Nominee Ray Soon recommends conservation focus in brief committee appearance

Ray Soon, the nominee for the Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission, described decades of local public‑service work and said shoreline and dune protection motivated his interest in the commission.

Soon told the committee he began his career as a planning intern and later served as chief of staff to Mayor Caldwell. "Public service is in our DNA," he said, adding that he has worked on six of the commission’s sites and highlighted efforts to preserve the Kahuku dunes and nearby conservation lands.

The committee chair asked Soon to elaborate on Kahuku and the dunes; Soon said council and mayoral leadership combined to assemble a financing package that prioritized open space over golfing operations and that the dunes form "the most spectacular set of dunes on the island of Oahu." He said purchasing adjacent Mauka land toward the James Campbell Conservation Area helped extend protected shoreline.

With no registered remote or in‑person testimony, the committee closed public comment, amended Resolution 26‑38 to the posted CD1, and ordered the item reported out to the full council for adoption.

The committee did not take a roll‑call vote in committee minutes; the chair stated the amended resolution would move forward to the full council for final action.