Council could not please everyone

It was a long year for the Kaua`i County Council, and for much of it the

members were under fire from a small group of critics.

One of the big

issues was Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s proposal to raise her own salary $7,000,

raise Prosecuting Attorney Mike Soong’s salary in a similar fashion, and float

raises for Kusaka’s administrative assistant, Wally Rezentes Sr., and all the

county’s non-unionized, unelected department heads and deputy heads.

The

proposal which emanated from the Salary Commission started a firestorm of

criticism. Kusaka tried to defuse critics toward the end of the eight-month

process by offering to take herself out of the mix if that’s what it took to

get her people more money. Department heads hadn’t had a raise in five

years.

But the closing of Amfac Sugar Kaua’i was the last nail in the

salary hike coffin. The measure drowned in council committee

discussion.

The council also finally approved a revised Chapter 7 for the

General Plan update, an advisory document that many activists claimed favored

developers at the island’s expense.

The council, which according to veteran

political observers got along together better than it had in other years — in

part thanks to “visioning” sessions in which council members met and talked

unofficially about county issues — saw the placid seas roiled on election day

when Bill “Kaipo” Asing ousted incumbent Billy K. Swain. Although no one is

saying publicly, the perception of some critics that there was too much

agreement on the council, combined with the strongly partisan Democrat Asing’s

return to the office he’d vacated for an unsuccessful run for mayor, spells the

end of visioning, for now at least.

In 2001, the Kaua`i Electric ownership

question, and solid waste — Expand the current facilities, or build new ones?

— are two major issues for the council.

— Staff writer Dennis

Wilken