Hawaii County Charter Proposal Would Fill Some Council Vacancies Quicker
The ballot measure would allow a candidate who wins a seat in the primary to take office early when there is a vacancy.
Two years ago Cindy Evans found herself in a frustrating predicament. She had won election outright to the Hawaii County Council seat representing North and South Kohala in the August 2022 primary, and the post became vacant Nov. 8.
But Evans was unable to actually take office until she was officially sworn in with the rest of the council Dec. 5. That left the seat vacant for almost a month.
“We had all of District 9 and all those voters unrepresented on the council, and it just seems that people should have a vote and a voice because there’s quite a few things that come up at the council to make decisions on,” Evans said.
Shortly after she took office, Evans said she set to work to make sure that never happens again. The result is a in November to cope with what has become a reoccurring situation on the Big Island council.
The 2022 scenario grew out of a decision by then-Hawaii County Councilman Tim Richards, who he planned to leave his County Council seat representing Kohala to run for the state Senate.
Evans, who was well known in the district after serving 16 years in the state House, decided to run for the Kohala council seat that Richards was leaving.
She then won more than 50% of the total vote in the Aug. 13, 2022, primary election. Under the nonpartisan system that governs Big Island county elections, that meant that she was elected outright in the primary. But she was not scheduled to be sworn in until Dec. 5.
Richards then won election to the Senate in the November general election, and resigned from his council seat effective Nov. 8 so that he could immediately join the Senate.
His resignation left the council seat vacant, and Evans asked to be appointed by the other council members to fill out Richards’ unfinished term. That would have allowed her to take office before the regularly scheduled Dec. 5 swearing in of the rest of the council.
“It seems to me that I was voted by the public, I was accepted as being their council member, why can’t I take office earlier, given that there was a vacancy?” Evans asked.
But then-Council Chairwoman Maile David concluded that by the time the council completed the formal process of appointing Evans, Richards’ term on the council would be almost entirely over, Evans said. She said David declined to recommend the appointment to the full council for logistical reasons.
After much debate, the council voted last year to put on the Nov. 5 ballot this year to deal with that vacancy issue.
If approved, it would require that when a vacancy occurs after a candidate has already been elected to fill the vacated seat, that candidate then fills the vacancy.
As a footnote, the scenario Evans found so frustrating in 2022 is playing out again this year in a Hilo council district that includes Keaukaha, Panaewa and parts of Waiakea.
Hawaii County Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy won election to the state House in this year’s August Democratic primary because she is unopposed in the general election. That means Lee Loy must resign from her council seat before she officially becomes a state representative Nov. 5.
Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, meanwhile, won election outright in the Aug. 10 primary to the council seat that Lee Loy now occupies, but the new council members are not scheduled to be sworn into office until December.
