Newly elected Maui County Council Chairperson Tasha Kama presides over the council’s organizational meeting on Monday afternoon. The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo
Maui County Council Member Tasha Kama was elected chairperson of the council on Monday afternoon, with one council member absent due to a pending election challenge before the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Kama served as officer pro tempore, the third-highest leadership position on the council, during the prior term.
Eight council members were sworn in Monday morning — Kama, Tom Cook, Gabe Johnson, Tamara Paltin, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Shane Sinenci, Yuki Lei Sugimura and Nohe U’u-Hodgins. Absent was Council Member Alice Lee, chairperson of the prior term, who was unable to be inaugurated on Monday due to a legal challenge by Lee’s opponent, Noelani Ahia, and 30 Maui County voters.
Lee had finished with a 513-vote lead over Ahia in the Nov. 8 election for the Wailuku-Waihee-Waikapu residency seat, but the lawsuit claims that the county and state failed to notify more than 800 voters whose ballots had deficiencies and needed to be fixed by a certain deadline. The lawsuit seeks to void the results and hold a new election.
With council members saying they were unsure how long it would take the Hawaii Supreme Court to make a ruling on the complaint, Kama was quickly nominated and approved by the council as a “fair” chairperson with “broad support” from all sides of the community.
The council must now decide on its vice chairperson, officer pro tempore and heads of the various committees.
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- Newly elected Maui County Council Chairperson Tasha Kama presides over the council’s organizational meeting on Monday afternoon. The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo
