For the first time in 41 years, when Mayor Maryanne Kusaka wakes up on the morning of Monday, Dec. 2, she’ll have no job to report to. Technically, she’ll be the mayor for half of that day, until County Councilmember
For the first time in 41 years, when Mayor Maryanne Kusaka wakes up on the morning of Monday, Dec. 2, she’ll have no job to report to.
Technically, she’ll be the mayor for half of that day, until County Councilmember Bryan Baptiste is sworn in as the new mayor at high noon at the convention hall.
During this her final full week as mayor of the County of Kauai, Kusaka talked about what it might feel like to wake up one morning and no longer be mayor.
“I’ve been so busy packing,” working each weekend to sort through eight years of mayoral life to decide what to take home, what to file, and what to pass onto Baptiste, she said this week.
“I think Monday morning, when I wake up and I don’t have to go to work,” it may sink in that she is no longer mayor, she said.
“I mean, I won’t feel guilty about not going to work. For 41 years I’ve gotten up and gone to work,” said Kusaka, a former school teacher and administrative assistant to late former Mayor Tony Kunimura.
“Well, we’ll see how that feels,” she said of waking up as citizen Kusaka. “That might feel pretty good, actually. I don’t know. We’ll see,” she said.
