Council confirms new Housing, ‘Ōiwi Resources and Finance directors

The Maui County Council unanimously confirmed on Tuesday three new department heads, two to departments newly created by voters in Maui County Charter amendments in 2022.

Richard E. Mitchell was officially approved as Mayor Richard Bissen’s appointee to the new Department of Housing. Kaponoʻai Molitau won full Council backing as director of the new Department of ʻŌiwi Resources; and Marcy Martin is the new director of the Department of Finance.

The Council’s vote was 9-0 for all three appointees, following a recommendation for approval by the Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee.

“Mahalo to Maui County Council for confirming these new leaders who are working hard today for a healthier, more resilient tomorrow,” Bissen said in a news release Tuesday. “Community service is essential during this pivotal time in Maui County’s history, and I commend Richard E. Mitchell, Kaponoʻai Molitau and Marcy Martin, along with their deputies, for stepping into these crucial roles and vowing to help our community rebuild and recover.”

Saumalu Mataafa is deputy director of the Housing Department.

The new Housing Department was created when Maui County residents voted to pass a ballot measure in November 2022 that called for splitting the Department of Housing and Human Concerns. Before his appointment as Housing director, Mitchell worked as a legislative attorney in the Office of Council Services since 2019. He earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Syracuse University, a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University.

Kekai Robinson is deputy director of the Department of ʻŌiwi Resources, which launched July 1. The department also was created by the 2022 charter amendment. The department’s mission is to implement programs to ensure proper management of ʻŌiwi cultural resources, including the Hawaiian language, place names, historical and archival materials, cultural sites, iwi and burials, and natural resources used in cultural practices.

Molitau is founder and chief executive officer of Native Intelligence, opened in 2009 as a Hawaiian cultural resource center and retail business in Wailuku. As Kumu Hula of Hālau Nā Hanona Kūlike ʻO Piʻilani, he has been teaching youth, kūpuna and other kumu in the art of Hawaiian dance, oli and Hawaiian chant for the past 21 years.

Martin leads the Department of Finance, with Deputy Director Maria Zielinski, the county’s former budget director. Martin has nearly 25 years of experience in the Finance Department’s Real Property Assessment Division, where she started as a valuation analyst in 1995.

From 2019 to 2023 and since February 2024, she served as County Real Property Tax administrator, directing a staff of more than 40 full-time employees in the appraisal, assessment, administration, tax mapping, title abstraction, compliance and enforcement, and GIS mapping of real property for tax assessment purposes.