Kaipo Asing was selected Wednesday to serve another term as chairman of the Kaua‘i County Council. Asing vowed to tackle key issues confronting the county, including real property tax reform, solid waste management and development of affordable housing. Asing emphasized
Kaipo Asing was selected Wednesday to serve another term as chairman of the Kaua‘i County Council.
Asing vowed to tackle key issues confronting the county, including real property tax reform, solid waste management and development of affordable housing.
Asing emphasized his commitment to find solutions for those issues and others during an inaugural ceremony for the Council and for new Kaua‘i County Prosecutor Craig De Costa.
The event was held at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall.
De Costa said as he enters his team as prosecutor he is ready to work with the community and the Kaua‘i Police Department to help in keeping the county safe from crime.
More than 250 people attended the ceremony, including many family members and friends of the office holders.
The swearing in was done by Fifth Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka.
Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, a former Kaua‘i County prosecutor, is the only new member of the seven-member council. She took a council seat after beating incumbent councilmember Joe Munechika in the General Election held November 2. Also sworn into office Wednesday were: Councilman James Kunane Tokioka, who was selected to serve another two years as the vice-chairman of the council, and council incumbents Daryl Kaneshiro, JoAnn Yukimura, Mel Rapozo and Jay Furfaro.
Asing said he would recommend the council consider implementing a moratorium for any new resort development for the next two years.
The aim is to get a better handle on rapid growth on Kaua‘i, Asing said after the ceremony.
Asing also said it was clear to him the county will be challenged by five key issues:
- Real property tax reform. Now that the county’s Real Property Tax Task Force has completed its recommendations for a major overhaul of the county’s tax system, the council will review the recommendations to “complete permanent and real property tax reform.” Asing said from a prepared speech.
“We will continue this process in light of the recent charter amendment that is moving through the legal process,” he said.
County leaders contend the Ohana Kauai tax relief measure illegally takes taxing powers away from Kaua‘i County, and have filed a lawsuit to have the measure declared unconstitutional and void.
Proponents of the Ohana Kauai measure have emphasized that voters approved the measure in the Nov. 2 General Election and that the tax-cutting measure should stand.
Asing said the council and Mayor Bryan Baptiste have not stood idle in the face of mounting public complaints over spiraling property assessments and tax bills.
“We have initiated and passed an extension of the circuit breaker tax credit and expanded tax exemption benefits to properties with multiple dwelling units and to long-term, affordable rental housing units,” Asing said.
The council also is poised to amend an agricultural dedication law to help farmers, Asing said.
Through tax relief measures, county residents saw $5.5 million knocked off their tax bills for this fiscal year, Asing said.
The tax relief measures that are in place now serve a purpose, and some are temporary in nature, he said.
However, the council is looking to fashion permanent tax relief measures soon, Asing said.
- Development of affordable housing.
The council has approved rezoning conditions that require Kukui‘Ula Development Co. Hawaii to build 75 units for employees and county employees, Asing said.
The council also has adopted a policy resolution to acquire lands to build affordable housing units, Asing added.
In the next two years, the council plans to build out the balance of the county’s Kalepa Village affordable housing project in Hanama‘ulu, Asing said.
- Drug war. The council is committed to working with federal, state and local agencies to support “community-based” substance abuse program to help fight the war on illegal drug use on Kaua‘i.
Asing said it was his belief the council’s help will “ensure that our community remains a safe place to work, live and raise our families.”
- Solid waste management. In addition to accelerating the process to select a new landfill site, the council will continue to move ahead with solid waste management strategies.
They would include new reduction and solid waste diversion polices, he said.
Asing also urged the county administration to complete the county’s integrated solid waste management plan update.
- Development. The quality of future development has always been an issue that has generated “great concern in our community,” he said.
“How much more can we grow?” Asing asked. “How much is too much?”
To that end, Asing said the moratorium on new resort zoning may help answer those questions.
Asing said other folks have raised concerns over whether there are enough soccer fields or swimming pools, concerns over traffic congestion and concerns about the possible need to hire more police officers or the installation of speed humps in neighborhoods to slow speeding vehicles.
Answers can be found for all these issues, Asing indicated, but the solutions carry a price tag.
Asing said that “while there is a need to provide tax relief, we also need to provide more and better services to our community.”
Asing said he and the council plan to work with the county administration to “set priorities within available funds to provide the best service and quality of life for our community.”
De Costa, meanwhile, said his team of attorneys is ready to take the fight to crime, and to stem the spreading use of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, on Kaua‘i.
De Costa talked about his priorities:
- He said his attorneys will work to help “keep the community safe.”
De Costa said six deputy prosecuting attorneys are in place now, and that he hopes to have another four prosecutors on the job by the end of December 2005.
Richard Minatoya, a former member of the county council and a practicing attorney, will join his team soon, De Costa said.
- He said some youths need to be taught how to respect the rights of others, and this can be done by putting them in programs and “getting them the help they need.”
- He said a prosecutor will be assigned to handle vehicular crimes to try to “reduce serious injuries and fatalities” on island roads.
He said prosecutors, community residents and the Kaua‘i Police Department have to work together to fight crime. “Without the open communication, with regards to integrity, nothing really can be accomplished,” he said.
De Costa served as the top deputy prosecutor under retiring county prosecutor Michael Soong.
De Costa said he grew up in the Pakala Camp in Makaweli in West Kaua‘i and that he is the first of his family to attain a four-year college degree.
De Costa said four things have helped shape his life: Importance of family, respect for others, the value of hard work and the value of personal integrity.
De Costa also said his family and friends and people he has encountered in his life, some by chance, have helped to forge the person he is today, and he is grateful.
De Costa, who was accompanied to the ceremony by his mother, Bertha, said his mother’s influence has helped him all his life. “Things just came into place because of what my mom taught me,” he said.
Through a council resolution, the council re-appointed Kaua‘i County Clerk Peter Nakamura to serve another two years. Nakamura, in turn, re-appointed Deputy County Clerk Ernest Pasion to continue in his post.
In moving performances during the inaugural ceremony, Kumu Hula Maka Herrod of Na Hui O Kamakaokalani led the chant ahead of a color guard from the JROTC program at Kapa‘a High School; the Kauai Filipino Chamber of Commerce Chorale sang the national anthem and Hawaii Pono‘i; Office of Economic Development tourism specialist Nalani Brun sang Hawai‘i Aloha and Louis Jacintho Jr. sang “God Bless America.”
The ceremony took place on a stage punctuated with white poinsettia plants set against a backdrop of a profusion of draping palm fronds.
Among the dignitaries who attended the ceremony were Baptiste, State Sen. Gary Hooser, State Rep. Ezra Kanoho, Kaua‘i Police Chief K.C. Lum and Kaua‘i Deputy Police Chief Ron Venneman, Beth Tokioka, who heads the county Office of Economic Development, Lynn McCrory, a member of the Kaua‘i Water Board, and Tom Batey, a cabinet member in the administration of Yukimura when she served as mayor, and his wife, Shirley, and former Councilwoman Maxine Correa.
Also in attendance was Alejandro Lomosad, who served as fire chief during Yukimura’s run as mayor from 1988 to 1994.
Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
