Kaua'iCounty manager proposal killed-question will not be on the ballot this election cycle

County manager proposal killed

It is a no brainer that the proponent of this ideology and bill will bring it back up to this commission until it gets on the ballot. The question for me is, everytime some group doesn't like the Mayor, or can't get their way all the time, this issue will continue to resurface. Do I think that if there was a County Manager instead of a Mayor things would change? Not likely. The Mayoral staff is actually the defacto manager now. In the current case, that would be Gary Heu.

One of the problems that I have with this, is much like our Police Chief situation, the need to hire a good head hunter, ect, and look for someone outside of our community seems to be the underlying sentiment and impetus for this bill. I however, would rather see local talent to fill the slot. Many newcomers to our island, do not yet understand that this is not the mainland, and that Kauai is very unique among our island chain. Those who argue that this island is rife with corruption, and a "local " mentality, or a "plantation mentality".

Well, if you aren't local, or have never been here when the plantations were thriving you cannot understand the meaning of those words. When people move here the first thing they want to do is change things. They think they have all the answers and they can do things better. People talk about corruption and the ineptness of our county government. Well of course.

When I see these sentiments, I just cannot help but feel that it absolutely smacks of a kind of antagonistic attitude towards local people, being essentially inept to run their own affairs, and we must need someone with "an education and experience" to run our affairs. That pompous attitude is very thinly disguised racism. I believe that we have enough intelligent and talented individuals right here3, homegrown on the Garden Island. I do not see the need to go outside to manage our system.

If people do not like the way things are being done, then make your voice heard in the voting booth, or attend meetings, make phone calls, or email testimony and write letters. Start a blog. DO something about it. But I truly see this issue as a "newcomer, locals can't govern themselves" issue. Frank,ly I find the arguments put forth as rather offensive. Now to the mainland mentality, that is those that think we fuss about nothing, and then don't fuss enough about other things they fail to understand the uniqueness of Kaua'i. It is for that exact reason that I do not feel that at this time we need a County Manager form of Government.