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Weakened by numerous vacancies and a shortage of resources to prosecute ethics violations, Maui County’s short-handed Board of Ethics could soon get a badly needed boost from new membership. 

But the recent appointment of Chivo Ching-Johnson, a senior producer at , is effectively on hold pending the resolution of a legal dispute over the process by which the county selected nominees to serve on a number of boards and commissions.

The has approved Ching-Johnson’s appointment, filling one of four vacancies on the county’s nine-person ethics board. His addition is considered crucial for a board that’s been unable to even meet unless at least five members are present. 

But the county’s has advised all recent appointees to boards, including Ching-Johnson, to wait in the wings until a lawsuit is resolved.

At issue is the timing of when Mayor Richard Bissen submitted his selections for citizen nominees to serve on county boards and commissions. 

The council says the mayor missed the deadline to submit his nominations and has since tried to make its own appointments. But Maui Judge Kelsey Kawano blocked a new appointee to the county Planning Commission from joining the nine-member panel last month.

Settlement talks are underway, according to Maui attorney Lance Collins, who is representing Dick Mayer, a retired University of Hawaii Maui College economics professor, in that halted construction executive ‘s appointment to the Planning Commission.

“This lawsuit was about one particular individual,” Maui County attorney Caleb Rowe said at Wednesday’s Board of Ethics meeting. “However, the complaint was over the process as a whole and Mr. Ching-Johnson’s nomination was part of that process. And so our office’s advice has been for people who were appointed via that process to not participate until the lawsuit is resolved.”

Rowe led the first 15 minutes of the meeting due to the absence of any elected officers. Members of the oversight board responsible for enforcing ethical behavior in government had planned to elect officers at its April meeting, but the meeting was called off due to a lack of quorum. This has happened twice in the last year.

On Wednesday, the board unanimously elected new leadership: Chairman Steven Sturdevant, Vice Chairman Michael Lilly and Secretary Scott Parker. 

Rowe said the Bissen administration is aware that there are three more board vacancies in addition to the seat to which Ching-Johnson has recently been appointed.

During public testimony, Ching-Johnson said he’s eager to contribute to the board and hopes his participation can be expedited.

“I certainly hope I can join the board,” Ching-Johnson said. “If not, I hope you get four other members that are qualified.”

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