the Wahine and yeah I am not OA heaney but I must tell you it feels very very comfortable item to know that you’re at the helm how does it feel very different in your role well it’s a burden for sure you know it’s a it’s a greater burden because now it’s about also shepherding the council into what I see as an era of

10:23

morphic transparency being more service-oriented one of my first goals is to start working on getting the chamber redesigned so that the council is facing the public and I’ve been talking about that on the campaign trail yes I actually you know proposed that last year during the budget session but did not get enough votes for it so I think the new council the majority of the folks on the new council support this and I think we have a super majority that supports this and and we can do it in a way that’s I mean we need

10:57

to make the Chamber’s more more welcoming I think it’s I know you’ve come and testify Jason and I hear all the time about remote locations right we’re gonna be able to use Skype and zoom and write we want it we want I mean I think there’s a there’s a balance it has to be reached because a lot of people don’t understand why they can’t just call from their house well it has to be you have to sign in and you have to be at a district office we have to have several satellite offices because

11:25

otherwise people are just calling in willy-nilly and we don’t know who’s who’s waiting and like here 8 7 3 3 4 3 5 they can call Willie and knowing right I wonder I do want to try to encourage more public hearings at night but what happens with each of those public hearings is you’ve got now over time because you’ve got to have departmental staff there and you’ve got to have you folks from ikkaku there and so the expense of it is not just it’s not easy to do but I think we we need to start

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experimenting with that it’s funny one think of when you said me foe tzedakah cou do you know that I’ve never worked for a kind of coup and I people think I own the station I tell them it’s a public access station I’ve been doing all these shows and interviews and stuff for so many years but this has been a wonderful forum I I don’t know if I’ve sat and talked to you but I’m gonna just put a plug for I go to Maui community now Maui college and they there have been a great resource of people and yet

12:32

when they are done they don’t know where to go and what to do well in creative media there’s this public access television which they both get some funding from the same source but they’ve been sort of polarized they’re not really working together as effectively as they might right we really need that better collaboration so that’s where I am aiming Brian hoping to be able to I’m going to school learning meeting some of these interns making them apprentices here to be able to then create

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productions production studio I’d obviously create an industry clean nice good industry I bet that that’s it what’s interesting as years ago when I was a young mother and my children were very small and I was getting involved in the school system I actually went to a meeting at the college it was in that basement room where they have all that technology and they had wasn’t called Skype back then but they had televised and remote hearing so I went to testify in front of the Board of Education back

13:37

in the 90s or you know mid early 90s and and we’re still not doing that at the at the county council where we’re allowing people to have a visual of the council and us have a visual of them and because it does make a difference I think it makes a difference seeing somebody’s body language you know looking them in the eye even if it’s remotely versus having a piece of paper and I always tell people this it’s much more effective if you can be there in person even in a remote district where we can

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hear your voice and it’s a person behind it not just a printed piece of paper but I found that to be true when I was on the board of education as well people came out and test fight in person had a bigger impact on the board than getting a piece of paper with that same testimony written on it and back then I was dealing with a board you know I was the only Maui person so you’ve got 12 people from most of the ten from Oahu so you really have to you really have to look people in the eye and tell them whether your issue is and

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County Council you’re even more crazy like you said it gets more and more responsibility and more consuming that let me ask cuz it came when I’m the Maui News thank you put a press release that we were going to be on so I got people contact me with some questions and I thought they were interesting you know all these people Nick grants called and you know I was just thinking he was really looking to see after the election with his new heir that we have of a positivity what didn’t what direction and it was kind of giving

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you a platform to to restate what I think is really what we all envision of you a new change what those kind of changes will mean to our county any thoughts well yeah I do and actually you know we have a shared vision shared goals core principles that have been put into our county code it’s called the maui county general plan the countywide policy plan which you know I bought it with me and I’ve been really impressed with this plan I’ve been you know I refer to it when I vote on the council

15:46

when I ran when he decided to run almost three years ago the for the first term on the council that one of my first ideas was why don’t we have a shared vision you know that’s what that’s the first thing we need to start with and when I started looking into doing my research about County Council issues realize we do have one we’ve had one since 2010 why don’t people know about this so is it available online it’s available online you know you can I don’t know but if it costs to get the printed car DUI

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it’s well this is the countywide policy plan part the maui county general plan okay and in it it describes our objectives you know our aspirations I’ve never seen the county council formulate around those goals and objectives so that’s one of the first things that I’ve brought to the council as chair is I actually proposed a set of committees that are formulated around these goals and it’s a hard thing for some of the old school people to wrap their heads around like why is the why is the committee that

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handles human concerns you know the nonprofit issues and the different organizations that we support as well as Parks and Rec why is it called healthy families and communities you know and I’ve you know I had someone say well you know that’s aspirational I said exactly it’s aspirational we should be aspiring to reach these goals and not just formulating our actions in our committees around supporting the departments that’s how you get business as usual and a lot of the reason why

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there has been a change voted in is because people want to see action they want to see things started happening around these goals and the vision so you know I was pretty open with this plan I started sharing it I worked with with a gentleman who used to work on the office of counsel services who is now back with us Dave Dave rots a lot of people in the community know respect he’s you know I know he’s a fantastic I don’t want to say addition because he was in in you know office of counsel services before I

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came in then they let him go for two years so the planning committee the planning department got to have him for two years but you know people like that who have been involved in the g-pack in the general plan and people in the community like dick Mayer and Lucien de neige and I like shared I share input yeah I assured my I shared this in this the framework for this with anybody who asked and people like dick Mayer took it to his community associations shared it and they gave input I took it to my

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Kihei community association and they gave input and I just and I took it to the Alliance for Community Association so this was shared broadly and people were able to valuable input I mean one of the things that that’s interesting about the original the original objectives in the community plan that goes a through K but there’s no objective specifically for agriculture for sustainable agriculture and I suspect that was because when they wrote this plan was just assume we were always gonna have pineapple and

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sugarcane you know nothing it was far enough back that if nobody had foreseen what was going to happen it would just you know the the demise of sugarcane the almost demise of pineapple before you know the folks country bought Maui gold label and the other thing that’s missing from here that we did not foresee back then is climate change and sea level rise and so those two things you know I’m gonna have a put a proposal to add those to the objectives because certainly why you want to look we want

19:27

to see diversified sustainable agriculture and we need climate change solutions we need an adaptation plan for sea level rise we need to start now I just was reading through a report that was came from the federal government not the federal government administration but site you know national scientists where they’re saying basically we have 12 years to get this right to turn things around wow that’s scary that’s very impactful Wow I uh I really didn’t want to put it on my Facebook page but I

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want to start looking at this report because it’s it’s scary you know we need to we need to we can’t just put up headlines without explaining it to people so we need to get involved in this that’s rows are two big issues but just the very format of being able to name our committees after these goals and understand that the council’s job is to set policy make sure there are goals towards those policies and then fund the actions that need us need to get us to those goals not just to turn

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around and say well you know the Planning Department has been getting X amount of dollars every year I guess we just give them the same with an increase we will I really want to see as the chair when we go through the budget session first of all I want to see a new a new process because this process of having meetings till midnight it’s not does not respect the public input but I wanted to see a process where the department’s do strategic planning they showed they share their goals and how they’re relevant to our

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community plan and then they show us what objectives are going to do in the tasks that are required to meet those goals and how many people and what what’s the what’s the you know what equipment do you need what you want to know what their plans yeah what’s your plan and then we’ll fund that plan you know and then we’ll keep progress on that plan and one of the things that people I’ve been doing strategic planning for 15 years with my company and my husband and I do and one of the

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things that I think it scares people in in government about setting high goals is if they can’t make them are they gonna get shot down are they gonna get criticized and I would tell you I think every nonprofit knows this I think every business knows this certainly every corporation knows as you set high goals you don’t always reach them but that old of the old saying of shoot the moon because maybe you’ll get halfway there right that’s what we want to strive for we want to strive for progress not just

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doing the same as we did last year and so you know I’ve been trying to assure people who work in our County government you’re not gonna if you just because you know if you if you set high goals that’s a very noble thing just because you don’t reach those high goals and there’s always things that happen they get in the way you know it’s like trying to get to LA and I’m I’m leaving myself an hour but I didn’t realize it was gonna be all this traffic or fire happens or

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something like that so we have that those kinds of things happen in in government in business there’s always there’s reasons why usually if you’re trying really hard and you’re following a process you know while you’re probably not meeting the high goals you said but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set them and strive for the best we’re not going to you know when when I was in the school system it was a huge discussion about the federal funds that were coming in and we were trying to create a state

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program that was based on merit so we were looking at schools and we were looking at grades and I went wait a minute if you you can’t just look at the schools that are you know where the majority of kids are getting A’s and B’s because they may have started that way they may have started from that baseline you got a look at a baseline and some of areas that are more challenged where there’s more at-risk kids and the families are dealing with other you know lower incomes or social issues things

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like that you have to look at the progress so you said you set a baseline you figure out where you’re at and you look at the progress that you make not you know the end goal necessarily so I think I think people want to try to do something people want to be inspired they want to hard for me to imagine maybe that that kind of thing wasn’t happening before I mean at the council how was it being run before like a business cut and dry like a hotel well when I when I came on to my first year

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in the council when we went through the budget session I was asking I was when we looked through the budget document the budget details I was asking a lot of questions from each department on their performance measures because to me they weren’t true performance measures they were just basically they weren’t goals they were setting a benchmark of where they thought they could be and sometimes it was lower than the year we were in and I said why would you why would you aspire to do less well that’s what we

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think we can do and so there’s this there’s sort of an attitude I think in our county government that they want to set a low bar so that they could reach it because they get criticized if they don’t reach that bar and that’s wrong you know we want to set high goals and then we if we can get further along than we were this year we should be happy with that we should understand the reasons that the things that are keeping you from actually reaching the goal if you reach the goal we should be giving

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you know wonderful accolades but I was actually told by our former managing director and our many people in the department you know you’re the first council member that’s actually questioned those performance measures and even though they were felt like they were kind of on the hot seat because I you know because I look at that I know this is not really a bonafide strategic goal they wanted they I think they want to do that they want to aspire to I mean everybody works in this County works

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hard for the county they want to see they want they want to be part of that change and they want to serve they just are you know they’re in a position where they’re getting they’re getting different guidance every four years and some from the council every two years and so they you know well what happens in two years when a different council comes in there’s a different direction so I get that that’s a symptom of our county government and that’s another thing I think I would like to see the County

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Council have four-year terms and have staggered terms so that you know every year your every election maybe you’re electing half of the council so you have experience that carries through to the next right and then if you set goals for for you at least you can set goals for four years or eight years and you know you want businesses can do that because you know they’re looking at they’re hoping they’re gonna be in business if for five to ten years but the government tends to look short to short term and

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what can I get done during my term so I can get reelected or so I can show that I’ve done something so I’m from a different mindset you know I’m look kind of looking a little bit farther along not too far I mean you if you set goals I know one thing that was said in the whole Dave Taylor Fiasco about letting him go was he’s not planning for long enough we need to plan for 50 or 100 years well that’s not practical you know technology changes so fast so our goals you know the company that my husband and

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I run is a renewable energy technology company so you can’t set goals for 20 years because in five years the technology is gonna be all different and that’s what happens throughout our different departments you also have you might have a different mindset you know that gets voted into office so you know I believe we should be doing five to 10 year goal setting in the county minimum but maximum we should be looking at probably 10 to 15 years because of you know and we’re gonna have a different

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we’re in 10 years are our geographic landscape is going to look very different I was dry when ever I Drive to Wailuku I go across north Kihei Road and I just think in 10 years this road is gonna be it’s already getting covered with water well you know maybe five years why is that building that new thing right there on the mallalieu was I mean that is that gonna be like the oceans gonna be their front door it is gonna be their front door that that’s been an ongoing project for I want to say 10 15 years we and at

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one point I think some of us in key he just thought well they gave up on it because they rely they’re too close to the ocean but then we just you know the blue they I don’t get it unless like I don’t know what they’re thinking there are permits that are out there that are probably going to be fought more some of them are will be followed up on and they won’t you know they’ll continue the construction it won’t make sense I don’t think we should be giving any new permits within the shoreline

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area for especially places like Kihei because you know I live at 25 foot elevation up off of a Hawkeye from South Kihei Road and I’m looking at the houses on South Kihei Road are probably going to be my reef might or something you know so we have to start thinking probably beyond the three-foot sea level rise that we’re being told in the report and I mean I’m working with some folks on the national level that advise the Navy the US Navy that work with the Pentagon that have some really who are

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telling us telling me that three feet is conservative you need to look six to 15 feet let me take a quick break I’m here with Kelly King on kak you the neutral zone we’re gonna take a sponsorship donator I don’t we can’t tow a commercial break can we but anyway but we’re gonna play some stuff thank you know going motors for being our sponsor here and we’ll come back and continue our conversation so hang on just a moment the neutral zone would be Jason Schwartz like to thank know promoters

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Maui car rentals for their support located at 181 dairy Road across from the fire station in Kailua they’ve served the Maui community for more than 30 years with services in used cars and automobile rentals find them online at Maui car rentals dotnet or at 877 3300 the neutral zone has heard mondays live at 11 a.m. and again on Saturdays at 7 a.m. on a aku 88.5 at that point you service directory is online at a youth comm we envision a Hawaii where all youth are connected to the support they need to walk upon a

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path towards health happiness and abundance 808 youth comm is a free easy-to-use online directory funded by the office of youth services if you’re looking for a family-friendly event check out our events calendar and connect with us on social media find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter Hawaii youth service directory is online at a o8 youth calm readmission ah Hawaii where all youth are connected to the support they need to walk a pono path towards health happiness and abundance 808 youth comm is a free easy-to-use

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online directory funded by the office of youth services if you’re looking for a family-friendly event check out our events calendar and connect with us on social media find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter preparing for death can change your life I’m Bodhi B join me on death tracks the show about wholehearted and sacred living and dying we will follow tracks make tracks and play musical tracks as we explore aging dying and death we’ll have interviews in time for Collins from our listeners join

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the conversation every Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. here on 88.5 FM Kak you the voice of Maui [Music] Maui youth now show focusing on youth culture today this weekly half-hour show it’s produced by and created for you taking the pulse of youth culture from an Iowan perspective watch local news current events fun challenges trending videos game reviews and learn about other youth in your community new episodes air on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. on Alpha 255 or catch us on Vimeo hi I’m Jason Schwartz host of the neutral zone

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KNK U is a listener-supported station this means that all the great programs you hear like mine is sponsored by you as well as our underwriters if you would like to help keep the voice of Maui loud and clear go to kak UF m dot org slash donate today and give and don’t miss them trolls on mondays at 11 a.m. on 88.5 FM the voice of Maui we are back I am here with Kelly King this is Jason Schwartz January 7th 2019 you know there was on more questions that came in Kelly I hope that you’re open to it I’m

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sure you are you mentioned I guess I can be heard David rats he’s a terrific guy and now he was it was voted now he’s that was where the questions came from I don’t want to sandwich them too close together but they’re all around the fact that Corporation Counsel has been you know the mayor’s thing and and there are all kinds of issues that they’ve supported and even though they know they’re wrong they’ve got to stand up for things and count the the council services felt they needed their own

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representation and I’m wondering what you and again I hope I’m not paraphrase it came from Sam small so I’m sure he’ll ask you some more but what do you see in the dynamic between different opinions and how his input relates to the other corporate counsel etc so his imp I his input that you’re talking about how do you intend to you him and how of that Oh for Dave for Dave David okay well first of all I just want to clarify that the corporate council is supposed to be representing the mayor’s

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office and the County Council sure so that they get vote they get approved appointed approved by by the mayor approved by the County Council but the only one who could fire them is the mayor and so what ends up happening you know from my perspective as a constituent and as a councilmember last year they really end up working for the mayor I mean you end up working for the person who could fire you if you don’t do a good job the the the charter amendment that passed not this last election but two years it

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passed the year that I got elected the first time was supposed to allow County Council members to a process to seek our own council if we did not agree with the opinions of Corp Council and we have some very good attorneys in office of council services I mean I think there’s nobody better than Dave watts actually because he’s not just not just as an attorney but so ethical you know he does not he will not he will not do anything that’s not ethical it doesn’t care who you are you know how much power you have

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over him and I spent two years the last two years every few months I asked our our you know head of our our supervising attorney and I think I probably asked our leadership on the council a couple of times when or what’s the process when are we going to be able to access our legal counsel if we choose to well that hasn’t been written yet and for two years that’s all I heard we have to write the rules and we don’t have any rules so that’s gonna be one of my first goals is to work that process out so

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that if we get an opinion or court counsel takes too long we can go to our own counsel at office of counsel services you can go outside you can seek you can’t see outside counsel if it takes six votes of the council to approve that because that costs money yeah obviously but we have some very good attorneys on staff really impressive people who think outside the box I mean one of the problems I’ve had I had in the beginning of my term and actually you know I would say pretty much two years it’s every time I wanted to do

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something different that was outside the box so that they hadn’t done before it was a real challenge and that’s the first thing I heard was well we don’t do things like that and I’d say why you know to meet and and I realized after the first couple of times I tried to do something different like the process of testimony I wanted to be able to have the department or if there was an outside agency do a presentation and then take testimony because we always take the testimony in the beginning of

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the meetings and sometimes people want to listen to what’s going on and then they’ll come in and go oh I didn’t realize you were doing this I was going to testify on this but maybe I’ll testify on that instead but I mean you can’t legally you can’t deliberate so you can have a presentation you can’t have counsel deliberate before testimony but you can certainly have a presentation like I did on climate change and then ask if anybody wants to testify after and I usually give the

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option of before or after someone wants to testify in the morning and then take off and go on with their day that you know we should make it as convenient as possible but there are people that will say I’d like to see what the presentation is first like where you you know try to figure out where you’re headed before I testify and one and when I the first time I pose that to council services I got a huge pushback and so I you know I met with my staff I you know everyone gets an attorney and a

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secretary assigned to you and I said you know when I propose to do something different you never asked me why I want to do it you just the first thing is like oh no we don’t do things that way and I said maybe if you knew why the reasons why then you would look for a way to help me get it done and this I mean these are these two women they were so great because it’s one of them just said you’re right we never asked you that we need to we should be talking about why you want to do the I said I’m

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not really here to make your life harder I’m not trying to challenge you you know your your system I’m trying to look for ways that we can make it easier for the public and we can honor the testifiers and so let’s work from that aspect of what why this is a good thing and maybe you’ll give me a reason why it’s not but we need to we need to talk about why it’s a good thing and okay if it’s a good thing let’s look for a way to get it and I hope that’s the kind of thing I

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see that is what you hoped it to counsel people themselves do to the public of why they’re voting the way they are right so that there’s more transparency maybe public transparency like that will get different kinds of decisions and votes and act I hope active interplay between the community and the council people to help give them yeah right absolutely and I think there’s some there’s already in the first you know week or the last past month in the first week yes I’ve been greater access an interaction between

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council members and our office of council services because when I came on two years ago I didn’t really know who these people were and I hadn’t spent a lot of time with them and so we’ve had a meet and greet we’ve had an orientation and the council members feel free to come down to the seventh floor and talk to people there is literally from what I felt the last two years just in the last week I just I walk around because the council of chairs offices on seventh floor and it just feels joyful it feels

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it feels like everybody’s excited to move forward and happy and you know part of it was that step increases that they had been waiting for since 26 2012 but there’s an attitude of can-do and an attitude of what can we do for you and I didn’t feel that way you know honestly the first year of my first term so I’m excited you know and it’s part of also I have a background in business and I know the importance of HR standards and you know human resource standards and how important it is to make a happy healthy

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workplace safe workplace in order for people to be productive well thank you for all that I appreciate I’m gonna take a look at these notes in that couple of questions but I’m gonna then I want to make sure I don’t forget the homelessness issue when I I don’t know how you came from up in Wailuku here but along Kamehameha having in between food land there and safely it’s just getting crazy like how we at a point where emergency status can do something whether it can be money in

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place well I hope so I mean when I because I you know I didn’t I wasn’t chair or vice chair of that committee in the last two years but I spent but I took the issue to my community because in South Maui there are no homeless resources facilities that exist there you know that any that any of us know but there were there are things that happen I mean certainly st. Theresa’s in the holiday cow cow there are those kinds of nonprofit efforts but as far as the Kahala aki ola i started working

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with monique Yamashita and put together a couple of meetings my first year in South Maui so we could have a community discussion about that because the first if you want to change a community the first thing you have to do is get people on board with the notion that this is our community this is our problem it’s not their problem it’s not my neighbor’s problem you know someone shows up at my back door I’m not going to just call the police and ask them to move them somewhere else let’s get to the root of

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the problem and find out why there are no resources can we create some resources can we look at folks compassionately as part of our community instead of stepping over them to get to the store and it was an amazing the first meeting we had we had about five homeless people there either who were either homeless there were a couple people who had had been homeless and came out and the discussion that we had or probably 40 people that were there the discussion that we my main goal of that first meeting was to was to get the

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community to start saying what can we do instead of what can you do or what can this story that’s the biggie I mean I want my government to support what I do I would think that we as a community of people can solve the problems and to the government says oh you’re doing that good idea let us help isn’t that better than saying to you please handle this whole problem so we what we did was we basically threw ideas up on a wall and the second meeting we had was to take those ideas and see which one those were

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long term which would which would involve funding which would involve salt county support which ones were volunteer efforts that we can start doing right now and so there’s a network right now it’s called a virtual home resource resource network or something where folks are calling each other or they the homeless folks can call them I mean some people are already doing this taking them to the laundromat or taking tanam to the grocery store the post office or doing their laundry you know helping them one

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of the fellows who was in our both those first two meetings and we created a volunteer working group out of this these meetings he lives has a business lives near some homeless people and he allows them to store their stuff in his garage and some of them sleep on his couch sometimes so there’s a lot of compassion people are a little bit impatient because they want stuff to happen right now which I’ve always found impatience is good because that that forces action so where we’re at right

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now we’re looking for we’ve got where it’s formulating a plan to do like a tiny home type of village where we could give people immediate you know very very low rental what it’s like for example the we have refugees put them in tents and we create different programs and bathrooms that’s what we’re trying to do we’re trying to do it in a more respectful way to the community because you know that’s one of the things that came out of those meetings we don’t want

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a tent city like they have all over wahoo you know this is Maui we want to do it differently we want to do it so that’s one track of there’s people working on that and some of them are developers and there’s another track another group of volunteer group that came out of this these meetings were working on a mobile hygiene unit so we’ve got the bulk of that funded I had a excellent conversation with lieutenant governor Josh green he’s going to help us fund that program out of his nonprofit and

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then we’ll have a vehicle that can go from place to place in in Kihei offer services showers private bathrooms plug in your cellphone for some reason every homeless person has a cell phone but those bringing people out of the shadows and forming those relationships so we can get services to them and we can understand the reasons for their there’s so many different reasons for homeless I was just gonna say you know there you can you say homeless and some people have two jobs and their home yeah yeah

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and so there’s there’s the and some people are looking for a job they came here with a job and they lost their job and so they lost their home so there’s you know there’s there’s mental health issues there’s drug issues and they’re there are services for these these problems but we have to find the people and we have to develop relationships from trust before homeless folks will actually access these these services out of those two meetings that we had publicly we actually were able to house

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two people because we were able to identify them and and they had jobs so so part of that’s part of the issue is you know how can and then we also have a hub if we can get this mobile hiding unit you know and we’ll we’ll let people know where it’s going to be when we’ll have a site for getting donations of clothing and toiletries and food and which we don’t have right now other than the churches and the and it’s not widely known where to drop off clothing if you want clothing to get to the homeless or

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who’s going to deliver it so pockets of you know there’s a group called Kihei Delta which had started working on some these homeless issues and they actually buy and distribute bus passes to homeless people so there’s pockets of all these and if we can consolidate into you know what do you need how can we help you you know make those distributions easier or you know just kind of a solidify around a site or even if it’s a if it’s a moving sight with and and kaholokula has Monique Yamashita

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has been fantastic about working with us on this really excited to get the community involved where are they based well Cahokia has homeless facilities in Wailuku and in West Maui you know where they actually have shelters and they actually have rentals but nothing is about the thing with Maude Cummings no no this is this is basically what we call the homeless shelter yes next is near the and there’s a site up in West Maui I bought nothing in South Maui what do we do about the tremendous I want to say

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that I know women who have told me they don’t go to these things because they feel incredibly unsafe and not able to deal with it and the stigmas that go and then it’s just like cat calls and I don’t know what to say that there is more facilities that have a little bit more feel safe or a parking lot that’s lit you can park your car at night and say you can stay here things are crazy though a lot of the homeless things could be I think you made by you know someone leaving their lights on and

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having a security person watch the perimeter there’s so much and that’s in really the security person is the key because I tried to in my first year tried to create and I was going to propose a County County legislation that would follow the the state legislation makes it illegal for folks to sleep in their cars on public property overnight but it also allows counties to make their own ordinances about that so I was looking into finding a site that where we could do this like you know the new

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park site which wasn’t open yet where the gym is gonna be in Kihei and it looked like a fairly easy thing until I was told by the parks director well you know I’ll do it but you have to have 24/7 supervision well we didn’t have funding to have 24/7 supervision so that fell through but that’s the big issue that’s the funding issue is like somebody has to be there to mitigate potential problems make sure people aren’t building fires and cooking you know that’s supposed to be just for

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sleeping now there is one of the homeless gentleman who came to both of our first meetings that I’ve been in touch with and he’s actually secretly gotten a job with one of the you know with I think it’s diamond parking and it allowed to let homeless people and I I’m saying this very cautiously because I don’t want him to get in trouble for this because it’s it’s such a beautiful thing we’ll sleep overnight no partying no cooking no showering I mean there’s a bathroom across the street at the part

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but just a place to sleep yeah just a place to sleep well you’re not going to be bothered and then they’re out by 8 a.m. in the morning and so I want to talk to him and he’s worried that you know health department someone’s gonna come in and shut him down that’s why I didn’t put anything on Facebook about it but it was such a beautiful thing to see that effort being made I know a guy next to the Salvation Army in Kihei had 28 sleeping boxes for people and the only reason that broke down is because people

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get irresponsible start to party break it all up and set the neighbors but you know but so much could be done and such yeah and it’s gonna take all of us is gonna be taken well it’s the compassion of people who have been there or maybe even are there and those of us who maybe have never been there but we know people have been there and people who care about the community and want to want to see this as see these people as part of our community I want to make a shout out on homelessness in different neighboring

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islands here Molokai has I have personal reason to subsea it is inadequate and needs some real help real solutions I didn’t want them you know burden kyani specifically I just want to mention it as you’re getting things don’t forget Molokai please well okay and it is in it and you know one person can only do so much and that’s why it really is up to I think that’s one of the values of having districts council members you know on Kauai the the system over there they have seven council members on Kauai and

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they in the primary you just they don’t have to be any from any specific districts and the primary you just vote for seven of them and then the top 14 go to the general you vote for seven in the top seven get it and there could be three from one town sure but we need to start we need to actually start you know quantifying where these issues are and what can be done about them and so that’s the value of having the representation because I can focus on key a and what is it isn’t gonna be done

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in Kihei but I can’t do every other of you know eight communities that we have represented and just because you’re not chairing a community doesn’t mean you’re you’re you wash your hands of an issue of course so all of these issues are all of our issues and that’s the daunting thing about being on the County Council when I was on the board of education it was the school system and it was education it was all the way you know K through 12 but we also interacted with the you H Board of Regents but it was

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education and when you got on the county council its its water and its infrastructure and it’s affordable housing and it’s ocean pollution we’re losing our reefs I mean they’re just the the issues are and you are generally generally you’re very aware of these things some of these people coming on council appear to I mean not now have appeared to just not know sort of trunk-like creatures I do feel like we have a Council of people who understand the issues we don’t all know all the

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solutions for all the issues but I think we know enough people in the community I always say you know you don’t if you’re mayor if you’re a council member you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room you don’t have to know everything about every issue but you have to know who the people are to listen to and to bring into the conversation who are the experts and I think that’s one of the thing about the new council coming in is I think there’s so much hands-on that’s been done with

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these folks in the community that we know who the experts are who you know I’ve had people proposing a tiered property tax system and these are tax attorneys who have worked on this in other areas so things that you know I may not know how to do that I’m not an accountant I’m not an attorney but I sure sure do know a lot of really good accountants and attorneys who are willing to help make this a better County I think that’s listening to bringing that collective intelligence is what’s

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really needed I don’t want to skip these questions on them the corporate counsel thing just because I know they’re you know we’re talking about good things and I don’t have any but anything but good things and what we’re talking and things positive but the concerns were one Sam keeps bringing up about the corporate counsel and issues and how it’s going to affect are you gonna find having David rats what’s that gonna do for you guys and how car you going to use that is it somehow additional to

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corporate councils work or what are you well I’m hoping that you know just in general will be able to work we’re gonna create a process for when you would write because it had nothing’s been done on it for two years but you know for instance if you if I put in an ordinance and I hand that off to you know I write it with office of counsel services it has to be reviewed by core pencil for legality one comes to you so it has to be yeah you know and if it takes too long and I’m not getting it

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back in a week you know I would like to be able to go to our legal counsel and say can you review it if I get a review back that says you know this one line I think we think is unconstitutional I would like to be able to go to our our counsel our legal counsel and OCS and say do you agree with that and if they say no this is perfectly constitutional and then it would be my decision of which opinion to use so those are the that’s the flexibility that the council needs well you said you had a lot of

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attorneys in the group there you mean in corporate no I’m just saying Oh in we have we have very good we have Dave is the supervising attorney so he supervises the attorneys in office of counsel so it’s more than an individual it’s a team of attorneys right right and okay you know I know a lot of attorneys on the island that I talked to you regularly as well so I’m not working in a vacuum I got you I’m just wondering cuz I sometimes it gets to be issues of why is this one defending and it’s

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you’re on different sides of issues and you’re all in the same government how is it giving you what you need so you have a strong system of help that’s built right into your view right and we haven’t had we’ve had we’ve been working for the last I don’t know six or eight months with some four or five openings and I’ve been working really hard with our director of office of counsel services to fill those openings so that we were we’re starting this term with a full

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slate of assistance you know of support from that office we have about a minute left you know we could talk I can see that hopefully we’ll have you back and anyone and everyone that’s on counsel and all services we hope to be an open door to a voice where you know at the voice of Maui here and but me you know I want to be able to leave an open door to talk about issues without a stick no matter what they are make it a better place yeah thank you I appreciate that and if I can just close by saying you

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know I am very open to meeting with people in the community and I’ve been really good about that except for the few people that have come into my office shouting at my staff but I mean I think it needs to be a very civil and open discussion whenever you whenever you talk with the community but I do want to I one of the things I want to just say on this program is I’m not I don’t ii okay i don’t legislate on facebook so I might put information on there sometimes and I might respond every once in a

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while to somebody else’s Facebook page but I’m not intending to get into deep conversations there so if folks want to talk to me about an issue and are willing to come in and have a civil discussion call my office I’m there for you Kelly King our wonderful guest chairman of the County Council here on Maui I’m Jason Schwartz we hope to see you again check us out on Facebook and our web page and see this again we love you Aloha [Music]