James Trujillo files for Kauai County Council, targets waste crisis

James Trujillo entered the Kauai County Council race with a campaign built around the island’s waste problem, housing services and the kind of practical county work that touches households from Kekaha to Kilauea. The first-time candidate filed nomination papers on June 1, setting up a bid for one of the seven at-large council seats that will go to voters in the Aug. 8 primary and, if needed, the Nov. 3 general election.

Trujillo, listed by elections officials as Jimmy T., has lived on Kauai since 1999 and lives in Kapahi with his wife, four cats and, as one account put it, nearly a million honeybees. His background is spread across local education, youth development and community radio rather than partisan politics, a profile that gives his campaign a more ground-level cast than many first-time runs.

He has hosted a weekly Public Affairs Program on Kauai Community Radio, or KKCR FM 91.9, since 2006. KKCR describes itself as Kaua‘i’s independent, non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station, with programming that includes community affairs and weekly call-in talk shows. Trujillo also works as a long-term Career Technology Education substitute teacher at Kapa‘a High School, which puts him in daily contact with students and staff in one of the island’s key public schools.

His ties to Kauai Community College may matter just as much to voters looking for proof that campaign slogans translate into management. From 2007 to 2021, he worked at KCC and helped start the KCC Apiary Project in 2010 with Dr. Francis Takahashi and Chancellor Helen Cox. The project began with support from the Kaua‘i Rural Development Program and later received funding from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education grants and local donors. KCC says its mission is to protect Kauai’s bees, prevent varroa mite infestation and support sustainable agriculture.

Trujillo says his campaign will focus on listening to community concerns and finding grassroots solutions, especially around Kauai’s solid waste crisis and expanded services for the County of Kauai Housing Agency. That pitch lands in the middle of two pressure points already facing county government. The Housing Agency says its mission is to create greater opportunities for affordable housing and support community development, while the County of Kauai Solid Waste Division handles landfill operations, planning for new or expanded disposal facilities, recycling, source reduction and public education.

The timing gives his filing immediate consequence. The County Council is the legislative branch of the County of Kauai, with seven members elected at the same time to two-year terms that begin at noon on the first working day of December after the election. State rules allow no more than four consecutive two-year terms, which means the race will shape county policy not just for a single budget cycle, but for the next stretch of islandwide decisions on waste, housing and basic services.