The mayor’s race is already over but Waiakea-area residents can still decide who represents them on the County Council.
For the first time since 2008, voters there will have a say Nov. 8 in who takes the council seat.
District 3 council member Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, who first took office when it was District 4, is term-limited and will leave the council in December. He was unopposed in the past three elections, making this the first competitive race in nearly a decade.
Seeking to replace him is Sue Lee Loy, a planning consultant, and Moana Kelii, a union agent with the Hawaii Government Employees Association. A third candidate, Grace Castillo, was narrowly edged out of the race after falling 16 votes behind Kelii in the Aug. 13 primary.
Kelii and Lee Loy are both Panaewa residents. While neither has run for office before, their careers have intersected with county government in one way or another.
For Lee Loy, 46, running for office feels like coming “full circle.”
She started working for the council as an intern while attending University of Hawaii at Hilo and later worked as a council aide, a job she held for eight years.
But Lee Loy, who sits on the county Water Board, said she didn’t see herself running for one of the posts. She said she was approached by Onishi, who has endorsed her, and others to run.
That made her feel “incredibly humbled and honored,” said Lee Loy, who works as both a legal assistant and planning consultant. She said she would likely quit that work to be a full-time council member if elected.
Kelii, 45, is the senior HGEA agent for Hawaii Island and represents more than 4,000 public workers.
She said she previously worked as a social worker, a job she found rewarding and challenging.
“That was the best job I ever had,” Kelii said. “It also was the most volatile.”
She said she is running for council because she wants to make Hilo a “thriving community” that her children can return to after graduating college.
“My biggest fear is they will be forced to live on the mainland and not come back to Hawaii because the cost of living is too high and they won’t be able to find a job in their field of study,” Kelii said.
Lee Loy said she wants to focus on improving “core services,” such as infrastructure, and believes her work experience gives her insight into the job most candidates lack.
“The biggest tool in the tool belt for council members is the ability to write laws, write policies,” she said. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
Lee Loy said the council has lost focus on what matters most to residents.
“They’ve spent a lot of time on certain issues when they should have been more focused on core services,” she said.
As a union representative, Kelii said she has been involved in legislative issues at the state Capitol in order to “maintain the rights and benefits of our members” and representing employees at the county.
Kelii said that gives her insight into the legislative process and the functions of county government.
“I believe bringing those skills to the council, where I’m able to take time to listen, to be able to realize and identify what the issues are, and finding a way to either address or resolve many issues, is one of the assets I bring to the table,” she said.
Kelii said she doesn’t intend to cut ties to HGEA completely if elected to the council.
She said she would no longer work as a union representative but wants to still be involved in “membership benefits,” community service initiatives and training younger union members.
Kelii said she doesn’t think that would create a conflict of interest. HGEA is the state’s largest public sector union.
“It’s part of our mission to be active in our community,” she said. “I wouldn’t be a union agent.”
Banyan Drive
Both candidates expressed support for the county’s new Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency.
The agency, assisted by the county Planning Department, is tasked with developing a plan to guide development on the Waiakea Peninsula. One idea is to create a Hawaiian cultural and event center.
Lee Loy said a challenge will be how to pay for any improvements and what happens with existing residents who might get displaced.
The area is home to several aging condo buildings that previously were hotels. Some of those buildings might be torn down, according to draft plans.
She said rising sea levels from climate change also is a concern.
Kelii said redevelopment of the area is long overdue but she has concerns about reducing the number of residential units.
“Where are they going to relocate to?” she said. “I’m all for revitalizing Banyan Drive, 100 percent. I want to be sure that these residents … they need to be taken cared of.”
Housing
Lee Loy said she’d like to see definitions of affordable housing to include multi-generational homes.
She also said the county’s building code unintentionally increases the cost of housing and that the council should look at adopting some exemptions.
Kelii said she wants to see more “transitional housing” for the homeless that is less restrictive on requirements for those in need of help.
Regarding homelessness, Lee Loy said she would consider a sit-lie ban to get the homeless off the streets if there are enough social programs for them to access. Such bans, like the one in Honolulu, make it illegal to lie down in public.
“I would only do it when those programs are ready,” she said.
Kelii said such a ban would be a mistake.
“It just breaks my heart when you see it happening, when they are trashing all of their belongings,” she said.
Landfill
Kelii said she supports a zero-waste plan, which she believes is attainable.
She said waste-to-energy is an option the county should still consider for dealing with the Hilo landfill’s capacity problems. Kelii said she knows that is controversial.
“You can’t close the door on something like that,” she said. “You can’t close the door just because you have one loud group that’s saying close the door.”
Lee Loy said she also is in favor of keeping a waste-to-energy project on the table.
“I think we should explore it all,” she said. “I’m not saying no to anything at this point.”
Lee Loy said she doesn’t support banning plastic foam food containers. Such a ban failed to pass the council earlier this year.
She said that would impact businesses and consumers.
“Sometimes you don’t know how the hipbone is connected to the leg bone,” Lee Loy said. “We just don’t know the ripple effect of that.”
Kelii said she would support a phased approach for banning Styrofoam products.
“I believe moving in the right direction of a reduction would be great,” she said.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
