Pay is an issue for Kaua'i posts
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Three key positions in Mayor Bryan Baptiste's administration are vacant and being managed by people in acting positions, one of whom is not licensed to hold the top spot.
The county engineer's post at the head of the Department of Public Works has been vacant since Baptiste took office a year ago, and the deputy engineer, Wynne Ushigome, resigns effective today.
Ushigome is an engineer, but Baptiste is filling the deputy's spot with one of his deputy county attorneys, Ladye Martin. Martin cannot hold the top position, because she lacks a required engineering degree.
"She has been doing a lot of work with the Public Works Department, so she's familiar with it," said Cyndi Ozaki, the mayor's public information officer.
Also unfilled are the top positions in the police department and the fire departments.
Baptiste is holding interviews to find a new fire chief. Most of those candidates are from within the department. Firefighter Theodore Williams is serving as acting chief.
The Kaua'i Police Commission needs to find a new police chief since the retirement last month of eight-year chief George Freitas. Deputy Chief Wilfred Ihu is serving as acting chief. The commission has not yet begun a search.
In all three departments, the chief, whose pay is set by the county council, makes far less than other top employees, whose pay is set by collective bargaining and can accumulate to significant levels over the years.
Kaua'i's mayor is paid $73,118, less than the other four county mayors. The county engineer's position pays $69,371; the police and fire chief slots pay $66,073.
Top civil-service salary ranges for public works and police range from $65,016 to $88,932, depending on length of service and other issues. The range for the top civil service employees in the Fire Department is $53,484 to $73,164.
Baptiste said none of the department's battalion chiefs applied for the chief's job.
"It would have been too big a financial sacrifice," he said.
The Department of Public Works, the biggest department in the county, requires somebody both licensed in engineering and qualified to manage a large department.
"We need people who have good managerial skills and motivational skills, who can manage people and manage a department. And they need a license. People with those kinds of experience are making a whole lot more on the outside," the mayor said.
County Councilman Jay Furfaro said he recognizes the salary issue and noted that the Kaua'i County Salary Commission has started meeting to study the issue of county executive salaries.
"I think salary is something that needs to be revisited," he said.
Both Furfaro and Baptiste said another issue is whether it's time to remove the license requirement for the person who heads the Department of Public Works. It needs a manager more than an engineer, both said.
"We have plenty of good engineers in the (department's) engineering division," the mayor said.
Removing the license requirement would require a change in the county charter, and that can be done only by the voters.
"I've heard there are people thinking about putting that on the next election ballot," the mayor said.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
