Honolulu Voters To Decide Whether Lifeguards Need Oversight Commission
A volunteer commission would have the power to appoint and remove the chief of the new Department of Ocean Safety.
Honolulu鈥檚 lifeguards got their own city department this spring after years of campaigning for more autonomy and leverage over budget negotiations.
Whether to create a volunteer commission that would oversee the Department of Ocean Safety and have the power to appoint and remove its chief will be up to voters in November. The commission would be analogous to those that oversee and .
The new department, which was by Mayor Rick Blangiardi, subsumed the Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services division that was part of the Emergency Services department. That will enable lifeguards to lobby for more resources in the city budget instead of having to compete with other emergency services, supporters said.
Each year, city lifeguards report making about 3,000 rescues, responding to 40 drownings and 1.4 million preventative actions to stop a drowning before it happens.
The creation of the new department came after years of arguments over whether to put that question forward as a charter amendment. Mayor Rick Blangiardi put together a yearlong task force to study the issue, which he announced in March had recommended that the .
But the mayor does not have the power to create a volunteer oversight commission, which many lifeguards and people within the ocean safety realm think is important. That can only come from a voter-approved city charter amendment.
In May, Blangiardi also allowing for the ballot measure asking voters to decide on the commission in November:
Shall the Revised City Charter be amended to establish an Ocean Safety Commission to review and make recommendations on certain activities of the Department of Ocean Safety and to appoint and remove the Chief of Ocean Safety?
The commission would have five members with the power to appoint and remove the head of Ocean Safety.
They also would conduct annual evaluations of the chief鈥檚 performance, hear complaints from the public, recommend improvements to operations, submit annual reports to the City Council and the mayor, and make budget recommendations, according to the charter amendment proposal.
Advocates say the department鈥檚 leadership shouldn鈥檛 , given its importance for public safety.
鈥淎n Ocean Safety Commission that appoints the Department Chief is a key component to the success of a standalone Ocean Safety Department,鈥 lifeguard Jesse King wrote in testimony from May.
Read the full charter amendment proposal below:
