A lawsuit filed Monday seeks to overturn the reassignment of state Water Commission Deputy Director M. Kaleo Manuel, who was given a new job after he apparently delayed permission to allow stream water to be made available for fire control during the Lahaina wildfire.

The suit accuses state Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair Dawn Chang, who also is chair of the Commission on Water Resource Management, of going beyond her legal authority to remove Manuel.

“The West Maui community needs stability and consistency right now, not knee-jerk edicts issued behind closed doors in Honolulu,” said Maui attorney Lance Collins, who represents West Maui residents Kekai Keahi and Jen Kamaho‘i Mather in the complaint.

The suit comes as authorities continue working to identify the remains of those killed in the massive fire.

The Maui Police Department on Monday identified two more fire victims as Douglas Gloege, 59, and Juan de Leon, 45, both of Lahaina.

Thirty-five victims have been identified so far. The families of 13 of those victims have been notified, officials said, while the families of 22 others have yet to be located or notified.

As for the survivors, 16 people remain in shelters, while nearly 2,000 people have been moved into hotel rooms, officials said.

Federal authorities said they have distributed more than $8.5 million to residents of Maui — $3.6 million of that for direct rental assistance, for which some 8,000 families have registered.

More than 1,000 responders from dozens of federal agencies are on the ground on the Valley Isle.

Before Monday’s afternoon visit by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Monday morning that 85% of the burn area has been searched.

“But we need to remember that this remaining 15% that’s out there includes several multistory, multifamily dwellings,” she said.

In his address in Lahaina on Monday afternoon, Biden announced the appointment of FEMA Regional Administrator Bob Fenton as chief federal response coordinator for Maui. Fenton heads Region 9, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and the Pacific territories.

Criswell called Fenton one of the agency’s most experienced emergency managers, known for making sure that the various federal departments and agencies bring all the resources they can to help communities rebuild and recover.

Regarding the Water Commission lawsuit, Collins, the Maui attorney, said state law allows only the commission to take personnel actions on its deputy, and those actions must occur in an open meeting. The deputy acts as the commission’s executive director.

Failure to provide notice and opportunity for the community to testify at an open meeting about the removal was a violation of the state’s Sunshine Law, according to the suit.

And even if the commission were to hand authority over the deputy to the chairperson, that action would also have to occur at an open meeting, Collins said, adding that no such meeting has occurred.

In the suit, Keahi and Mather are asking that the decision to transfer Manuel be voided and that the court order the Water Commission to comply with the Sunshine Law before taking any such action in the future.

The state Attorney General’s Office called the lawsuit “wholly without merit.”

“A simple review of the statutes cited in the complaint itself demonstrates that it is the chairperson who appoints her own deputy — a position which is called in law ‘deputy to the chairperson.’ We look forward to presenting a motion to dismiss,” a statement said.

On Saturday the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced that Dean Uyeno, a 25-year-long CWRM staffer, had been assigned on a temporary basis as interim DLNR water deputy.

Manuel was removed Aug. 16, one week after Lahaina was destroyed by a wind-driven wildfire that overwhelmed firefighters who reported running out of water from fire hydrants.

In a letter to Manuel the day after the fire, West Maui Land Co. executive Glenn Tremble said his request to fill the company’s reservoirs with stream water was delayed by at least five hours and that it was too late by then to contribute to the firefight.

Collins said both Keahi and Mather were engaged in relief efforts in West Maui on Monday and unavailable for comment.

On Friday, Keahi spoke at a news conference of a newly organized group calling itself Na ‘Ohana o Lele, a coalition of activists who have mobilized to help fire victims.

Keahi said the narrative that the water could have helped firefighters was a false one because none of the streams are connected to fire hydrants. Additionally, the wind was too strong for helicopters to make water drops that day, according to authorities.

Keahi said the land company is using the disaster to push its development agenda.

Collins said the water company has been an ardent opponent of the Water Commission’s efforts to create equity among all water users, including traditional kalo farmers, through the Lahaina water management area established in 2022.

Tremble couldn’t be reached for comment Monday afternoon.