Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino debates challenger Richard Bissen Saturday night at Seabury Hall. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series on Maui County Council and mayoral candidates in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 general election. Today’s story focuses on the County of Maui mayoral race. Stories on other candidates will be published in the coming weeks, with an election guide to be featured in the Oct. 22-23 Weekender edition.
Incumbent Mayor Michael Victorino and opponent Richard “Rick” Bissen went head-to-head during a mayoral debate on Saturday night at Seabury Hall, responding to hot topic questions on proposed water authorities, axis deer as an industry, affordable housing, managed retreat and the budget.
During the primary election when eight candidates were running for mayor, Bissen finished first with 13,407 votes, or 34 percent, compared to Victorino’s 11,747 votes, or 29.8 percent.
Now that voters only have two options, Bissen and Victorino could be in a close contest in the final stretch of the mayoral race.
HOUSING
Maui County Mayoral candidate, retired judge Richard Bissen makes a point while debating incumbent Michael Victorino.
As the county tries to tackle the housing crisis, some residents and officials have suggested the county should be more involved in developing housing. While both candidates agreed on the importance of having public-private partnerships with developers, Bissen disagreed with the county’s recent move to purchase the 20-unit Lahaina Crossroads for $11 million in order to save tenants from being evicted.
“I don’t think we can buy ourselves out of this by the county being so generous and spending the rest of the taxpayers’ money for one unit,” Bissen said of the complex. “…I don’t know how much public input went into this decision to simply buy it, but again, being an election year, people were happy to spend that money because it was such an item in the news. It appears to have satisfied the short term but I think there’s going to be a long term when we’ll have to pay that bill.”
Instead, Bissen said that the council could seek alternatives, like a change in zoning to not allow short-term vacation rentals in the area or putting a cap on how much rent can be increased to maintain affordability.
“The concern I have is if we’re going to take $11 million to help 20 families, then what are we going to do for 40 families? What are we gonna do for 50 families?” he said. “It concerns me that the new policy is to buy homes from families that are displaced… . I think there are other ways we could have addressed that.”
Victorino argued that the county’s affordable housing fund is for situations like these. And, since the property was already zoned for short-term rentals, the county could not change it.
Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino (right) shakes hands with challenger Richard Bissen at the start of their debate Saturday night at Seabury Hall.
“If we own the land and own the property, we can dictate what needs to stay (affordable) in perpetuity and make sure that the rentals for the people that live there will not be forced out with rental increases or substantial rental increases,” he said. “So, this was important to protect those families. How much is it worth a family’s well-being and livelihood? I can’t put a price tag on any of your families, I would never do that. We help when we can but we are also cognizant of the repercussions later.
“This is not a policy, this was a decision through the council and myself and there was public input at the council meetings, so I’m really comfortable with what we’ve done and the rationale behind it.”
WATER
In addition to housing struggles, residents have also dealt with frequent water restrictions, especially Upcountry, while other areas are typically free to use what they want because of the way the county’s water system is set up.
Addressing a question over the inequality, both candidates advocated for finding more sources of water. Upcountry has suffered from a lack of water sources and a lack of consistency in the infrastructure, Victorino said. The council has been working to dedicate funding and labor to upgrade the groundwater systems, which are more dependable, he said.
“One of the areas that we changed our philosophy is now making sure that the county is responsible for developing sources. For a long time, almost 20 years, we’ve developed sources by having developers do it and taking a lion’s share of the water credits and leaving us with a little leftover,” he said. “Also, I put in $5 million for the upper Kula system and another $15 million from our infrastructure money to start building back the new infrastructure for Upcountry.”
It will take “political will,” but Victorino believes that finding an area to build a system that connects Upcountry with lower areas would be beneficial.
“During the rainy season Upcountry, there is a lot of water extra, so why not send it down to Paia and other areas? And during the summer months when we can generalize water from our ground aquifer system in town, we can move it Upcountry,” he said.
Bissen said that the county’s policies will have to change in order to tackle water issues. For example, he questioned why residents cannot have a water meter and a water catchment system at the same time.
“Anybody who is on the waitlist for a water meter should be required to have a catchment system,” he said. “I know the concern is backflow and that’s dangerous and that only happens if you’re connected to the same system, but people should be allowed to have both systems in the event that there is a drought. They can use the catchment to at least – maybe it’s not potable but they can use it for other uses.”
Though Victorino believes in a “first-come, first-serve” water meter waitlist, Bissen suggested making the system more efficient and to keep the long list moving by allowing residents who happen to be sharing a water line with a community to all contribute costs for the water meters at the same time.
“If you get it, everyone on that line should be able to contribute, pay for the cost of that, and nevermind if you weren’t the next in line – you’re making it efficient for the system because now you’re clearing the way for all the other people on the waitlist to have their water get delivered to them,” Bissen said. “So I think we need to revisit the way we distribute and give out or have been giving out, or really not giving out, the water meters.”
“If you explain to (person) number 6 that number 15 is going to get their meter because 15 is on the line with everyone else, I think number 6 would understand that,” he added. “The idea is to give water to people, not to keep it from them, not to make it expensive, not to make it hard to get, not to make them beg and stand in line.”
The two candidates also had different takes on the charter amendment that would create Maui Community Water Authorities to oversee water operations and allow local government to possibly acquire long-term water lease agreements from the state. Victorino was supportive of the proposal, though he acknowledged the challenge of repairs.
“I think this is a first step in having people be able to manage their own water in their own areas, so I think that is the first thing that I agree that we need to do,” he said. “Secondly, even if we apply for it (the lease), doesn’t mean we get it and even if we got it, then we’d have to make sure that all the necessary upgrades and repairs are done, and we have no idea and even when we did the analyzing of the East Maui Irrigation system, it is really a challenge.”
However, taking over the system that EMI currently runs would place a significant responsibility and financial burden on the county and taxpayers, Bissen said.
“I think the county should control the water. I don’t think the county should manage the water,” he said. “We have not shown any ability to do that, so that’s not something we should jump into. I also am concerned that, as are others, as far as what the costs will be for the county. Of course we should control our own water. Water is the most important thing for us to survive here on this island.”
Developing water sources, whether from wells or water authorities, is the “most important thing we can do” for the island, he said.
MANAGED RETREAT
The two opponents agreed with mitigating environmental impacts and preserving natural resources as population and housing increase.
Maui has been suffering from shoreline degradation, leaving pipes exposed, boardwalks collapsed and buildings and other infrastructure toppling into the ocean, Victorino said.
But hardening the shoreline is often controversial among the public, state and county leaders, and environmentalists, Victorino said, so they need to pursue other options.
This is why the council has recently been focusing on managed retreat of roads and buildings, with the incumbent suggesting a pushback of about a quarter-mile from the coast.
“We have to make sure that anything we build is built back,” he said. “It has to be a systematic move with infrastructure being moved back also. Much of our sewer lines and water lines are along the sea line or the ocean front, so we have to start moving all of that back.”
Other options include replenishing sand dunes, installing sea groins and preventing future shoreline development, he added.
“We have to be proactive, we have to think ahead of it,” he said.
Even though managed retreat is not a simple solution to combat erosion, Bissen agreed that the county should pursue this option by trying out land swaps with kamaaina families, which could save money in the future and property value.
“For homes, for residents living on the shore, I think the county should consider swapping land with people that are on the water line – you should offer them mauka lands in exchange for their lands,” he said. “We don’t know when things are going to collapse and fall into the ocean, ocean rise as well as erosion, is that it’s going to happen at some point.”
It will take the county being “active, not passive” as well as creative and innovative to tackle complicated shoreline issues.
Victorino said land swaps could be a good idea, but is unsure of who would actually want to do that. There are also local businesses as well as roadways and utilities that are at risk and cannot be swapped.
“Helping out residents first has always been my priority and so in that respect, I will be willing to do what we can to offer them the ability to swap land,” he said. “But, there are also commercial businesses that are locals that they’ve had for many years that have bought oceanfronts that are being threatened (by erosion)…. So it’s not just the kamaaina homes that we’re talking about. There are other issues that we’ve been working on proactively.”
BUDGET
Given a chance to ask each other questions at the end of the evening, Bissen questioned the expansion of the county’s budget over Victorino’s term, including the increase of mayor’s staff salaries from $2.5 million at the beginning of the term to $3.7 million.
“How do you justify to the taxpayers who are struggling in our community an increase of over a million dollars in a 45 percent increase for your staff for their salaries?”
Considering that the budget includes the sum of various department’s salaries, including the Maui County Council that had opened several new offices islandwide in the past year, Victorino said that the increases have not been as substantial as indicated.
“We really manage our money well and I feel very honored to have done what I’ve done to ensure during the pandemic, we were answering the phone 12 hours a day to make sure that people got information. Safe Travels, we were at the airport,” he said. “Many of my staff worked overtime and did not get paid for it because they were there generously helping you, the people of Maui County.”
The county budget has risen from about $758 million in fiscal year 2019 shortly before Victorino took office to a historic $1 billion for the current fiscal year.
“I don’t know how we are bragging that we are better off than the other counties just because we put more money in a budget that everyone of you are going to be paying for,” Bissen said. “There are so many other ways that we could have used that money.”
Victorino argued that the increase was to make sure that residents were “safe and healthy” during COVID and to address the future needs of the county.
Sometimes the budget rose “for good reasons,” but sometimes the administration found “flaws and we saved that money and used it for other important issues,” Victorino said.
“You can check the records, please do,” he added.
* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.
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- Maui County Mayoral candidate, retired judge Richard Bissen makes a point while debating incumbent Michael Victorino.
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- Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino (right) shakes hands with challenger Richard Bissen at the start of their debate Saturday night at Seabury Hall.
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- Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino debates challenger Richard Bissen Saturday night at Seabury Hall. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
