HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii Island Mayor Mitch Roth broke down the work the county has into three categories: reformation, resilience and adaptation.
Those words, he said, will act as the guiding principles for his administration going forward.
Reformation, in this sense, is our administration’s actions and processes of reforming the
Mayor Mitch Roth
institution we inherited to make it better, more efficient, and more reliable.
At the live stream, provided courtesy of Nā Leo TV, was Gov. Josh Green as well as Kauai’s Mayor Derek Kawakami.
Roth’s first theme word represents letting go of the past and taking accountability of tasks that needed to be done such as critical infrastructure upgrades, the Mauna Loa eruption and Hilo wastewater treatment.
Among the issues addressed was the Kalanianaole Street road work, which impacted Keuakaha residents for five years. That project was completed in December.
Also on the agenda, the voluntary buyout of homes lost in the 2018 eruption of Kilauea. Roth’s administration has spent $37.5 million federal grants to support 193 households.
Affordable housing is moving forward on the Big Island with 5,767 units in the pipeline to the just over 1,000 when the mayor took office.
According to Mayor Roth, homeless services are in the works and federal funding is secured to provide not just shelter but social services and transition services to more permanent housing, medical outreach and detoxification.
The mayor thanked individuals throughout his address for their contributions to securing funding, bringing projects to fruition and completion as well as the support of legislators in preparing the county for the present and the future.
“The road ahead to achieve these goals is already underway, and we’re incredibly proud of the
work we’ve done, the work we’re doing, and the work we will do to get us to a place where our
keiki are no longer our biggest export.”
