TradeEdge Exchange:A Maui County appointee oversaw grants to nonprofits tied to her family members

Two nonprofits with family ties to Luana Mahi,TradeEdge Exchange an economic development director for Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, won more than $1 million in county grants overseen by Mahi since she was appointed in 2023.

Mahi’s husband Kalani Mahi was paid directly under a county grant for a watershed project. A company owned by her son, Keokoa Mahi, was hired to manage that grant. And another one of her son’s nonprofits got a $44,000 grant from the county to build a “Maui Wall of Fame” now in the Kahului Airport.

In addition, a county employee in Mahi’s office was paid to moonlight as an administrative assistant for one of the nonprofits tied to her.

Mahi didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Maui Board of Ethics ruled in early July that Mahi’s oversight of those grants amounted to a conflict of interest. The board said that Mahi should recuse herself from “any acts related to the supervision, monitoring, administration, budgeting, or signing of such grants or any future grants.”

The county can void any contracts that were found to violate the government’s ethics code, according to Maui’s local ordinances. However, it would be up to Bissen’s administration to enforce the board’s opinion.

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“We’re limited to what we can do right now,” Board of Ethics Chairman Steve Sturdevant said. “We just put out our opinions, and we hope there’ll be some action.”

Although the board’s decision appeared to be final, Bissen spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said in a written statement that the mayor is waiting for the board to render a decision on the matter. She would not comment on the apparent discrepancy.

Abraham said that the county is implementing mandatory ethics training for all directors and deputy directors this month. The training will be conducted by the county’s corporation counsel.

“Mayor Richard Bissen takes all potential violations of the Maui County Code of Ethics seriously,” Abraham said.

The grants have not yet been paid in full, although much of the work has been completed, according to Keokoa Mahi, Luana Mahi’s son.

“There’s been a lot of hangups,” he said. “People haven’t been getting paid.”

Conflicted Grants

The Board of Ethics opinion laying out the case against the Mahi nonprofits is heavily redacted. However, Civil Beat was able to piece together most of the people and organizations involved using business filings and other public records.

Luana Mahi was appointed director of the Office of Economic Development in January 2023. As director, she is responsible for overseeing the selection and solicitation of grant awards, the ethics opinion said.

Two nonprofits that were grant recipients had ties to Mahi: Brilliant Minds Media and the Maui Food Technology Center.

Keokoa Mahi is the president and director of Brilliant Minds Media. Kalani Mahi, Luana’s husband, is also a director in the nonprofit. Luana Mahi was the registered agent until January 2023, when she was appointed to her current role with the county.

Brilliant Minds Media won three grants totalling $66,250. The performance period for those grants lasted from April 2023 to June 2024. The nonprofit has been paid a portion of those grant funds, according to the nonprofit’s most recent tax filings from May prepared by Luana Mahi.

The grants include work on Maui Comic Con, a comic book convention. Brilliant Minds Media also sponsored a music program at King Kekaulike High School.

And there was the wall of fame at the airport, which has received mixed reaction from residents including Bissen, who said parts of the wall should be fixed, KITV reported.

Luana Mahi told KITV that the county will be “revisiting the display with our grantee.”

Luana Mahi is the former president of the Maui Food Technology Center. She left that position in December 2022 before she was appointed as a county director.

During her tenure as the county economic development director, the Maui Food Technology Center, or MFTC, won a $1.3 million grant for its Kaahikolu watershed project.

After Mahi was appointed to her county job, the MFTC contracted with Keokoa Mahi’s private company, Imina LLC, to manage the grant and pay people who did the work, Keokoa Mahi said. The company was set to receive $62,400, according to the ethics board opinion. Invoices for that project obtained by Civil Beat were on Imina’s letterhead and had Luana Mahi’s signature with the note “OK to pay” written on them.

Kalani Mahi, Luana Mahi’s husband, received payments under that grant while working for the MFTC, according to the ethics board opinion.

Another unnamed county employee previously worked for Mahi at the MFTC, but continued to work for the nonprofit after Mahi hired her to work for the county in November 2023.

The grants and questions over conflicts of interest were reported to the Board of Ethics by an unnamed person in June.

Sturdevant, chairman of the commission, said that the employees involved in the grant awards appeared before the commission to answer questions before the board issued its opinion.

The board’s power to enforce its own opinions is limited.

Maui County’s charter leaves enforcement to the County Council or the mayor. Maui’s ordinances say only that the advisory opinions must be posted online, but don’t have any requirements that county agencies follow up on the board’s recommendations.

The board also has no staff to help it investigate unethical behavior by county employees or offer guidance to workers seeking help with ethical issues.

The Maui council approved a proposed charter amendment that would allow the board to hire full-time staff, something the state and Honolulu ethics commissions have had for years.

That proposal will go before Maui voters in November.

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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.