The Hawaii County Fire Commission on Thursday named Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Volpe — who has been acting chief since the Dec. 14 death of Chief Kazuo Todd — temporary fire chief as the search for a permanent first firefighter begins.
The vote was 6-0, with Commissioners Les Hanano and Rick Porter absent and the commission down a member after the Nov. 26 death of Vice Chairman Steven Hirakami at age 79.
At Thursday’s meeting in the County Council chambers in Hilo, Volpe told commissioners he’s “honored” to continue in the department’s top spot until a new chief is named.
Testimonials and tributes were offered for Todd, Hirakami — the director of Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science, a Pahoa charter school — and Dr. Judith Fitzgerald, a Hilo Benioff Medical Center emergency room physician who also served as the HFD’s medical director prior to being killed by an allegedly impaired driver in a head-on traffic collision Christmas Eve on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
Volpe testified that Dr. Terrence Jones, also an emergency room physician, is now HFD’s medical director, supervising the department’s emergency medical services.
Chairman Gerald Kosaki, a retired HFD battalion chief, said commission rules require a notice about the search for a new chief be published “in one or more newspapers in general circulation in the state of Hawaii once a week for three consecutive weeks.”
Kosaki said the notice must have information about the application process and qualifications for the position. Those qualifications include a minimum of five years experience and training in fire control, including “at least three years in a reasonable administrative capacity,” Kosaki said. “So, that is subject to interpretation.”
The county’s Department of Human Resources will screen applications and forward the information all applicants who meet the minimum qualifications to the commission, which will determine which applicants will be interviewed.
Qualifications also include U.S. citizenship and residency in the state of Hawaii for at least the previous year preceding the appointment.
Deputy Corporation Counsel Cameron Takamura added that the County Charter specifies that the fire chief “shall have a combination of education and experience substantially equivalent to the possession of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university” and that the commission “may waive any residency requirement during the fire chief selection process.”
Takamura told commissioners that HR will make the judgment on whether an applicant’s combination of education and experience make them a viable candidate for the job — which currently pays $201,204 yearly, with incremental raises approved to increase the salary to $225,888 on July 1, 2028.
“I think it would be a good idea for you guys to work on the first step, which is what to put in the notice …,” Takamura said.
Kosaki recommended “that we look at the previous notices for the fire chief.”
“Why reinvent the wheel, you know?” he asked, rhetorically. He added the commission could get the notices and other pertinent information from HR “so we can review it at the next meeting.”
That meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the West Hawaii Civic Center’s Council Chambers in Kailua-Kona.
“At any point before we start the interview process, can Human Resources come and give us a brief class on conducting interviews?” asked Commissioner Brian Cushnie.
New business at Thursday’s meeting also included whether to proceed with the annual performance review of Todd, who was only 45 when he died of an aneurysm, but Kosaki declared that a post-mortem on Todd’s final year on the job would be “moot.”
“I don’t feel that it’s appropriate anymore, due to the circumstances,” said Kosaki. “I think that there’s going to be emotions that’s going to be involved … and it’s going to be hard to provide recommendations on things that he had challenges with. I would feel hard being critical of certain things, under the circumstances. I wouldn’t want to do that.”
HFD Assistant Chief John Bertsch, a longtime former police commissioner, testified from a different perspective.
“I think that when we look at the fire chief’s evaluation as an individual — because of the current set of circumstances — you’re correct, it’s moot,” Bertsch said.
“But as you guys move forward and you look to select a new chief, oftentimes those evaluations … provides a road map for a different chief down the road and allows them to look back and see what was important, what was successful, and what might be meaningful, moving forward,” he continued. “And it helps to outline to those individuals and that potential candidate for that new position kind of where they need to focus on what would be important to the commission. So, we do an evaluation of the chief’s position … the performance of that position and that individual associated with that position.
“And it’s very helpful for potential candidates to use that information in a framework to address some of the concerns the commission has.”
The commission went into executive session, closed to the public and media, for legal advice from Takamura before taking a vote on whether to evaluate the performance of the late chief.
When the commission emerged, there was a 5-1 vote against evaluating Todd’s performance, with only Commissioner Shon Magsalin, whose term on the commission expired Dec. 31, voting to do the evaluation. Magsalin and Commissioner Wesley Mattos, whose term also ended on Dec. 31, both attended the meeting and voted, as there was no December meeting and replacement appointments to their seats have yet to be made by Mayor Kimo Alameda.
A vote was held to elect a new chair, with Kosaki receiving four votes to continue presiding over the panel, and Commissioner Wayne Perrin receiving two votes.
Kosaki received the votes of commissioners Cushnie, Mattos and Carlene Wolf, as well as his own, while Perrin received Magsalin’s vote, as well as his own.
Takamura said, however, that five votes — a majority of a fully seated commission — are required to elect a new chair, so that business, the election of a vice chair, and the consideration of implementing an employee survey as part of the fire chief’s yearly evaluation process, all were shelved until the next meeting.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
