WAILUKU >> Former Maui County Mayor James "Kimo" Apana's computer education program in the schools is coming under fire for alleged mismanagement. Maui mayor, predecessor
spar over tech programBy Gary Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comMaui Mayor Alan Arakawa said yesterday the Tech Ready program was heading into default with a debt of $492,440 and that he will have to ask the County Council to pay off the debt.
Arakawa's administration said Apana told leading citizens the debt for a computer education program had been paid, when it had not. Arakawa said Apana has required county taxpayers to pay off what had so frequently been described as his private loan.
Apana said Arakawa's charges were full of misrepresentations.
Apana said Arakawa should look at the "most important fact," that Tech Ready put more than 1,400 computers in public school classrooms and built five computer laboratories in high schools.
About $724,000 has been raised to pay off the money from the lease agreement with Sun Microsystems in 2001. The Arakawa administration said the initial agreement was $1.041 million and is now about $1.2 million including interest.
Wes Lo, Apana's former finance director, said the lease agreement was worded so that the county would not be legally obliged to pay for the outstanding debt if private sources did not contribute enough pay for Tech Ready.