Scheuer named chair of East Maui Water Authority
The following is an excerpt from a Honolulu Civil Beat story by Paula Dobbyn, published on February 29, 2024. Read the full story here.
A longtime champion of Native Hawaiian rights took the helm Thursday of a voter-created body that could significantly influence how water policy gets shaped and what projects get developed on the island’s east side going forward.
The newly formed East Maui Regional Community Board selected Jonathan Scheuer as chairman in an 8-1 vote. Former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa voted against Scheuer after making a strong push to fill the role himself during the board’s first meeting.
“This board and what it’s going to do is going to have a significant impact for generations to come,” Arakawa said.
Scheuer, an Oahu-based consultant for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and Arakawa were vastly different options to chair the board, which oversees the East Maui Water Authority that voters created after overwhelming passing a charter amendment in November 2022. The Maui County Council appointed them to serve on the 11-member board after a hyper political vetting process last year.
…
“Given the really significant kuleana of this board and what we’ve been asked to do and also the complexity and difficulty, my desire is simply to serve my fellow members and the voters of Maui who asked for this work to be done,” Scheuer said.
