Kauaʻi County Council candidates deliver one-minute speeches at election event

Candidates for Kauaʻi County Council mingled with community members during a meet and greet at Collab Cafe in Kapaʻa on Thursday evening when contenders for the seven council seats were each given one minute to discuss their platforms. 

A total of 11 of the 17 current candidates attended the event hosted by the Kapaʻa Business Association, with common themes for speeches including affordable housing, the cost of living, the landfill issue, and discussions of personal backgrounds and reasons for running. 

A full transcript of each candidate’s speech, in order of appearance, is provided below. Note that some minor edits have been made to improve clarity and brevity.

1. Felicia Cowden: Current Council Member

This is my fourth term in office, and it has been such an honor to be able to be a part of your world and your lives. My motto is ‘Putting people first,’ and you will find I almost always have time to answer your calls, to show up, to come to your neighborhood, to come to your meetings.

 I want to learn from you and work with you on what we need. You’re going to see from me, I’m more about creating a solution than building a new ordinance or law. 

The more we can do a win-win and allow people some freedom to live life on their own terms is something that I’m very involved in wanting to do. Sometimes we need new rules. I would say in general, our council generally agrees with one another.

But you’ll see from me that I’m generally trying to come up with solutions. Certainly, the burning issue is housing and affordable life. We are dealing with national and global forces that are making our inflation something that we can hardly handle, especially in how our real property taxes are affected by this. 

We’ve done a lot to protect the people who are lucky enough to own their homes, but I’m very committed to making sure that we can see that people who rent are able to stay. We need our workforce here.

And another major thing that you’re going to see from me continuing is evacuation routes and hazard mitigation. I am the committee chair for public safety. I take that very seriously. We have had a few very profound wake-up calls, and since the end of plantation times, we no longer have those inward and upward roads that we took for granted. We need to reclaim them. 

Thank you so much. And I want to also honor all of our challengers. We’ve got great incumbents and we’ve got a really great group of challengers. 

2. Mel Rapozo: Current Council Chair

It’s my 16th year on the council. This is my sixth year as the chair. Obviously, I want to continue. I got a lot of work done, I think, on pressing issues.

I think I’m the different one because I think our landfill is our biggest issue right now. Because in a very short period of time, we are not going to have a landfill. And there is no plan. So, yes, I’m concerned about housing. I’m concerned about water.

But, when I look at the consequences of that landfill gate closing, we are going to be in trouble. 

 

3. Fern Ānuenue Holland: Food Systems Director for HAPA

We have a major issue. In just a couple of years, our landfill’s going to get a cease and desist, and we’re going to have nowhere to put our trash.  And that’s a very urgent, actual county responsibility that we have to handle.

And then, absolutely, trying to keep our local families here on Kaua’i. Being born and raised in Kapahi, I’ve watched my friends have to leave for the last decade of being home, and it breaks my heart. 

I’d like to be able to do whatever I can to serve our community. I love Kaua’i. I love our community. I’m already extremely active. and I just would encourage anybody to reach out to me. I’m very approachable. 

You’re more than welcome to give me a call or email. And I have a lot of information about my platform, and the issues that I care about available online. 

4. Bernard Carvalho Jr.: Current Council Member

This will be my third term running for county council. I had the opportunity to serve as a council member and serve the community in different levels. This is all about working with our council members to deliver some results for our people who want to be heard.

So we’re trying our best to address major issues. I’m totally committed to addressing the landfill situation. My heart and soul are committed to following through and making sure that we have the resources from the federal, the state, the county, and the community levels.

We have lots of concerns, but at the same time, we live in the most beautiful place in the whole wide world. And we have to make sure as leaders, no matter what level, that we come back strong with the resources, with results.

We’ll make sure that we as a council work together. That to me is a big part. And then connect with administration and go from there. Believe me, I understand. We gotta stand strong together. 

5. Abe Apilado Jr.: Fisherman

I am a local boy, born and raised here on Kaua‘i. I’m a commercial fisherman and now a charter fisherman. I’ll keep this short. I was one of the guys who never thought that might vote counted.

I was one of the guys who thought that nothing I did would make a difference. And I just love my people. My biggest thing is the people.

I have family members that are houseless and dealing with mental issues. I agree about the landfill and all this other stuff, but the people come first. If we don’t have housing stability and people don’t have homes, we will face even more issues. 

6. Ana Mo Des: Kauaʻi Republican Party County Chair

I’ve been speaking to the council and testifying since 2017. After that, I ran for mayor. I ran for my House district. Last election, I ran for state Senate (R-District 8). And right now, I’m running for county council.

 Continuing the conversation since 2017, on record, we have a huge issue right now. It’s a crisis, and it needs to be spoken about honestly and resolved.

There is corruption that takes effect and it’s rooted and it becomes this norm that we’re going to continue accepting. But with capitalism, you’re not allowed to profit off exploitation, not even the government. And that is the root of the problem when it comes to our drug and alcohol suicide, crime, homelessness, trafficking, all of the dire situations that we have. And we need to course correct, and we need to do it now before we take on even more.

We have the mainland as an example of what not to do. Kauaʻi has the benefit of seeing what does not work, so we cannot continue doing the same things and expecting a different result here. 

We have the opportunity to create Kaua’i as a blueprint where we can all come together, and I look forward to working with everybody who has the same vision. And thank you, I really hope I earn your vote. 

7. Arryl Kaneshiro: Sheep Rancher; Former Council Member

I was born and raised here on Kauai and went to Koloa School. I graduated from Kauaʻi High School and went off to college in Oregon at Pacific University. I got my CPA [certification] while I was up in Oregon and became a certified public accountant.

I moved home. Our family has a ranch in the Koloa/Lawai area. We have over a thousand sheep on the island. We have a hemp farm there that creates CBD oil. And, I’m heavily involved in the community. I was on the county council for eight years, and I termed out. I sat out my term. I’m coming back on. 

Iʻm happily married. I have two daughters, ages five and three. And we’re expecting one more daughter, so I will be creating a little spot next to my house just for me to meditate. Anyone can come ask me about the issues, but I just wanted you to know who I am and where I come from. 

8. W. Butch Keahiolalo: Retired Kauaʻi Fire Captain

I was born in Texas. I was a military brat so lived in many states. My family is from Oʻahu and the Big Island.

I graduated from Purdue with a degree in mathematics. I studied electrical engineering. I moved here to teach high school at Kauaʻi High School.

I spent five years teaching, and then, I was just tired of putting out fires as a teacher, so I decided to be a firefighter. So I joined the fire department in 2001, and I retired a year and a half ago.

But honestly, I didn’t want to stop serving my community. it’s an amazing career, but I just actually miss serving the community more than anything. So if you want to ask me any other questions about solid waste or anything else, or taxes or whatever, I’d be happy to answer. But I just wanted to share a little bit about me. 

9. Jeffrey Lindner: Agricultural Land Developer

I’m going to just stick to the issues, I guess. Kapaʻa needs houses. Next to this building over here is 1500 acres that have been sitting here for a long time, and I think the county has sort of neglected it. We should get everybody together and get a plan on something.

And families are going to disappear with no housing. We don’t have to do affordable housing. We do middle-class or workforce housing. It’s a private market. The county needs to create that for the people. Affordable housing, it’s not happening very fast. The county needs to look at Kapaʻa, and the county needs to get a plan and bring the landowners together. 

10. Jacquelyn Nelson: Community Volunteer

 I’m actually a member of the Kapaʻa Business Association. I have been for many years. I’ve also been in Rotary for many years. I do a lot of volunteer work with various organizations like the Human Society and KCCP [Kauaʻi Community Cat Project]. 

So I decided the next step would be to get more involved politically, and maybe have a say in some policy-making. 

If you’ve seen my signs, they have a little pineapple on them. And that’s a nod to agriculture here on Kauaʻi. I think we really need to invest in our agricultural infrastructure. We need to start treating our farmers like the heroic small businessmen and women that they are. 

On an island that survives through tourism — which we’re very lucky. I hear a lot of grumbling about tourists and tourism. We’re so lucky that we have that industry here. It’s a fun industry to be a part of. And if we gave our farmers the opportunity to house their employees, better access to water. I feel like we should lead the way in agritourism in the whole world. This should be an agritourism destination.

And I think it would give our young people an opportunity to stay here. In Rotary, we give away a lot of scholarships, and there are some really bright, wonderful kids on this island who want to stay here and plan to stay here. We give them scholarships but many find it easier to stay on the mainland. We lose a little bit of our culture and heritage every time they stay there.

And I’d love to have one of your seven votes for county council. 

11. Billy De Costa: Current Council Member

I’ve been married for 27 years and raised three boys. I was here last year, and I promised you a tiny home. We did it at Kapaʻa high school. First tiny home ever on Kauai to be built at a high school level. 

A good politician is not somebody who talks the story or says important issues. A good politician introduces bills into law. They have to be able to work with the administration.

I introduced two very important bills. One was with Mel Rapozo. This one was a 1:1 ratio on agricultural lots. We doubled the density for anybody who has agricultural lots. Now if you have one house, you can have a guest cottage. Three houses, You can have three guest cottages.

The second bill introduced, I was solo on this one, but I had five votes follow me. It was taxing hotels and TVRs [transient vacation rentals] to put money into a middle-class housing fund for the county. 

So that you can buy land, work with a developer, put in infrastructure and solve the crisis of middle-class housing. Everybody talks about it. I did it and your five council members gave me the vote. 

A good leader has people behind them, and they can work with the mayor and get stuff done. Because if the mayor doesn’t sign the bill, the bill doesn’t become law. 

Everybody, please think about Billy DeCosta when you cast your vote. I take zero contributions.

The six candidates who did not attend the Thursday evening event were:

12. Addison Bulosan: Current Council Member

13. Ross Kagawa: Current Council Member

14. KipuKai Kualiʻi: Current Council Vice Chair

15. Sherri Cummings: Occupation not known at this time

16. Bart Thomas: Former Operations Manager with Intel Corporation

17. Clint Yago Sr.: Carpenter