������Ƶ

The Maui Emergency Management Agency remained without a permanent administrator as the county prepared for possible flash flooding from the Kona low that drenched much of the state last week while still in deep response mode to the deadly August wildfires.

Darryl Oliveira had literally left the building — that building being Kalana O Maui in Wailuku that houses MEMA and other county offices — having reached the end of his three-month contract to serve as interim administrator of the agency responsible for disaster planning and preparation and coordinating emergency management operations and post-disaster recovery efforts.

The former Big Island fire chief and civil defense administrator was brought on board by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen after the abrupt departure of then-MEMA Administrator Herman Andaya, who came under intense criticism after telling reporters at an Aug. 16 press conference that he didn’t regret his decision not to sound civil defense sirens in Lahaina to warn people to evacuate as the fire raged out of control, claiming at least 100 lives.

One day later, Bissen announced Andaya’s immediate resignation for “health reasons.”

During his brief tenure spanning some of the most challenging days following the August wildfires, Oliveira was a calm and steady presence at community meetings and in his regular video updates on social media. He projected a sense of competency and transparency in the county’s post-fire response that had been lacking in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

One of his chief accomplishments was devising a re-entry program that allowed owners and tenants the opportunity to visit their burned properties to search for keepsakes and valuables and perhaps find a measure of closure to the tragedy.

“He was a leading force in laying out the re-entry process,” said Maui County Council member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui residency seat and chairs the Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs and Planning Committee.

“In hindsight it may have seemed slow but it was methodical and he really took the mental health and support for the residents who would be re-entering to the top of the list,” she said.

Oliveira’s contract expired Nov. 25 and he has since returned to his home in Hilo. Bissen’s Communications Director Mahina Martin said county officials were busy with the storm preparations and response and that the terms of his contract, including compensation, were not “readily available.”

She said a MEMA staff specialist has temporarily assumed administrator duties while the county moves through the civil service hiring process for the position, which offers a starting salary range of $7,682 to $10,955 per month.

Martin did not name the staff specialist but Joshua Aquinde, identified as director of MEMA’s Emergency Operations Center in county news releases, has taken on the role of representing the agency at community meetings and on social media.

Aquinde is a former Maui police officer and commander of the Hawaii Army National Guard’s 230th Engineer Company on Maui.

Fifteen applicants applied for the administrator’s position by the Nov. 14 deadline, and interviews “are now in progress,” according to Martin.

A screening committee comprising emergency managers from other counties and a representative of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency will offer recommendations to Bissen, who will make the final hiring decision, she said.

MEMA in the current fiscal year is budgeted for $7.33 million, nearly 84% of that amount coming from grant revenues, and nine personnel.

Paltin said the next MEMA chief should have “real-world, on-the-ground experience with disasters.”

“You can totally tell the difference between interim emergency management administrator Darryl Oliveira and what we had previously. I don’t know what kind of real-world, on-the-ground experience that Mr. Andaya had but it didn’t come through,” said Paltin, a former lieutenant in the county’s ocean safety division.

Andaya was serving as chief of staff to then-Mayor Alan Arakawa when he was hired to lead MEMA in 2017, despite lacking a background in emergency management. Andaya was earning somewhere between $83,000 and $124,000 in 2022 as head of MEMA, according to Civil Beat’s public employee salary database.

Oliveira did not return messages seeking comment for this story. He previously said he had no prior interactions with Bissen before the mayor contacted him to see if he would consider taking over the day-to-day operations of the county’s emergency preparedness and response efforts.

Oliveira explained that he felt compelled to take the temporary post because of the enormity of the disaster.

He brought vast experience with him, having served more than 30 years with the Hawaii Fire Department, including nine years as fire chief. Oliveira came out of retirement in 2013 to lead the Big Island’s Civil Defense Agency for three years, contending with volcanic eruptions, tropical storms and a dengue fever outbreak. He chairs the .

The National Emergency Management Association does not have recommended criteria for local-level emergency management directors but regards as “essential experience” for state directors an understanding of and experience in emergency management principles, and demonstrated problem solving and decision making, “especially during crisis and rapidly changing situations.”

Also deemed essential are administrative abilities in budgeting and financial management, legislative processes, strategic planning and developing and maintaining partnerships with government and private-sector entities.

“Desired experience,” according to the association, includes experience leading an emergency management or public safety organization, leadership experience in prior disasters and skills in developing and implementing comprehensive emergency response plans, training programs and exercises.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.