Several Upcountry residents and community representatives urged the Maui County Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee to prioritize wildfire mitigation, green‑waste management and water‑system resilience during the FY2026 budget process.

Jordan Hawker, Kula Community Association board president, listed water supply and wildfire preparedness among his association’s top budget priorities and requested staged water tanks to improve pressure and backup capacity for fire response. “We need dependable water provided to upcountry,” he said, and asked the county to include capital funding for transmission and capacity upgrades.

Kyle Ellison, who has been coordinating green‑waste chipping work in the area, described recent on‑the‑ground efforts to remove hazardous fuel and turn surplus biomass into wood chips for agricultural use. He said the organization he works with has chipped more than 1,550 cubic yards of wood — roughly 850,000 pounds — since the fire and argued that local processing of woody debris would both reduce fuel loads and provide a useful product for soil retention and erosion control.

Ellison and other witnesses asked the county to fund green‑waste facilities and to support workforce development for chipping, hauling and mitigation crews. “The solution to many of the problems that we have upcountry is found in the problem itself,” Ellison said, describing how chipped material can suppress regrowth and help soil retention on slopes.

Speakers also raised invasive‑species control, road and sidewalk safety (including requests for speed‑reducing measures and sidewalk infill near schools), and expanded recycling/composting facilities upcountry. Committee members asked staff to coordinate with the Office of Recovery and HUD CDBG‑DR planning where mitigation funding may be available; a witness noted roughly $213 million in hazard mitigation funding identified within a larger CDBG‑DR allocation referenced during the meeting.

No committee action was taken at the residency hearing; witnesses urged the council to include mitigation, water reliability and green‑waste infrastructure in upcoming capital and operating budgets.