Chairwoman plans to leave county job
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, who is chair of Hawai'i County Council's Planning Committee, intends to resign from office to take a job as a county lawyer.
Leithead-Todd, 50, said County Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida offered her a position and said she will take the job provided she passes the physical exam.
"On my council salary, I can't support a family of five," said Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd.
The move will boost her salary from the $32,000 paid to county council members to a range of $64,000 to $72,000, which is the salary for a deputy corporation counsel.
Leithead-Todd, who has served on the council since 1996, said she is making the move because her husband, Steve Todd, will lose his job on June 30 because of cutbacks in the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. She was re-elected in 2002 to a two-year term.
DBEDT is closing its Hilo office, which was staffed by Todd in a non-civil service position of economic development specialist.
"I got faced with some economic realities. On my council salary, I can't support a family of five," said Leithead-Todd, who has three children. "My husband working was the only thing that allowed me to serve on the council."
Leithead-Todd has been a lawyer for 17 years and worked as a deputy corporation counsel from 1987 to 1993. She also served as the county Legislative Auditor in 1993 and 1994.
The other members of the nine-member council will appoint Leithead-Todd's replacement.
