Sugimura named council vice chairperson, Kama takes pro tempore role
Yuki Lei Sugimura was elected vice chairperson of the Maui County Council on Friday, while Tasha Kama was chosen as presiding officer pro tempore, solidi- fying the council’s top leadership more than a month into the term.
The council typically selects its top three leadership positions on inauguration day, but with a legal challenge delaying the results of one of the nine seats, council members opted instead to elect Kama as chairperson and hold off on deciding other positions and committee assignments.
After the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that Alice Lee had won the majority of votes in the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu race, Lee returned to the council and was elected chairperson on Jan. 27. She also served as chairperson during the previous term.
Kama, who had accepted the chair position in early January on an interim basis only, is also returning to her pro tem role from the previous term.
She nominated Sugimura to serve as vice chairperson, saying she had the most seniority — Sugimura was elected in 2016, and of the other members, only Lee has served for longer. She also felt Sugimura had been an effective chairperson of her own committee and would do the same as the council’s vice chairperson.
Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who served as vice chairperson during the previous term, spoke against Sugimura’s nomination, pointing out that Sugimura already chairs the council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee — which Rawlins-Fernandez also led last term — and the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board, while also serving on the Kula Agricultural Park Committee.
Instead, Rawlins-Fernandez nominated first-year Council Member Nohe U‘uHodgins, saying that she’d already made “great efforts to work collaboratively and bring us together” during her short time on the council.
“It’s been kind of tumultuous, and I think it’s good for us to share the titles and not hoard them,” Rawlins-Fernandez said.
She eventually withdrew her nomination after U‘uHodgins thanked her for the “vote of confidence” but she said she wouldn’t feel comfortable taking the role.
Council members voted 7-2 to approve Sugimura as chairperson, with Rawlins-Fernandez and Council Member Tamara Paltin opposed and Council Member Shane Sinenci voting yes with reservations. They also voted 9-0 to approve Kama, who was nominated by Sugimura and described by Council Member Tom Cook as the “common denominator of everybody.”