Charter Amendment Would Pull Power Away From Hawaiʻi County Mayor

[MyManao]

From.. https://www.civilbeat.org/2026/05/charte...nty-mayor/

Where it begins..

A divided County Council is moving forward with plans to let voters decide if a county manager system would work better for the Big Island.

Hawai‘i County’s mayor would become more of a figurehead under a proposed charter amendment that shifts significant executive powers to an appointed county manager.

The County Council narrowly moved forward Tuesday with plans to put the measure on the ballot this November. Bill 158, introduced by council member Heather Kimball, squeaked through committee in a 5-4 vote and now heads to the full council for approval. 

The bill would give much of the responsibilities currently held by the mayor to a county manager that would be appointed by a committee of four council members and the mayor. Kimball said she hopes the model will allow for better continuity and effectiveness in government, ensuring projects don’t languish by depoliticizing key departments and functions. 

Which seems like a sea change in our local governing structure, and one that on one hand if handled as Heather hopes would stabilize County functioning, but on the other would strip the executive branch of any real power, and as such take the same from the voter..

[kalianna]

I donʻt like power being held by people who are appointed vs elected.

[MyManao]

I like the idea of continuity in government. If we, the collective governmental we, commit to a program, upgrading a facility for instance, I don't think it should be in the purview of an incoming mayoral's power to stop the project. Once we, again the collective, wrestle with the pros and cons and as a group agree to and make plans and budget funds for something it should go ahead. So I agree with Heather in her efforts to do away with the executive's power to disrupt the flow of progress. 

Conversely, it seems in the current attempt to straighten this flaw in our system of government out there's too much power changing hands. While I agree we should have an impartial, non-political, administrator handle the day to day fulfillment of our plans, I think giving them the power to appoint leadership roles goes too far. The mayor should be able to assemble their own team of executives. They just should be required to execute plans already in the pipeline, and work with the administrator to that end.

This is an interesting bill.. lots of pros and cons.. and will be interesting to see how it goes. I like Heather, and have a lot of faith in her leadership, so don't cancel this idea out of hand.

[leilanidude]

This would balloon the costs of running the county.
Assumption that mayor's office would keep nearly all the same amount of staff it has now and the manager would of course, need their own staff.