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In a jaw-dropping decision, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said last week he would not order his managing director, Roy Amemiya, to immediately go on paid leave after Amemiya was identified as the subject of a federal investigation.

With the city plagued by the coronavirus, Caldwell says he needs his No. 2 “more than ever.”

We don’t buy it.

Caldwell, a former managing director himself, already has a deputy managing director, Georgette Deemer.

There are also plenty of capable people working for the mayor in more than a dozen departments, including the Honolulu Emergency Services Department. The mayor can shift responsibilities to others.

What is unseemly and unacceptable is to have Amemiya continuing to work while he is a subject in a federal investigation, one that has already required him to appear before a grand jury.

No one is indispensable.

The city’s Corporation Counsel continues to operate even as its top attorney, Donna Leong, has been on leave since January 2019 after it was revealed she received a target letter from the FBI.

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro also received a target letter. He’s been on paid leave since March 2019.

Like Amemiya, First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chasid Sapolu also received a subject letter. He hasn’t been in the office since December 2018.

Honolulu Enterprise Services Director Guy Kaulukukui is also on paid leave, although it’s not related to the federal probe. He’s been named in a civil lawsuit involving a former student at Kamehameha Schools who has alleged an inappropriate sexual relationship when Kaulukukui worked there.

We don’t know the precise nature of the federal case that involves Amemiya. But it seems odd to put someone on leave relating to a civil lawsuit and leave someone singled out in a criminal probe on the job. 

Amemiya is involved in many aspects of Honolulu governance. It could be that he is involved in the FBI investigation of the  Honolulu rail project, or it could be the one looking into corruption in the Honolulu Police Department. It could even be both.

Either way, a dark cloud continues to hover and even grow over the City and County of Honolulu. Mayor Caldwell owes it to the public to treat Amemiya the same way he handled Leong’s situation and have his managing director step aside until the federal investigation gives him a clean bill of health — or not.