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
