Elected officials need to stop wasting money

As someone who was born and raised on Maui and who recently retired (after 41 years) as an attorney, arbitrator and mediator, I respectfully offer the following advice to the County Council members who recently voted “to recommend approval of a resolution to employ special counsel.” According to a story in The Maui News (April 5), “The Maui County Council may spend up to $30,000 to seek special counsel to have a judge issue an order regarding the mayor’s appointment of rejected department heads.”

I think Maui County voters could care less whether the mayor’s interim appointments of rejected department heads — especially since it’s a moot question now — were authorized or not under the Maui County Charter.

A more welcomed, nonconfrontational option would be for the council members to propose an amendment to the County Charter that would prevent what happened last month from happening again. The council members should also communicate their compromise proposal to Mayor Michael Victorino to give him the opportunity to show his support for the amendment by signing an agreement that in the future he will not appoint as interim directors those department heads who have been rejected by the council. Then the taxpayers can vote on the charter amendment in the 2020 election and decide the issue.

By cooperating and working together, our council members and mayor can save the county $30,000 and demonstrate by their actions that they can, indeed, work together when the people’s best interest is at stake. William T. Kinaka

Wailuku