Kaua'i mayor candidates differ mainly in style

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

But on management style and approach, they say the division is wide.

Baptiste, 47, wants to change the way county government runs, creating a bottom-up decision-making style that emphasizes community meetings and local direction of local projects.

"The major difference is that you can either vote for the status quo — the usual way of doing things — or you can vote for change," Baptiste said. "You can't do the same things the same way and expect different results."

Kaua'i Mayor Ronald Kouchi • Address: 4164 Hili Street, Lihu'e • Occupation: County Council chairman; insurance sales, Axa Advisors • Family: Married, two children • One big idea: We need to have — probably placed in neighborhood centers or fire stations — suggestion boxes for tips on illegal drug activity. And we should look into holding Neighborhood Watch-type meetings to involve the communities in the problem. Bryan Baptiste • Address: 331 Eggerking Road, Kapa'a • Occupation: County Councilman; officer, Hawai'i Management Alliance Association • Family: Married, four children • One big idea: I believe that all problems faced by Kaua'i can be solved through a process of community feedback, recognition and prioritization of problems. This joint partnership between community, private sector and government can overcome any challenge.

"My motto is: 'The right leader for the challenge ahead.' I bring the experience and the knowledge from 20 years of the inner workings of the county, the budgeting process, understanding the charter and laws under which the county operates," he said.

Baptiste and Kouchi are leaving their posts on the Kaua'i County Council to try to succeed Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, who is reaching the end of her two-term limit. Kusaka's administration has been troubled in recent years by allegations it has been lax on zoning and grading violations and has failed to identify a replacement for the near-full county landfill—issues that both mayoral candidates promise to address.

Baptiste has served six years on the County Council, Kouchi 10. Each has deep roots on the island, and each has done a fair amount of community work. Baptiste is a youth soccer coach; Kouchi is a youth baseball coach. Baptiste works for a medical insurance company; Kouchi is an insurance salesman.

County elections on Kaua'i technically are nonpartisan, but each mayoral candidate has a partisan political background: Baptiste as a Republican and Kouchi as a Democrat. Yet they see eye to eye on the issues facing Kaua'i County: drugs, notably crystal methamphetamine; the looming solid-waste problem; and various planning issues, from county parks to growth to public access to beaches and mountains.

Baptiste said the drug problem "has touched just about every family and every person on the island ... causing alarming increases in property crimes and family abuse. It is becoming prevalent in high schools and, in some cases, middle schools and younger."

He said that having different agencies in charge of drug prevention, enforcement and education isn't working. He wants to create a partnership between the state Department of Health, Kaua'i police and other agencies to develop a unified approach to the problem.

Kouchi said the drug problem "goes into homes and destroys families."

Police have difficulty addressing the problem because of a difficulty in recruiting enough new officers to fill vacancies. Meanwhile, Mainland departments are aggressively recruiting trained Hawai'i officers.

"We have an agency with front-line responsibilities, unable to fill positions because people can't clear the recruiting hurdle," Kouchi said.

Kouchi said he will work with the Legislature to remove a requirement that police applicants be Hawai'i residents—allowing local departments to compete for officers on the Mainland.

Baptiste said he wants to remove as much material from the county solid-waste stream as possible through recycling, composting and ultimately burning in an incinerator that creates electricity. He would promote growing fiber crops to provide additional fuel to the incinerator-generator.

"It's all about diversion," he said. There would still need to be a small landfill, which he said should probably be located in a nonpopulated area between Puhi and the Maluhia Road Tree Tunnel.

Kouchi said he would expand programs to put old materials to new uses, and would send the rest of the trash to a proposed co-generation plant on Gay & Robinson plantation land. The plant would burn trash and other materials to produce electricity, and the waste product would be glass-like material that could be used for road material.

Both candidates said they wholeheartedly support alternative-energy projects, such as wind and solar power.

"I don't want to lose my children (to war) for the sake of oil," Kouchi said.

In planning, Baptiste said he is a major advocate of public access to shorelines and mountains, and envisions "a lei" of accesses to natural areas around the island.

Kouchi cites as proof of his commitment in this area his support of a charter amendment that would set aside a portion of county tax revenues each year for access and open space. Baptiste also supports the charter amendment.

Both candidates express concern about the pressure of growth on inadequate roads, sewers and other kinds of infrastructure. Kouchi would push for updates of local development plans, so that "a community-based planning process" guides change. Baptiste notes that two years ago, he proposed a development moratorium, a "time out."

"We haven't added any infrastructure in the last 30 years. Without infrastructure, development is going to be a burden on everybody," Baptiste said.

On parks, Baptiste said he would like to see more multi-use regional parks, which he suggested would be less of a maintenance problem than smaller, single-use parks scattered around the island.

Baptiste made his name in county government as founder of the Ho'olokahi Program, which involves volunteers in beautification projects. He said he'd like to see more of that in the future.

"We have to personalize our public facilities. I'm not saying that everything will be volunteerism, but that concept of those facilities being ours — yours — has to be reconnected," he said.

Kouchi had a similar thought.

"We're not going to meet the challenge alone. We need to continue to need the partnership of our county and the volunteerism. The county's challenge is do our share first," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.