‘Back to the basics’

LIHUE — After a little more than a year in office, Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami still manages to squeeze in some surfing.

Even if it means he has to paddle out in the morning when it’s dark.

Even if it means he catches just one wave.

Even if it means he just gets wet.

“The ocean is sort of like my church,” he said. “It’s where I get centered. I tell everybody there is probably nothing more humbling then to be in the ocean. It keeps you grounded.”

And staying grounded is critical to the mayor, who recently sat down with The Garden Island to talk story about what happened in 2019, his first full year in office, and what’s ahead in 2020.

“Overall, I am pleased with the changes that we were able to make, and I am driven for the upcoming year to be able to accomplish what we weren’t able to wrap up for this year,” he said from a chair in the Mayor’s Office. “I’m pleased because it’s a huge challenge. I’m not sure people realize how big of an organization and how many services the County of Kauai offers.”

Kawakami said his previous years of service on the Kauai County Council and in the state Legislature gave him a solid grasp of government operations, but added that compared to being on the administration side, it’s like “night and day.”

So shortly after being sworn in on Dec. 3, 2018, he committed to assessing the county’s operation from the ground up, because “we cannot build if we don’t have a good foundation.”

“The only way to do that is to get out into the field and really be a mayor that works every single job, just to get a taste of how things are operating, what the tone is in the different departments,” he said.

So the mayor cleaned restrooms. He got behind the counter at the department of motor vehicles. He went with the road crews.

“I have gone out into the fields to work with those folks, and day in and day out, I am privileged to see their work ethic and the amount of work they put in,” he said.

He learned what was needed in manpower, equipment, training and education for county crews to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

One change was modernizing motor vehicle registration and driver’s licensing to make it “a much more pleasant experience.”

That was just the start. He wants to be clear, the county has been, is and will be working hard as public servants. His team doesn’t expect a lot of accolades from the general public, so he gives it to them.

“A lot of what we accomplish goes unseen by most people because it’s internal changes, cultural changes,” he said.

That includes improvements in simple things like better communication and coordination between departments.

This year, the mayor’s plans call for repaving nearly 50 miles of county roads, adding to the 20 repaved in 2019. That’s more than past years, he said, “just because we’re shifting that to a different priority and allocating resources to it,” he said.

The Ohana Zone project in Lihue targeted for Pua Loke Park is set to begin this year, too, which will provide housing for the homeless.

He said the county hopes to use that project as a model to “break down some of these stigmas we deal with in the issues of some of these people who do not have houses to live in.

They want to target those who “truly want the help and need the help.”

“We want to show folks what can happen when public and private sector can partner up,” he said.

He had high praise for his information-technology staff, “because nobody sees them. Those folks are just hammering away all day dealing with an archaic system and making sure the day-to-day operation of county business can get done.”

This year, the county will be rolling out an anti-vandalism campaign and will look at more ways to deal with abandoned vehicles, an issue that became a focal point last year.

“This is really a financial issue for many families,” he said. “Junking a vehicle and getting it down to Puhi Metals Recycling to be recycled is a pretty complicated process for most people.”

A number of families must use vehicles pretty much until they stop running, and then the vehicle ends up in their yard for a few years. Later, they go to get rid of it and find out they owe back taxes.

“Nobody is going to pay a registration fee if that vehicle is dead in their front yard,” he said. “I mean, I wouldn’t. So I get it.”

A possible solution could be to create satellite base yards for abandoned vehicles, similar to ewaste recycling. There could be days when you can bring your old vehicle in for free and the county will get them to Puhi Metals, the mayor said.

“The reality is, it’s much easier for us to deal with it rather than folks throwing it all over the island because it’s going to happen anyway,” he said. “We can’t move forward without accepting the reality that you’re going to have a minority of people for whatever which reason are going to leave their cars on the side of the road.”

Key, the mayor said, is that the county control what it can, focus on where it has the ability to make changes.

His mother, Arlene Kawakami, who passed away Sept. 4, 2015, would often talk to him about how things could be relatively simple “if people can just break down what it is that they can control and what it is that’s out of their control.”

“That’s really where I think we have been much more efficient in our operations and delivery of services,” Kawakami said. “Of course, there are countless ways we can improve and we are always prioritizing and re-prioritizing where those improvements can be made. Let’s face it, we are faced with some very dynamic challenges, and the landscape is very dynamic.”

Nothing stays status quo, he said. Change, unexpected at times, will happen.

For instance, he didn’t anticipate that Waste Management was going to stop operating the Kekaha landfill, or that the state would decide to no longer maintain the Waimea River mouth.

“But it happened and we are shouldering the burden,” he said.

“And that’s our attitude. We have a team of folks that are doers and they’re always willing to get out there and go above and beyond.”

A common denominator of county staff, he said, is that most are part of a multi-generational family that has long called Kauai home, or came here because they love the island.

“I’m very happy with some of the fighting spirit that I see within our people. They take it on the chin every single day, but they do it with grace for the most part,” Kawakami said. “And they’re always willing to step up to the best of their ability.”

The mayor said each day he wakes up, “it still feels like I’m dreaming. I think the biggest highlight for me in this first year is coming to the realization that probably the biggest success that any person can have is to find the profession that they’re happy to show up to work for.”

Kawakami leaves no doubt he is happy to show up for work.

“I am still in my mind the luckiest mayor, of all the mayors that I’ve met, of all the places that I’ve been, of all the islands that I’ve been to, in the state of Hawaii,” he said. “I’m very thankful and blessed to be able to be a servant that happens to have a title for the people and for the place of Kauai.”

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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.