2012 vision: Council, mayor reflect on old, new year

LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council had a busy 2011, dealing with comprehensive bills spanning months at several meetings. The administration planned and completed several capital improvement projects.

As the new year was about to begin, council members and Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. reflected on achievements and challenges of the old year and looked ahead to 2012.

Carvalho said an “overwhelmingly positive response” to the administration’s Holo Holo 2020 vision has been rewarding.

“I’ve presented it to literally thousands of residents, and I am so encouraged at the willingness to jump on board and make these projects happen,” he said.

Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura said learning to work together, despite disagreements, was the most positive achievement by the council in 2011 .

“We respect each other and show that respect even when we disagree, sometimes quite deeply,” she said. “This is due to the leadership of our Chair (Jay Furfaro) and to the graciousness and effort of every council member.”

Councilman KipuKai Kuali‘i said the council member’s ability to work together was “possibly the most effective” in a long time.

“Some have even attributed that to the positive energy, authenticity, calm and dedication that I bring to the council,” said Kuali‘i, who was appointed to the council after former Councilman Derek Kawakami left the council early in 2011 to become a state Representative.

Kuali‘i said the most positive achievement by the council in 2011 was “probably the expedient and smooth transition in replacing Council member Kawakami’s vacancy, as well as the extraordinary support provided to me by the chair, council members, clerk and entire council services staff, making it possible for me to jump right in during the intense budget deliberations.”

Councilman Mel Rapozo said passage of the administration’s real property tax reform bills was the most positive achievement for the council.

“I am hopeful that once implemented, the property tax structure for our resident homeowners will be much more fair and equitable,” Rapozo said. “This reform was long overdue, and I think that the cooperation between the administration and the County Council produced a very positive outcome.”

Councilman Dickie Chang said passage of the county’s operating and capital improvement budgets provided funding for many necessary programs and services for the community.

Frustrations

“Projects never seem to move as quickly as you want them to,” Carvalho said. “But we did move forward on siting our adolescent drug treatment center and the new landfill and resource recovery park, and on our master plan for the 75-acre ‘green’ affordable housing development in ‘Ele‘ele.”

Yukimura’s main frustration in 2011 was a 2009 pay raise to County Clerk Peter Nakamura, which she said was never dealt with.

“That‘s important to me because that‘s part of setting high standards for proper process, and it will affect taxpayers into the future,” she said.

Nakamura recently left the position, in which he made a higher salary than the mayor, to join the county Planning Department as a senior planner, where he now collects a smaller paycheck.

“The recent Salary Commission resolution, submitted after the charter-mandated deadline of March 15, was very frustrating,” Rapozo said. “In my opinion, the integrity of the charter was compromised.”

Rapozo said this action will set a bad precedent for the council. Kuali‘i, on the same page as Rapozo, said reconsideration of the council’s rejection of the resolution was a setback.

“The frustration is that at the administration’s prodding, specifically by the county attorney’s office, the council was manipulated into changing its decision primarily to allow the mayor to forego his salary increase, which, in my opinion, he could have done in another manner that would not have asked the Salary Commission and the council to disregard the clear language of the charter,” Kuali‘i said.

Rapozo and Kuali‘i filed a civil lawsuit against some of the other council members, seeking a declaratory judgment.

“The county attorney’s office decided to challenge our standing in court rather than allowing the court to rule on the process,” Rapozo said. “We will never get a final decision on whether “shall” is mandatory when used in the charter.”

Chang’s “greatest frustration” is that the budget is never large enough to provide all services, programs and projects that the community requests, he said.

Relationships

Kuali‘i said he doesn’t believe communications between Kaua‘i’s administrative and legislative bodies is clear and direct.

The current established protocol doesn’t allow direct contact between individual council members and administration staff members, including department heads, he said. Getting responses from the administration takes a long time, and sometimes the responses don’t come at all, he said.

Rapozo thinks communications “could be better,” and is also concerned with lack of responses from the administration to requests by the council. But Rapozo added that he is hopeful the relationship will improve.

Yukimura said the relationship is not perfect, but has been improving due to efforts on both sides.

Carvalho said that, for the most part, both sides find agreement on the more critical issues.

“I feel the relationship is open and productive, and we intend to keep it that way,” he said. “There are disagreements and disconnects along the way, but the most important thing is to keep trying to improve communication.”

Chang said the relationship is productive

“I believe that we have developed a mutual respect for each other, and have gotten to a point where we agree to disagree,” he said. “The ‘check and balance’ system exists between the council and the administration.”

Challenges

Carvalho said making progress with the teen drug treatment center, the ‘Ele‘ele housing project, the new landfill and increased recycling will be among the administration’s greater achievements this year.

Yukimura said setting clear goals, budgeting them and legislating them would be the council’s greatest achievement in 2012. She cited the need for a long-range transportation plan that includes planning and funding for the Kaua‘i Bus.

Kuali‘i said the council’s greatest achievement for 2012 has already begun.

“It’s comprehensive real property tax reform,” he said.

Rapozo talked about passing a “realistic” budget to keep the county’s spending on track and to hold departments accountable for their spending.

“I did not support last year’s budget because I felt that we were spending too much money,” he said. “We must not continue the practice of budgeting excessively, creating multi-million dollar surpluses.”

Chang wants to focus on creating jobs and supporting economic development programs and initiatives.

Balancing the budget and providing needed services in the face of declining revenues have been the biggest challenges of the past three years, Carvalho said. “I don’t see that changing for fiscal year 2013,” he added.

For Kuali‘i, next year’s greatest achievement for the council — tax reform — could also prove its greatest challenge, along with passing a leaner, more efficient budget.

Yukimura said the council’s main challenge in 2012 will be “working with the administration to set our solid waste and housing ‘houses’ in order.”

She also said the county parks need more planning and maintenance.

Chang said producing a balanced budget that reflects the community’s needs while finding ways to keep residents employed will be the council’s greatest challenges.

Rapozo said balancing the budget and forcing the administration to be fiscally responsible will be challenging.

Legislation

The island needs more incentives for farmers and a real property tax reform,  Rapozo said.

Kuali‘i said the council needs to pass proposed Property Assessed Clean Energy legislation to provide a county-based mechanism for individuals to finance renewable energy improvements.

Yukimura said the council “desperately” needs to update comprehensive zoning ordinances to reflect “smart growth” principles and provide incentives for sustainable land use and building, while at the same time take action to discourage unsustainable land practices and uses.

“We need an agriculture subdivision ordinance that actually protects important agricultural lands, promotes local food growing and makes wise allocations for food and energy needs,” she said. “We need a housing ordinance that ensures affordable housing in perpetuity in areas close to jobs, including visitor destination areas.”

Chang said the island would “greatly benefit” from a bill that would protect the county’s share of the Transient Accommodation Tax, and possibly increase that tax.

Carvalho said Kaua‘i needs to protect its share of the tax, which will be a priority for the administration in the state Legislature.

More staffing

Carvalho said the administration has been able to restore many vacant and dollar-funded positions.

“Having adequate staffing resources in our parks and recreational facilities so we can enhance users’ experiences is high on my list of priorities,” he said. “Closing the gap on vacancies for the Kaua‘i Police Department is also a concern, but not easy to address.”

Other staffing initiatives, Carvalho said, include increased training opportunities and upgrading skills for existing staff.

“Until the economy improves, we will need to continue to do the best with what we have,” the mayor said.

Kuali‘i said the administration needs code enforcement personnel to protect the island’s resources.

“We have seen very little success in the way of enforcement,” Kuali“i said. “Adequate funding must be allocated to the enforcement branches of the county, so that our laws can be properly enforced and to deter potential violators.”

Yukimura said the administration needs to find or cultivate outstanding managers for key areas of responsibility, and “the rest will fall in place.”  She also said the administration needs a fully staffed and trained human resources department.

Carvalho said a task force was created in 2011 to study the conversion of the county’s personnel department into a full-fledged human resources operation.

“That effort has been very fruitful, and we plan to implement the recommendations in fiscal year 2013,” he said. “The new organization will require little, if any new funding, but will better serve all agencies in their collective bargaining, recruitment, training and other human resource needs.”

New facilities

Carvalho said a new solid waste management facility, including a landfill and resource recovery park, is absolutely critical.

“An adolescent drug treatment center is also at the top of my list, along with expanded facilities and services for veterans,” he said. “Our master plan for parks should be complete in 2012, and we will begin to expand and enhance facilities based on the final product.”

Carvalho also said restoration of cultural sites such as Kaneiolouma Heiau in Po‘ipu is important.

Rapozo said he is not happy with the condition of many county parks.

“We definitely need to improve the maintenance standards of our facilities,” he said. “I do not agree with the philosophy of increasing parks and facilities until we have the resources to properly maintain them.”

Kuali‘i said the county needs to improve the maintenance of all its park facilities and neighborhood centers.

“Good planning” is what the administration needs regarding county facilities, Yukimura said.

Yukimura, Kuali‘i, Chang and Rapozo said they will run for office again at the end of the year. Council Chair Jay Furfaro and council members Nadine Nakamura and Tim Bynum were not able to respond by press time.

Carvalho’s term will be up at the end of 2014.

• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.