Council close to appointing East Maui water board
Former mayor, Mahi Pono official, East Maui farmers and advocates in running
A previous mayor, a former Mahi Pono official, kalo farmers, lineal descendants of East Maui and experts in water and irrigation are all vying for seats on a newly created 11-member community board that will help guide policy for East Maui water use.
Among the 19 applicants that the Maui County Council’s Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee will take a final look at during its meeting on Monday are former Mayor Alan Arakawa; Darren Strand, a former vice president of businesses development at Mahi Pono; and Lurlyn Scott, an East Maui kalo farmer who has long advocated in court for more stream flow.
Committee Chairman Shane Sinenci said vetting of candidates for the East Maui Regional Community Board is mostly finished, and on Monday the committee members will discuss which candidates they prefer.
Sinenci said decision-making on the appointment of the board members will come at Friday’s full council meeting.
By charter, board members will need to be in place by July 1, Sinenci said. The council appoints seven members and the mayor appoints four. Terms are staggered and the board will focus on the Nahiku, Keanae, Honomanu and Huelo license areas. Each licensed area is to be represented by at least two board members.
In a May 2 correspondence to Sinenci, Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. named his appointees to the board and their assigned license areas. They are Kyle Nakanelua, Keanae; Moses Kahiamoe Jr., Nahiku; Hugh Starr, Honomanu; and Lester Wong, Huelo.
The East Maui Regional Community Board is key, as it will appoint a director and set policies for a new East Maui Community Water Authority, which is responsible for a long-range watershed management plan for the area.
The new board was created by a charter amendment that voters approved in the Nov. 8 election.
Sinenci proposed the amendment amid community concerns over private companies continuing to control water use in the East Maui area.
For decades, private company East Maui Irrigation diverted streams to Central Maui for growing sugar cane. While Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. is no longer in business, EMI continues to divert water for farming in Central Maui. It also continues to provide water from the East Maui watershed to the county for Upcountry domestic and agricultural consumers.
Over the years, courts and the state’s Commission on Water Resource Management have ordered the return of more water in the streams.
Alexander & Baldwin, parent company of HC&S, co-owns EMI with Mahi Pono, the company that bought 41,000 acres of former HC&S lands in 2018.
The amendment and creation of a water authority is aimed at giving East Maui community members a say in how the water is used and potentially look into the feasibility of acquiring long-term water leases in the area.
At a committee meeting on Tuesday, Arakawa was asked about his support for the charter amendment and said he still has “reservations” about it. Last year while the council was debating the amendment, he told council members that the state water commission
and state Department of Land and Natural Resources have much of the control over the water and stream flows, noting that even with the established board and water authority, “there is no guarantee” the state would grant the county water leases that the authority may seek out.
But on the other hand, Arakawa said Tuesday that he always wanted the county to acquire the water systems.
Strand said he voted against the charter amendment on the ballot, as he felt at the time that there was a process in place with the state.
“I don’t know if today, I would vote differently,” he said. “I probably would.”
In addition to the four licensed areas in East Maui, the board must also include a member engaged in ranching, farming, aquaculture or loko ia in the Upcountry water system service area; a resident in the Upcountry water system service area; and a representative of the Hawaiian Homes Commission.
On March 21, Ikaika Anderson, the governor’s then-appointee to lead the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, nominated Jonathan Likeke Scheuer as the representative. In a letter to Sinenci, Anderson called Scheuer a “well-trusted consultant” for the department on water policy matters. Scheuer also previously chaired the state Land Use Commission.
But on June 12, Kali Watson — who was later confirmed by the Legislature to lead DHHL after state senators rejected Anderson’s appointment and he withdrew his nomination — sent a letter to Sinenci saying DHHL had reconsidered its initial recommendation and is now recommending Dwight Burns as the DHHL representative.
Burns is Native Hawaiian with East Maui kalo farmer family roots and is also the Maui island representative for the Operating Engineers Hawaii Stabilization Fund.
The letter did not give an explanation for the change.
Other applicants who will be up for consideration before the committee on Monday are Moses Bergau Jr., John Blumer-Buell, Alicia Hueu, Jerome Kekiwi Jr., Jesse Nakooka, Harry Hueu Jr., Janet Redo, Norman “Bush” Martin Jr., Antoinette “Lucienne” de Naie, Christopher Shuler, Jennie Kaahui, Robert McGrath, Brendan Balthazar, William Greenleaf, Mario Gaggero and Francis Quitazol.
To view the full agenda and instructions on how to testify or view Monday’s meeting, visit mauicounty. us/agendas.