Race for open council seat down to Cook and Knox
The two were split by fewer than 2,000 votes in the primary
Even as a political novice, environmental scientist Robin Knox says she knows how to formulate policy and is “very adept” at taking information and “drilling down to the essence” of it.
This, she feels, can help in her quest to take the Maui County Council’s South Maui residency seat.
Knox, who moved to Maui 16 years ago from Louisiana, where she spent time with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, is now the sole owner of Water Quality Consulting on Maui.
While her opponent, semi-retired contractor Tom Cook, is himself a political novice, he says he too has qualities that are important to the council seat, including his 50 years on the island and experience as an employee, employer and volunteer for local nonprofits and organizations.
“I have a lot to contribute,” said the 67-year-old Kihei resident, who grew up in Pakukalo.
Knox and Cook were the top two vote-getters out of three in the primary race for the Maui County Council’s South Maui residency seat, which will be vacant next year following current Council Member Kelly King’s unsuccessful run for mayor.
Knox
The 65-year-old Knox, who lives in Kihei, said she is running to put more of a focus on local interests.
“I am concerned about the quality of life for Maui County residents,” she said. “And I think many decisions
in the past have been made more to favor off-island interest more than local interest. That’s why I have my campaign slogan … local priorities, local solutions.”
Knox sees ways to improve local quality of life by following the county affordable housing plan, which calls for using the Affordable Housing Fund to pay back bonds for housing. She also supports using
county-owned land for affordable housing.
Environmental quality is another issue she’d work on.
“We don’t have much quality of life if we don’t have a clean environment and plenty of water and locally grown food. So I do support the idea of the water authority, getting local control over our water, so that we can assure we have enough water to develop housing and to grow local food,” she said.
She also supports addressing climate change impacts, a managed retreat fund and increasing capacity to reuse treated wastewater and help residents replace cesspools.
As for the funding to fulfill these goals, Knox said, “I would support the county pursuing grants for infrastructure for water, wastewater and water reuse” from the federal government.
Diversifying the economy is also top of mind for Knox, who hopes more local residents can get higher-paying remote work jobs. She envisions setting up “incubators” that would provide experience and knowledge for residents to get those jobs.
For the recent floods that have hit South Maui, Knox said the county could save money by funding the already established South Maui watershed plans.
She pointed to the county’s $133 million Kihei Master Drainage Plan, which includes increasing the size of culverts along South Kihei Road, raising roads via bridges or raising properties and other proposals.
“That money would be better spent putting conservation measures in place mauka of the
Piilani Highway from keeping that mud from coming down in the first place,” Knox said.
She suggested basins mauka to help trap sediment and let water filter back into the aquifer as well as adjusting grazing practices.
Knox is up against Cook’s well-funded campaign — the latest campaign spending reports show Cook brought in $36,928.24 from Aug. 14 to Sept. 26, the most among Maui County Council candidates. He had $26,223.33 leftover at the end of the period.
Knox brought in $11,605.01 and had $501.41 left at the end of the period.
As for how she thinks funding disparity will impact the race, Knox said: “Unfortunately you have to have name recognition. We talked issues and most voters I talked to are thoughtful and do all their research, but there is so many voters that don’t have the time or the interest and … if they don’t leave it blank they are going to just check the name they recognize.”
Cook
As a candidate, Cook sees water and affordable housing as top priorities, but more so water.
He said there could be more housing if there were more water sources with the county developing source, storage and transmission. This could be done by drilling wells, which could help alleviate dependency on the highly used Iao aquifer.
“We have multiple avenues to develop responsibly, develop our groundwater resources,” Cook said.
Cook is not an advocate of private wells and feels the system should be run by the county.
When asked how this goal could become reality, Cook said the council needs to work with the state Legislature and the administration, along with environmental and cultural groups.
The council will listen to input from the stakeholders, but also would need “to drive forward,” the message that “water development does not equate overdevelopment.”
“For too long water has been used as a check valve for development and it’s hurting all of us locals. It’s killing us,” he said. “Rich people can drill a well and build houses. It’s not stopping development, it’s just stopping locals get into housing that is obtainable.”
Cook said he would advocate for the county to help put in the infrastructure for affordable housing projects, but maybe with conditions on sale limitations.
As for the floods that have been plaguing Kihei, Cook called for “doing major flood control mauka” and working with landowners. He said this will not involve just a “little retention basin” but one that captures all the water and allows it to go back into the aquifer.
The top soil mauka — which he called “ono Kula soil” — could be harvested instead of it running down to South Maui.
The flood control project could also lead to other projects. For example, rock recovered while working on the flood control could be processed on-site and used for a “mauka road” above Piilani Highway. The road could alleviate traffic on Piilani and could be built “for less money” if done in conjunction with the flood control.
As for his large campaign funds, Cook said: “I don’t feel a need to make any excuses or explanations for my campaign contributions. The fact that the unions, both public and private and large companies and small companies feel that my experience and my time in the island will enable me to be a good legislator.”
Cook said that in his unsuccessful bid for the seat in 2020, he also acquired more than a dozen endorsements, including from unions.
“I never made a promise to anybody. No one expects me to do something,” he said. “What they are expecting and what I feel compelled to do for the support is to improve our governance.”