RAM GAD POD

Aloha All,

This is my CALL FOR ACTION special! The Planning Department is considering a "Phase-out" of LEGAL Short Term Rental Home Permits, and we think that is a bad idea based on bad arguments. The first 10 minutes of this episode gives an overview of the issue, then I have a longer discussion of the issue with my guest, Don Couch. PLEASE give this episode a listen, and plan on showing up on Friday, March 6th, at 3:00 p.m. to the Planning Departments Public Information Meeting Regarding STRH Phase-Out Proposal in the Planning Conference Room located at 250 South High Street, Wailuku, 6793. 

Mahalo,

Jason

Aloha All,

The interview starts around the 6:30 mark if you want to skip ahead, but I lead off with a brief discussion of some draft legislation that would undo the "Minatoya Opinion." If you are a REALTOR or are involved in property management, you will want to listen to the intro.  

This week's interview is with Councilmember Kelly King, Chair of the Climate Action and Resilience Committee. Councilmember King holds the Council seat for the South Maui residency area, and she also served as Council Chair in 2019. I have enjoyed every opportunity I've had to meet with Councilmember King over the past year, and this interaction is no different. I have never been quiet about my respect and admiration for Kelly King, and I think this interview demonstrates that she is well deserving of that respect. In this episode we discuss her educational background, her many successful business ventures, and some of her concerns for the future well being of Maui County. I enjoyed getting to know more about Kelly King, and I think this episode is a must-hear if you live in Maui County. Enjoy and feel free to send feedback to [email protected]

PS: REGISTER TO VOTE!

This episode is both an update and an interview. The Interview starts at the 6:50 mark, where I am joined by Councilmember Yuki Lei Sugimura, Council representative for the Upcountry residency area and Chair of the Water, Infrastructure, and Transportation Committee. Councilmember Sugimura was born and raised in Wailuku, and has been interested in politics since her days as a high school student. Yuki is extremely personable, and she was a delight to talk to. If you enjoy this interview, I highly recommend visiting her at the Upcountry Farmers Marker for her monthly Talk Story with Yuki outreach program. 

The update at the start covers the following:

Opportunity to Testify: The Environmental, Agricultural, and Cultural Preservation Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, February 18th, at 1:30 p.m., to discuss a bill restricting the use and sale of single-use plastic disposable foodware. I support this legislation, and I encourage you all to look into it and provide your own testimony on the issue. From a policy standpoint, RAM believes our island’s well being depends on our beaches and RAM supports the maintenance of a robust beach environment as a key to a sustainable long-term plan for Maui. Reducing litter and the proliferation of micro-plastics throughout our island is an important step in protecting our beaches and I commend the County Council for moving in that direction.

West Maui Community Plan -  The West Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee has two meetings scheduled for next week. Agendas should be available on the CPAC webpage by the end of this week, but dates are as follow:

Wailuku Community Association - Upcoming 2020 Annual Wailuku Community Association Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12th from 5-7 p.m. at the Empanada Lady restaurant. The guest speaker will be Erin Wade discussing the 1st phase of infrastructure updates in Wailuku and alternate parking locations.

Habitat for Humanity 12th Annual Build-A-Thon - Mark your calendars for Friday, Feb. 21st and Saturday, Feb. 22nd for Habitat Maui’s annual Build-a-Thon. The Build-a-Thon is a public awareness and fundraising event. Participants are asked to raise a minimum of $100/person in pledges and spend a day on the construction site helping Habitat build affordable housing in Lahaina. Lunch, snack, and door prizes will be provided, and available times are from 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. To sign up or for more information call (808) 242-1140 or email [email protected].

Aloha Friends,

I've been a busy boy this week, so I decided I would save us all a little bit of time and release one episode instead of two. The first 14 minutes or so is a Notes from the GAD style update for January 22, 2020, immediately followed by an interview with my dear friend and colleague Amy Johnson, Professional Standards Manager for RAM. I know this is a bit of a departure from how I usually do things, but you can handle it!  I'll be back next week, but feel free to email me with questions or comments at [email protected].

Mahalo,

Jason

We are kicking off the 2020 interviews with something special! This episode features former RAM GAD and dear friend to us all, Lawrence Carnicelli, flipping the script and sitting me down for a very long and very fun interview. In this interview I disclose far too much about my personal life, perform impersonations of my parents, discuss how I proposed to my wife, and admit to running around my neighborhood scantily clad. If you ever wanted to know more about me, or if you just want to hear some fun stories, this episode is for you.  Also, it must be said that Lawrence does an outstanding job as the host, and I am very excited for his podcast to come out soon. I'll provide more details on that down the line, but for now I hope you enjoy this very special RAM GADS POD.

Mahalo for listening!

Aloha,

This is a short update. Listen if you can, or check out the key points below:

Opportunity to Testify - One of my goals for the year is to inform the RAM community of more opportunities to testify on issues you may be interested in, even if RAM might not be taking a position on the issue. Increased civic engagement on the part of our members is the key to demonstrating RAM’s values, and enhancing our profile as an organization. With that in mind, I encourage you all to look at the agenda for the upcoming Governance, Ethics, and Transparency Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 21st, at 9 a.m. In particular, there are a couple of proposed charter amendments that the committee will be considering. The first (GET-10(3)) would require an increase in the minimum required percentage of certified real property tax revenues deposited into the Affordable Housing Fund, and the second (GET-10(7)) would establish shorter lifetime term limits for council members of two four-year terms. Both of the proposed amendments would need to pass through committee and the full council, then be included on the general election ballot, prior to becoming law, but they are interesting ideas that are still worth examining and testifying on. If interested, you can send testimony by email to [email protected]

West Maui Community Plan -  The West Maui Community Plan Advisory Committee has two meetings scheduled for next week. The first will be on Tuesday, January 21st at 5 p.m. in Keopuolani Hall at Waiola Church, and the second will be on Thursday, January 23rd at 5:30 p.m. at the Lahaina Civic Center Social Hall. Agendas have not been posted for either meeting yet, but last week the CPAC started on the Growth Framework portion of the West Maui Community Plan update and began examining alternative growth maps for West Maui (which are available on the CPAC Page at wearemaui.org). If you are interested in the future of West Maui, or you just want to learn more about the community plan process, please consider attending these meetings.

The County is Hiring: County Clerk and Deputy County Clerk - The County of Maui is recruiting for the full time positions of County Clerk and Deputy County Clerk. If interested, you can download the application at:  https://tinyurl.com/CountyClerkApp, and Submit your completed application, résumé, cover letter, and three professional references by email to [email protected] by 4:30 p.m. HST on January 16, 2020. If you want more details regarding the functions of the job or required qualifications,  you can find links at mauicounty.us

Heads up on HAR Priority Bill - RAM and the Hawaii Association of Realtors are currently advocating for a bill that would streamline the land use process for affordable housing projects by allowing the counties to reclassify lands that are 15 to 100 acres, provided that 50% or more of the units are affordable at or below 140% of the Area Median Income. We believe this legislation will better empower the counties to meet their affordable housing needs while streamlining the regulatory process as it relates to district boundary amendments. The bill can largely be credited to RAM’s own Lawrence Carnicelli, and you can expect to hear more about it throughout the legislative session. The reason I bring this up is because I will be calling on everyone to provide testimony in support of this legislation over the coming months, and I don’t want it to be a surprise when I do. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Over the past few months I have been talking a lot about the County's real property tax reform efforts. Back in November, the County Council passed two bills that would have the effect of redefining and consolidating several of the property tax classifications, as well as creating a new tiered property tax system. RAM consistently opposed these bills because the Council did not engage in sufficient community outreach and education prior to passing them.  Last week, Mayor Victorino agreed with RAM's position and vetoed Bill 59 related to consolidating tax classifications. 

On Friday, December 27th, 2019, at 1:30 p.m., the County Council will hold a special meeting to discuss and override the Mayor's veto. In this episode of the RAM GAD POD I invite you all to provide your input to the County Council regarding this issue, and I share the Mayor's letter and my testimony on behalf of RAM. Here is a little sample of my testimony:

Throughout the process of preparing and passing Bill 59, public sentiment has consistently been that the Council should conduct more education and outreach prior to its passage. The Council has been somewhat responsive to these calls for more outreach by going out and holding community meetings, but that is a step that should have been taken prior to passage of the Bill, as opposed to after the fact. The Mayor has given this Council an opportunity to get more community buy-in while highlighting a major concern regarding this legislation, and the Council should not pass it up.

As the Mayor pointed out in his letter dated December 19, 2019, the new “non-owner occupied” classification combines four very different existing classifications that currently all have different rates. Without knowing what the Council might propose as the new rate for the new “non-owner occupied” class, there is too much uncertainty for our taxpayers. If the Mayor’s calculations are even close to correct, it means some taxpayers will likely see sharp increases or decreases in their tax rates with no real express legislative purpose other than to make things less complicated for the County. Our taxpayers deserve a more thoughtful legislative process that involves their input.

On November 22, 2019, the day Bill 59 was passed, everyone testifying in the chamber asked the Council to conduct more education and outreach prior to passing Bills 58 and 59. Though the Council passed both bills in spite of public sentiment, you have been given another opportunity to listen to your constituents and provide the education they have been requesting. I understand that the Council is trying to accomplish a difficult task, but the public should be involved throughout this process, and not just after the fact.

On November 22, Councilmember Rawlins-Fernandez asked how much education is necessary to pass any sort of bill. There is no one answer to that question, but it should be more than a couple of community meetings the week of second and final reading, or after the bill has been passed. It should be enough to help taxpayers understand if and why the County will take more of their hard-earned money. It should be enough to make us confident that you have our best interest in mind and that you know what you are doing. It should be enough to make the Mayor’s veto unnecessary. It should be more than was conducted for Bill 59. Therefore, I respectfully request that the Council NOT override the Mayor’s veto, and focus instead on crafting better legislation with public involvement.

Please provide testimony on your own behalf as well!

Mahalo,

Jason

Mike Molina holds the Maui County Council seat for the Makawao-Paia-Haiku voting district, and he is the Chair of the Governance, Ethics and Transparency Committee. Aside from his current role, Mike Molina is no stranger to public service. In this interview we touched on his military experience, his time as a teacher, the ten years he previously spent on the County Council, as well as his time working in the Arakawa administration.  In addition to all that, Councilmember Molina was kind enough to share some points of pride, areas of regret, and he even provided some thoughts on a potential run for Mayor down the line. All in all, this was a great conversation with one of the most influential political figures in Maui County over the past two decades. I enjoyed getting to learn more about Mike Molina, and I hope you enjoy listening to it. 

Mahalo,

Jason

The Maui County Council recently passed two property tax reform bills on second and final reading. These bills create a framework for a tiered property tax system, and amend the names and definitions for some of the classifications. Though these pieces of legislation ultimately passed, public testimony clearly demonstrated a need for the Council to engage in further public outreach and education prior to setting new tax rates or defining tier ranges.  With that in mind, members of the County Council have been holding community meetings throughout Maui County, and Councilmember Alice Lee was kind enough to hold one at RAM!

On Friday, December 13th, RAM members were invited to attend a RAM Community Meeting regarding the Council's real property tax reform efforts. This episode is the audio from that meeting, which featured Councilmember Alice Lee, County Real Property Tax Administrator Marcy Martin and Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeff Ueoka. As this was recorded in a large room, some of the audio might be a little hard to hear, but this should be informative if not interesting. If you have any questions on anything you hear, feel free to email me at [email protected].