Kauaʻi County Council candidates address community issues at second night of public forum

The two-night candidates’ forum for the Kauaʻi County Council continued Thursday evening, with the remaining five people vying for the seven seats answering questions focused on the same major issues as the first night: community, women and family.

Approximately 20 residents gathered at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Līhu‘e to hear from the candidates at the forum streamed live on Hōʻike TV and Kauaʻi Community Radio (KKCR).

A total of 14 candidates are on the ballot in the upcoming Nov. 5 general election.

At the forum on Thursday were incumbent council members Felicia Cowden, KipuKai Kualiʻi (council vice chair), Addison Bulosan and Billy DeCosta, as well as local fisherman and first-time candidate Abraham Apilado Jr. 

They were asked the same questions that were posed on the first night of the forum to incumbents Mel Rapozo (council chair), Bernard Carvalho and Ross Kagawa; former council member Arryl Kaneshiro; and relative newcomers Fern Ānuenue Holland and Butch Keahiolalo.

The questions were about the role of the county, possible county support for childcare, gender inequities in the workplace, womenʻs advancement in the workplace, financial challenges faced by working families on Kauaʻi, housing, mental health, sex trafficking and domestic violence.

Cowden described the council as the “janitors of the political system,” with a core function of taking out the trash and dealing with sewage, lawns, fires and roads.

She said they need to partner with other entities to address the biggest challenge: displacement from the island due to lack of housing, which happens because of infrastructure problems.

“If everybody had a stable home location, they would be in a much better place,” she said. “And so our kuleana, our sacred responsibility, is to make sure that we get a landfill, our wastewater, our fresh water, up to speed, and we have been deficient in that for some time.” 

Bulosan, finishing his first term as a council member, answered most questions through the lens of being a new father.  He described his personal struggle with the high cost of living on Kauaʻi, sharing he and his wife can not afford a home and are living in his parents’ house.

“I sit here as a council member, part of the team trying to solve this problem on the county level, but also just as a dad talking to his wife and son figuring out, ‘How are we going to do this?’” he said. 

Other candidates also discussed personal issues as a motivation for running, including Apilado, who noted having family members struggling with alcoholism and mental illness. He said mental illness on the island is increasing due to a lack of housing and financial stability, and a focus on wealth. 

“As long as you continue to serve money, guys, as long as we worry about where our next value is, as long as we worry, the next place we will live –  Guys, more and more mental illness will happen,” he said. “More and more drugs will happen.

“Because nobody knows where to go, because everybody [is] too busy. So specializing in our home, specializing in our family, taking care of our family in whatever way. Money’s not the way.”

When council member Billy DeCosta was asked a question about addressing mental health concerns, he noted having a new position with the state Department of Education’s Alternative Learning Program, a branch that helps students with difficulties in traditional learning environments. 

He had first discussed plans for the role in an August message response about his suspension from his teaching job at Kapa’a High School for “inappropriately” messaging a student on social media.

He said he is working to build the program on-site at Kaulu I Ka Pono Academy, an adolescent and drug treatment center that opened in 2023. 

“This center should have been up and running a long time ago, but with the right people making the right decisions, coming up with solution-based plans, not just talking the jargon, it happened,” DeCosta said. 

DeCosta doesn’t know when the alternative learning program would begin on-site, saying: “We don’t have enough money yet. I believe we need a memorandum of understanding.”

DeCosta also commented on gender and women’s issues, saying he has raised three respectful sons to treat and be respectful towards women.

“I run my house. I run the dishwasher, I run the washing machine, I run the blender, and it’s all done on Saturdays,” he said. 

KipuKai Kuali’i also commented on gender inequities in the workforce, answering a question about the lack of women at the Kauaʻi police and fire departments. 

“It’s very clear that in order for our county to receive gender equity, more female representation in our fire and police department, we need to do a better job of our recruiting,” he said, adding the county could do better marketing and outreach. 

Kualiʻi, who noted having decades of experience in government, labor unions and LGBTQ movements, discussed the state legislature passing a bill this year that set a goal that 30% of law enforcement staff should be women or people who identify as nonbinary by 2030. Currently, the national average is 13%. 

“So we have some work to do,” he said. 

Cowden, the only woman on the County Council, responded by saying she understands gender bias, being outnumbered by men, and the importance of people having jobs that align with their passions.

She said the Kaua’i Police Department needs more women, but about firefighters, she stated: “Sometimes it really does matter what your skill level is. We have had women firefighters. But I would be honest with you, I’d rather rely on Abe (Apilado) to drag me out of a fire, than for me to drag Abe out of a fire.”

In closing comments, the candidates made a final push for votes and emphasized their focus on affordable housing, infrastructure and homelessness issues, property taxes, gender equity and mental health. 

“Every day I wake up with a chance of renewed hope and hope that I’m part of creating a better place,” Bulosan said. 

The forum was moderated by Hōʻike’s Vice Chair Lexi Jones and sponsored by local community organizations, including the YWCA of Kaua’i, Zonta Club of Kaua’i, Kaua’i Planning and Action Alliance, and the Rice Street Business Association.

To hear the council members’ answers to all questions asked, a video of the entire forum is available here. The video of Wednesday night’s forum is available here.

Part one of the Kaua’i County Council candidate forum on Oct. 2, 2024. (Courtesy of Hōʻike Kauaʻi Community Television)