SHPD: Help Wanted Now!
Have a passion for Hawaii’s history and culture? Are you a strong leader who can cultivate relationships with public officials, professional groups and the general public? Want a six-figure salary and generous state benefits?
If so, you might consider applying to lead the State Historic Preservation Division.
Given the influential position, the benefits and the salary, you might expect an onslaught of applications. But top government officials say they are struggling to attract qualified applicants. The high-profile state agency plays a critical role in reviewing major development projects, including the $5.26 billion Honolulu rail project, and bears responsibility for protecting the state鈥檚 cultural and historic resources.
Despite that 鈥 and an aggressive search to fill the prominent position 鈥 only six job-seekers have applied, according to Esther Kiaaina, deputy director for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees SHPD. Four of the applicants are from out of state, Kiaaina told the Senate Committee on Water and Land during a hearing this week. And there is only one “top contender.”
She summarized the sentiments of her colleagues: “We are troubled.”
Things could change before the deadline for applications passes on Friday, but SHPD has a long history of dysfunction.
It has suffered from inadequate staffing and permit backlogs, and has been slow to digitize records and create an inventory of the state’s historic resources. In 2010, the National Park Service placed SHPD on 鈥渉igh-risk status鈥 and threatened to revoke the department鈥檚 federal certification and funding if it didn鈥檛 make major improvements.
SHPD failed a final review this summer and Pua Aiu, the division鈥檚 former administrator resigned amid criticism. The department satisfied only nine out of 43 criteria listed in a “corrective action plan,” according to the final report released in June. The National Park Service slapped the department with a new improvement plan, while allowing SHPD to retain its funding and certification.
But now, SHPD is faced with a new deadline of May 31, 2014 to make improvements and Kiaaina said that the state needs to move quickly to find a new administrator who can help the department meet federal requirements. (Nicki Ann Thompson, who heads the state’s Bureau of Conveyances, is acting as interim administrator.)
The state put together a team that includes top government officials to review applicants and submit final names to Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The committee consists of Kiaaina, DLNR Chair William Aila; Kamanaopono Crabbe, CEO of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Bruce Coppa, the governor鈥檚 chief of staff; and Ty Kawika Tengan, a University of Hawaii professor of anthropology and ethnic studies.
But barring a last-minute barrage of applications, the screening committee will not have much to screen.
Kiaaina said that DLNR was pushing for the highest pay grade for the SHPD administrator position, which would be an annual salary of $105,000.
The high profile job has taken its toll on past SHPD leaders who have been embroiled in fights over cultural and development issues. Melanie Chinen, who led SHPD under former Gov. Linda Lingle resigned in 2007, citing the emotional and physical strain that the job placed on her and her family. The Society for Hawaiian Archaeology and Friends of the Burial Sites Program, composed of Hawaiians concerned with the protection of burial sites, both lobbied for Chinen鈥檚 removal, the . Lingle replaced Chinen with Aiu, who continued on in the position under the Abercrombie administration.
State officials face other hiring challenges at SHPD where 11 of 29 available positions are vacant.
Aila attributed the vacancy rate to the relative low pay compared to the private sector, the heavy workload, and what he says is a new feeling of job insecurity among some government employees. Aila told the senate committee that his department was going to push to have SHPD positions reclassified as civil servant positions, which have greater job security.
But for now, SHPD moves forward without a permanent leader and a job vacancy rate of 38 percent. Again, applications will be accepted through the end of the week.
