LIHUE >> Mayor Maryanne Kusaka's office has reversed itself and released an outline used by its special counsel in briefing the Kauai County Council on the sale of Kauai Electric. Kusaka makes public
Kauai Electric briefingThe mayor opposes the utility's
purchase by a local cooperativeBy Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.comFor two months, the mayor's office has insisted that the special counsel briefings should not be made public.
Despite arguments from the public and press, the County Attorney's Office had continued to insist that the Council's so-called "strategy sessions" are allowed to be closed under Hawaii's open meetings law.
But at Wednesday's Council meeting, two Council members -- Kaipo Asing and Gary Hooser, the mayor's chief critics -- refused to attend a closed-door meeting, so it was held in open session.
There was nothing new in the briefing: Kusaka remains opposed to the purchase of Kauai Electric by the Kauai Island Utility Co-op from its current owner, Citizens Communications Corp. of Stamford, Conn.
In an interview, Honolulu attorney William Milks said he gave the same briefing he would have given in an executive session.
He said the co-op is paying too much and the rates it is proposing -- unchanged from Kauai Electric's current rates -- are too high.
Gregg Gardiner, who heads the co-op that consists largely of Kauai businessmen, said he was "not surprised."
The issue will be on the Council's agenda Thursday and Gardiner said he will meet with his board next week to decide whether to appear at the Council meeting.
A petition for approval of the sale is pending before the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. Kauai County and the U.S. Defense Department, both major customers and both intervenors in the case, are scheduled to file position statements on July 17.
Two years ago, the PUC rejected a similar sales proposal for $270 million, saying the price was too high. Kauai County opposed that sale as well.
The new price is $215 million, but the mayor's office insists that figure is still $25 million too high.
The County Council has been unwilling to endorse Kusaka's last opposition to the co-op, but it has not voted to oppose her, either. Most of the county's anti-development activists have lined up behind her on this issue.
Maui County
