Name on ballot:

Rosemarie Jauch

Running for:

Kauai county council

Political party:

No answer submitted

Campaign website:

jauchforkcc.com/

Current occupation:

Retired

Age:

65

Previous job history:

Retired from the telecommunications industry

Previous elected office, if any:

No answer submitted

Please describe your qualifications to represent the voters of your county.

Prior to retiring from the fast paced telecommunications industry I was a representative for a fiber optic manufacturer in Phoenix and an international Unisys Burroughs mainframe and peripherals broker in Scottsdale.

In conjunction with The Children’s Action Alliance and Grandparents As Ambassadors we drafted a bill that provided a five million dollars initial appropriation to the kinship families of children removed from home by Children’s Protective Services. I was a speaker at the final Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. The bill passed and also became part of the permanent budget with the ability to seek additional revenue based on the data submitted.

What is the most pressing need for the people you seek to represent, and what will you do to address that need?

Voters elect their public servants. I understand the assignment. Although I have my own thoughts and opinions on the many issues that the Council is presented with, If elected to a seat, I will always honor the fact that I represent the people of the island in casting my vote. Let me represent YOU!

Rising inflation has significantly worsened Hawaii’s already high cost of living. What can be done at the county level to help residents cope with high consumer prices?

CPI-U Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 7.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices rose 8.7 percent. Energy prices jumped 37.6 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.3 percent over the year. The population is tired, worn out from two years of the pandemic and all the dark days that visited our shores. The population of Kauai is resilient and help one another out in times of adversity.

What specific solutions do you propose to combat homelessness and to make housing more affordable to residents?

The topic of affordable has been a campaign issue for decades. The time has come to end the cycle of analysis paralysis and start building the necessary infrastructure. The last report I saw was from 2018 which projected a housing deficit of over 5,000 units on Kauai by 2035.

Last year Managing Director Michael Dahilig mentioned that 11 units were just made available. End the buyback tactics of affordable units that has transpired in the early days of their release. I support Hawaiian Home Lands. This year marks 51 parcels being made available in Anahola.

The matter of dedicating 2% of annual Real Estate Tax to affordable housing as part of the permanent budget will go to public forum and then possibly be on the 2022 ballot for the tax payers to decide.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, what more should county government do to protect residents’ health?

While 2020-2021 brought some very dark days to our shores, the positive impact of experiencing life as it was decades ago taught those who were in tune that we depend on each other in times of adversity. Even though our government offices shuttered and the community experienced a decide-and-announce series of disturbing proclamations and mandates that classified us as essential and nonessential, we learned that we are all essential.

Hopefully the next time a health care crisis presents, Kauai will be better prepared in handling it. The main concern was that adequate ICU support would not be available. All the CARES funding that was provided — how much went to ICU capacity for disaster planning? I wonder if a natural disaster of crisis proportions should occur, who will get the nine ICU beds available? If I were involved, I would have proposed funds to improve medical emergency preparedness.

What should county government do to help residents who have been economically affected by the pandemic?

Many businesses that clung to life in 2020-2021 are now experiencing severe staffing shortages. We lost 16,000 people state wide. Employers are offering signing bonuses. It’s time to get back to work.

I am not familiar with this program but Rise To Work was established to help address the problem.

This is a complex matter and will require the private sector’s time-tested ability to incentivize labor to participate in the staffing recovery. In some cases temporary employees, i.e. visiting nurses, should be utilized until the deficit can be diminished. Perhaps recently retired employees would be interested in helping short term by returning to the job market?

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make county government more transparent to the public?

Institute Town Hall Meetings on the important issues of the day. The government are public servants. On Oahu despite four hours of Zoom oral testimony, 6,000 written submissions and a physical presence of opposition protestors on the Safe Access O’ahu vaccine digital passports were mandated. Kauai did not force residents to comply with this but there have never been any Town Hall meetings to ensure that the voices of the community are heard and their expressed wishes are acted upon.

Do you think more needs to be done at the county level to manage tourism? If so, what would you propose?  

Hawaii is married to tourism like Las Vegas is married to gambling. The key is to manage it effectively. One very good proposed idea is to cap the number of visitors each day at lifeguarded beaches.

Implement and charge air carriers in a lottery for staggered arrival and departure times, as is the existing construct elsewhere.

The island has already embraced the concept of managing the impact proactively. The Kauai Tourism Strategic Plan was announced in 2019. New airport shuttle service was added in 2021

The Kauai Destination Management Action Plan 2021-2023 is a 24-page report by the HTA designed to rebuild, redefine and reset the direction of the industry that brings in approximately $18 billion in total per annum spending and supports approximately 216,000 jobs.

The 2018 Kauai General Plan calls for limiting new resort development and says that any permitted growth in the visitor industry needs to consider the negative impact it can have on our infrastructure and our communities.

What would you propose to help diversify the county’s economy beyond tourism?

Kupa’a Kaua’i was cut and pasted from the Kauai County website. We must all work together to achieve a healthy economy, reduce dependence on importation and stop sending the containers back empty.

Kupa‘a Kaua‘i – Kaua‘i Forward!
The Kaua‘i 2022-2026 Comprehensive Economic Development Plan (CEDS) started in the summer 2021 as an update of the 2016-2020 CEDS. The CEDS Plan Steering Committee took as its theme – ‘Kupa‘a Kaua‘i – Kaua‘i Forward!’ – aligning with the County’s pandemic recovery plan to come together as a community to work collaboratively to rebuild, restart and re-energize the future of Kaua‘i

It brought together a broad spectrum of community leaders from business, government, education, nonprofits, technology, and agriculture to exchange ideas and to discuss common challenges and opportunities for making Kaua‘i County a better place.

The Kaua‘i CEDS update for 2022-2026 maintains the focus of the previous CEDS plans on diversifying Kaua‘i’s economy by focusing on 6 industry clusters – Food and Agriculture; Renewable Energy Sustainable Technologies and Practices; Science and Technology; Visitor Industry Management and Preservation; Health and Wellness and Arts and Culture.
The CEDS process enabled networking opportunities among these same community members during which they were able to discuss and debate issues important to the Kaua‘i County.
During the 7 months in which the CEDS plan development process unfolded, a total of 25 virtual meetings were held focusing on topics such as the economic growth, tourism management, agricultural practices, infrastructure improvements, leveraging technology, strengthening healthcare, transportation alternatives, and climate change.

The 2022-2026 CEDS plan will act as the roadmap and eventual framework for assessing and achieving progress toward the economic goals that the county’s stakeholders have collectively outlined.

Over the next five years, the Kaua‘i County CEDS Steering Committee, industry clusters and the Kaua‘i Economic Development Board will monitor the progress and continue building the partnerships necessary to achieve the CEDS goals.

In the spirit of ‘Kupa‘a Kaua‘i – Kaua‘i Forward!’, this document intends to serve as a tool for better communication and collaboration toward the work of building a more thriving, equitable and sustainable regional economy.

What can county government do to mitigate the affects of sea-level rise?

A quick fix for erosion that has already been utilized to some extent on Kauai is what Waikiki does, hydraulic dredging and pumping of sand.

Long term the county planners are talking about managed retreat, as it’s called,. It is logistically complicated. It would require tremendous amounts of political will, community buy-in and money. And there’s no blueprint in Hawaii for implementing it on a large scale. In lay terms it is an inland migration possibly involving land swaps.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

I support family values, less government control, school and medical choice, parental rights,

Death by overdose in 2021 rose 200% mostly attributed to Fentanyl. I support increased resources to raise awareness and educate the community on the presence of this killer on our island and increase inter agency collaboration to drastically reduce the trafficking. I encourage judges to impart the maximum sentences allowable to those convicted of poisoning their own people.