Kauai’s leaders criticized
over seeming inactionThe mayor has yet to introduce
bills dealing with county problems
LIHUE >> One year after a new mayor and four new County Council members took office, the most commonly asked question about Kauai County government seems to be: "Who's in charge here?"
To date, Mayor Bryan Baptiste has not asked the Council for any legislation addressing any of the county's problems.
Nor has he given any idea of his plans. His inauguration address a year ago was criticized for its lack of an agenda for his administration. A year later, Baptiste is still playing it close to the vest.
In an entire year in office, he has hosted two news conferences (one on his tourism promotion trip to Japan and one to declare his efforts to rid the parks of homeless campers a success) and two interviews (one on the homeless, the other for this story).
"I'm not very good at PR," he said. "I'm not going to publish anything in the paper until it's finished."
The mayor said the perceived lack of progress on issues isn't from lack of trying.
"We all work 12- to 14-hour days around here," he said. "I'm assigning projects to people to get things accomplished. Just because you don't see results yet doesn't mean things aren't happening. I'm just not going to talk about something that isn't viable yet."
And Baptiste has received high marks for many of the talented people he has brought to his Cabinet. Many -- including his administrative assistant, (actually deputy mayor) Gary Heu, who manages the county on a day-to-day basis -- came from the private sector and are just beginning to understand government, one observer noted.
Like Baptiste, the current County Council has also been criticized for its lack of action. No major bill has been introduced by any member this year.
At a recent Council meeting, the agenda called for four of the six Council committees to do nothing but approve the minutes of their previous meetings. The agenda is typical of most during the past 12 months.
And like Baptiste, Council Chairman Kaipo Asing has announced no agenda to the public.
Frustration at the perceived lack of activity among the county's representatives has led a group called Ohana Kauai to circulate a petition to place a comprehensive tax reform measure on the ballot.
According to the County Elections Office, if Ohana Kauai obtains the required 1,800 signatures, it will be the first initiative item to make it to the ballot since 1984.
Asked about the lack of Council activity over the past year, Asing pointed to the mayor.
"We negotiated all the things that need to be done with the administration during last spring's budget process," Asing said. "We gave him everything he needed."
Hauling out a copy of the current budget, he noted that the Council gave Baptiste money to update the never-implemented 1994 Solid Waste Plan, money to hire a consultant to find a new landfill site, money to hire a consultant to help rewrite the long out-of-date Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, money for studies on the whole range of issues facing the county.
"We expect the administration to pick up the consultants we need to tell us what we should be doing," Asing said. "So far, they haven't put out a single consulting contract."
Asing stopped short of being critical of Baptiste. He's seen many mayors come and go and understands the first year is the hardest.
"It's typical. It's kind of normal," Asing said.