Maui Mayor Richard Bissen will choose someone to fill the vacancy created by the death of council member Tasha Kama after members of the Maui County Council failed to make an appointment during a special meeting Tuesday.

Council members were complimentary of all three nominees they were considering for the position — Kelson Kauanoe Batangan, Carol Lee Kamekona and Virgilio “Leo” Agcolicol — but they were unable to reach a majority vote in favor of any of them.

With the eight current council members evenly split on major policy issues, whoever is appointed to be Kama’s successor has the potential to determine the fate of controversial legislation including Bill 9, Bissen’s proposed plan to create more long-term housing for residents by phasing out thousands of vacation rentals.

Under county charter rules, the council was required to make an appointment within 30 days of Kama’s death on Oct. 26, or the power to choose a replacement would be passed to the mayor. 

On Tuesday, some council members acknowledged that the appointment has been highly anticipated by many people in the community. Council member Nohe U’u-Hodgins, who represents Maui’s North Shore, said she did not want the council’s discussions to descend into a heated argument.

“I feel like that would be so disrespectful to Aunty Tasha and her wishes and her demeanor, and so I’m just going to say whoever our new colleague is, we welcome you with open arms,” U’u-Hodgins said.

Dozens of local residents testified passionately at last week’s meeting, and they were largely split between Batangan, the current executive director of the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization and former deputy director of the county’s Department of Transportation, and Kamekona, the runner-up to Kama in last year’s election and a longtime community organizer. 

In the days before her death, Kama had requested that council members consider choosing Batangan to serve the remaining year left of her term, and several locals testified that they believed he would be the best option. Several others argued that Kamekona should be selected because thousands of residents voted for her in the most recent election.

A motion to appoint Batangan failed 4-4, with U‘u-Hodgins, Tom Cook of South Maui, Alice Lee of Central Maui and Yuki Lei Sugimura of Upcountry voting in favor and Tamara Paltin of West Maui, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez of Molokaʻi, Shane Sinenci of East Maui and Gabe Johnson of Lānaʻi voting against. A motion to appoint Kamekona failed 3-5, with Sinenci, Johnson and Rawlins-Fernandez voting yes and Sugimura, Paltin, U‘u-Hodgins, Cook and Lee voting no. 

The council members also voted 3-5 in opposition to a motion to appoint Agcolicol, with Paltin, Sinenci and Rawlins-Fernandez voting for that.

Before Kama’s death, the balance of power tipped slightly in favor of the council’s more conservative-leaning majority, which included Kama, Cook, Lee, Sugimura and U‘u-Hodgins. But it is now evenly split between that faction and the more progressive camp, which consists of Paltin, Rawlins-Fernandez, Sinenci and Johnson.

Now that the choice is in his hands, Bissen could choose one of the three nominees considered by the council, or select someone not yet discussed and Bill 9 could hang in the balance of that choice.

When the council advanced the measure out of the Housing and Land Use Subcommittee in July, Kama, who had chaired the committee, was one of three dissenting votes. While the other six council members voted in favor of moving forward with the legislation, some of them only agreed to do so on the condition that the possible economic and social repercussions continue to be investigated. 

Some of the most contentious details of Bill 9 have not been finalized, including which properties would be affected.

Bill 9’s first reading is currently scheduled for a special meeting Dec. 1, and if it passes, it’s expected to be scheduled for a second and final reading later in December, according to a statement from Chair Alice Lee earlier this month.

Batangan, whom Bissen appointed as deputy director of the county department of transportation in 2023, said at last week’s meeting that he would not vote to advance Bill 9 in its current form. Kamekona, on the other hand, told council members that she was 100% in favor of passing the legislation as it was proposed by the mayor.

The mayor’s office issued a statement Tuesday that read in part: “In light of recent events, and consistent with Section 3-4 of the Maui County Charter, the Mayor shall appoint a person to fill this vacancy without a special election … Mayor Bissen will move forward with vetting candidates to fill the Kahului seat for the remainder of the term.”

According to David Raatz, the director of the Office of Council Services, the county charter does not give the mayor a deadline to decide.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.