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Maui County real property tax committee recesses after truncated public link; OIP advice cited
Summary
The Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform recessed Sept. 16, 2025 after staff discovered a truncated hyperlink on a courtesy agenda that prevented public access to the Teams link. Committee and counsel said they followed advice from the state Office of Information Practices (OIP) and will reconvene Sept. 17.
The Maui County Council’s Special Committee on Real Property Tax Reform recessed its Sept. 16, 2025 meeting after staff discovered that a publicly posted, English-language courtesy agenda contained a truncated hyperlink that prevented some members of the public from accessing the correct Teams link to testify.
Committee staff told members the truncated link appeared next to the video feed on Granicus and was cutting off the last character of the hyperlink. Peter Hanano, a committee staff member, said people were reporting they could not find the correct link to join and provide testimony.
Corporation Counsel Christy Rigglesworth told members she disagreed with the decision to recess but said OIP — the state Office of Information Practices, which provides advice on Sunshine Law compliance — had recommended recessing the meeting to avoid a potential complaint. Rigglesworth said staff had consulted OIP and followed its advice.
Several members argued that the meeting could continue because the main bilingual agenda and video feed were accessible via other channels (YouTube, Facebook Live, Akakau channel 53, and Granicus), but staff said the specific courtesy English agenda that accompanies the video contained the truncated link and that some people had been unable to testify. The committee chair said recessing would allow staff to fix the link and ensure full public participation.
The chair recessed the meeting to reconvene on Sept. 17, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in the council chamber and via the corrected Teams link on the bilingual agenda. Committee staff were instructed to shorten the printed text so the hyperlink would not wrap or be truncated and to repost the corrected agenda and link.
The committee did not take substantive votes during the Sept. 16 session; several public testifiers who had been scheduled to speak were told they could return to testify when the committee reconvened.
