Ask the Mayor: How are Boards and Commission Members Appointed?
Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the questions submitted to his office staff.
Submit your own questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa at AskTheMayor@mauicounty.gov, 270-7855 or mail them to 200 S. High Street, 9th Floor, Wailuku, HI 96793.
Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the “Ask the Mayor” column.
Dear Mayor,
Q: I watch a lot of Akakū TV, especially the Maui County Council meetings and hearings, and I noticed something.
Sometimes the County Council has to approve appointees for boards and commissions and sometimes they don’t. Why is that? Are some committees more important?
It’s not a big deal, I just noticed the difference one day and thought it was an interesting question.
Mahalo for the column.
A: You are correct. An overwhelming majority of our 27 county boards and commissions are required by county charter to have mayoral appointments confirmed by Maui County Council members.
They include all appointments for the Police Commission; Fire and Public Safety Commission; Board of Water Supply; the Real Property Tax Review Board; Salary Commission; the Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i Planning commissions; as well as the Liquor Control Adjudication Board and Liquor Control Commission, just to name a few.
The others remaining require only council notification, not confirmation, such as the Maui County Arborist Committee and Committee on the Status of Women.
For a complete listing of our boards and commissions, please go to www.mauicounty.gov/boards or call our office at 270-7855 and ask for Executive Assistant Mike Molina, who oversees our boards and commissions.
Also, please note that the deadline to apply for any of our public boards, councils, commissions and committees is Dec. 31, 2016.
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