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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Fern Holland, candidate for Kauai County Council. The top 14 primary vote-getters advance to the general election. The other primary candidates are Abe Apilado Jr.,��Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho Jr.,��Felicia Cowden, Sherri Cummings,��Bill DeCosta, Ross Kagawa, Arryl Kaneshiro, W. Butch Keahiolalo, KipuKai Kualii, Jacquelyn Nelson, Mel Rapozo and Bart Thomas.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing Kauai County, and what would you do about it?

The lack of affordable housing and the increased cost of living is the biggest issue facing Kauai County. This economic pressure is why we have seen an exodus of local families, and Kauai’s workforce, resulting in the loss of generational families and creating an unsustainable economy.

We must push hard for county solutions to reduce the cost of housing and food to keep local families on Kauai.
We need to diversify and prioritize our economy to provide good-paying jobs and keep money on Kauai.

I will push for solutions that will provide affordable housing, which we desperately need. If managed correctly we can help drive forward real affordable housing in appropriate locations that still preserve our environment and rural way of life. To make this happen, we need to tackle urgent infrastructure upgrades.

Helping small businesses and supporting our county’s local working families so that they can stay and invest in Kauai is more important than ever.

Another major issue we face are our drug and addiction problems. Firstly, we need to address the fentanyl emergency. We must also address the deeper issues of addiction using counseling programs, county detox and treatment centers and housing first solutions.

2. Kauai has proven vulnerable to natural disasters especially on the island’s north shore. What would you do to improve disaster preparedness?

To improve disaster preparedness, we must review and improve our current response protocols and procedures. I will push to have detailed and step-by-step disaster response plans that are specific to location as well as any potential disaster. I believe that in order to streamline our response, it is important that we work with existing on-the-ground community leaders and businesses.

Recent flooding in Wailua and Koloa is another reminder about how vulnerable we are to natural disasters. It is heartbreaking to see community members hurting due to flooded homes, cars and lost property, while feeling like our systems and responses failed them.

I believe the most important issues around disaster preparedness are developing islandwide flood mitigation plans that specifically address our unique flooding issues, ensuring the safety of our dams and reservoirs, addressing the fire threat caused by excessive overgrowth of invasive species and improving county and state response times.

I am proud to be a part of this tight and active community that works together to respond to emergencies, and if given the honor to serve I will do whatever I can to improve our disaster response and meet our community where they are.

3. There are nearly 14,000 cesspools on Kauai that must be removed by 2050. With an average cost of $15,000 to $30,000 to convert to septic, many homeowners say making the transition is not affordable. How can the county help to jump-start cesspool replacements?

I personally understand this issue and struggle. My home currently needs to be converted to septic and I am struggling to afford it. I am aware that costs have gone up significantly in the last few years, even exceeding $30,000.

We can find funding that can help offset the costs for conversions. Funding programs including those from the state and federal departments, nonprofits and foundations, as well as county-level options for incentives and/or subsidies.

Looking into nature-based wastewater treatment options will further minimize the impacts of leaching human waste and the associated contaminants. Partnering with those providing these solutions and incentives to complete them might also help offset costs while better protecting our environment.

Our county sewer system is in need of expansion. I will propose looking at federal funding opportunities that may have been made available through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. I will use these funding opportunities to upgrade our wastewater treatment facilities and develop the sewer infrastructure. Federal and state funding opportunities are available and need to be a priority. Driving this conversation forward is the responsibility of our county and I will be committed to helping do that as a council member.

4. Traffic is getting worse on Kauai, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Kauai’s transportation problems?

My approach will be to connect with the planners already working on current solutions to find out how I can help them solve traffic concerns. Wherever I can, in my capacity as a council member, I will help to address project needs by finding funding or support to get them completed.

I will work with the State Department of Transportation to revisit making a second lane from Kapaa to Lihue, alleviate other bottleneck locations and develop alternative routes as part of emergency management and traffic mitigation.

I support expanding public transportation so residents can more regularly rely on bus services and so more visitors can experience Kauai without renting a car. I will look at getting the bus running on Sunday and work to facilitate expansion. I understand the county struggles to hire drivers and I will look at how we address this. Marketing the county website mayy also help visitors not need a rental car.

Creating more employment around Kauai while providing housing in Lihue and central areas can also help to reduce cars on the road. Providing more options for housing where jobs are concentrated provides options for people who want to live closer to their workplace.

5. The median price for a single-family home on Kauai has topped $1 million. What would you do to help address the shortage of low-income, affordable and middle-class housing?

Addressing affordable housing is a top priority for me. I will support development projects like the Lima Ola affordable housing project and efforts to bring in state and federal support to fund such projects. I will also support the development of additional family units on existing residences and programs that can help applicants with the permitting and approval processes.

I understand we need to look at reasonable ways to discourage non-residents from buying second homes here for use as vacation rentals, and help keep homes in the long-term rental market. I will look for out-of-the-box solutions to help offset and reduce rental costs, as well as encourage and incentivize homeowners to rent their homes on long-term affordable leases.

If elected, I will dive into the research that has been done on what has worked in other areas and connect with the groups already working on this issue. I want to dive into the issues that may be delaying approved projects and work with department heads to improve and streamline more affordable housing projects.

6. Kauai’s landfill in Kekaha will soon run out of capacity and there’s still no timely plan in place to build a new one. What can the county council do to address what could become a garbage crisis for the island?

To address this important issue, we must work urgently to drive forward the development of a new landfill, while doing everything we can to focus on waste reduction and diversion tactics.

The development of a landfill will take longer to address than we currently have. Reducing the waste we generate and diverting what we can from the current landfill will be critical in establishing responsible waste management for our small island. Decision-makers deferred this important issue for far too long and now we have run out of time. I am realistic about the time it will take to finalize a location and build a new landfill and understand that it is likely we do not have many options once the EPA shuts down the Kekaha Landfill in approximately four years.

I will push to move forward on landfill development while we also move on curbside recycling and waste diversion. I have and will continue to support a materials recovery facility for Kauai in conjunction with curbside recycling. Over the last few years, on the state level, I have worked to support composting and organic waste diversion measures. I will work to do similar diversion measures locally also.

7. Overtourism can degrade the environment, threaten biodiversity, contribute to wear and tear on infrastructure, generate traffic and disrupt neighborhoods. What more can be done to better manage the island’s tourism sector?

The Kauai Destination Management Action Plan (DMAP) is a positive step forward in creating a better relationship with tourism that feels less extractive to local residents. I appreciate the goal to rebuild, redefine and reset the direction of tourism. I believe that the aim of regenerative tourism is to expand economic diversification, protect our environment and resources, provide genuine cultural experiences and keep more revenue on Kauai.

It is critical that we look at other island destinations with high visitor rates for management solutions that have worked for their communities. There must be ways to better control the number of visitors at highly trafficked sites. I support measures such as investigating site visitor limits in specific areas, and site management plans to develop and implement tourism capacity management models at “hotspot” areas. I support possible solutions such as a universal user fee model to help offset maintenance costs at beaches and parks.

8. Should more be done to encourage agriculture and food sustainability on Kauai? What would you suggest?

Yes, we absolutely need to encourage agriculture and improve our food security. I will dive into agricultural solutions that support expanding local agriculture in a way that connects the market to farmers and closes the gaps in our agricultural sector to increase local food production and diversify our economy.

I am extremely passionate about this issue and have worked for years lobbying for measures in the state Legislature that will support agricultural needs, regenerative agricultural practices, local procurement and incentives for farmers. As the director of fair and sustainable food systems for the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, being passionate about this issue is my current full time job. I work with partners around the state supporting farmers, procuring local food, developing agricultural policy and transforming Hawaiian agriculture.

I am committed to ways that we can expand “cottage food” opportunities, double local food production, patch holes in our food system and provide the infrastructure we need to do so.

I will look at developing a Kauai County Department of Agriculture to effectively facilitate us reaching our agricultural goals.

9. What would you do to ensure transparency and accountability in county government?

We need to get the money out of politics in order to have clean elections. Lobbyists, special interests and pay-to-play politics have resulted in big business and industry interests coming before residents.

As a council member, to help ensure county transparency, I will work to hire an independent auditor. I understand how important it is to manage our resources correctly and regularly audit for waste, fraud and abuse. An independent auditor is a critical tool to help hold our county accountable to taxpayers.

I will support having financial disclosures of the council members, mayor, department heads and commissioners to be posted online, for public review.

I will look at requiring public servants to disclose their clients if they are privately consulting or doing private legal services, and also providing a disclosure database that allows people to follow the revolving door of local politics.

Another way we could create more transparency is to require the posting of all county contracts (bid and no bid), for public review, disclosing who gets contracts, especially non-bid contracts.

The county could also require agencies to comply with UIPA (freedom of information) requests in a timely manner and notify the public when requests are not met.