What does the Managing Director Charter Amendment do?

The Managing Director Charter Amendment will help take political favoritism out of the highest ranks of our county government.

We need greater accountability in government. This can be achieved by having a HIRED managing director, versus one who is politically appointed. The managing director’s job will be to work for the people of Maui County, and their career success will be directly tied to job performance- not political favoritism.

Did you know, that as written today, the charter (basically our constitution) requires all directors to resign with each mayoral election? This creates unnecessary turnover based solely on mayoral elections, not on job performance.

This also makes filling director positions near the end of a mayoral term incredibly difficult. Similarly, recruiting high-quality professionals is also a challenge under the current charter, as a director’s job security is not based on competence or performance; only with political cycles.

A HIRED managing director will, in turn, hire the directors for Water, Parks & Recreation, Environmental Management, Finance, Housing & Human Concerns, Transportation, Public Works, and Planning Departments, based on their qualifications for the job, not political connections. This will create a management team able to span multiple mayoral administrations, enabling the executive branch to think and act long term- without worrying about upcoming elections.

This will also help our new mayors get to work, without wasting any time, knowing they are empowered by a qualified support team that is already armed with institutional knowledge.

A more efficient county government will make the whole community more efficient. This is particularly evident in the cost of building much needed affordable housing. As our government frequently takes months, let’s be honest- years, to issue building permits, those seeking permits are economically burdened.  An efficient local government, able to capably process permits in a timely manner, will result in community cost reduction.

Professional directors bring tools and education to county government, to create a more responsive and responsible government, one focused on doing the peopleʻs work to best effect and not primarily to get a sitting mayor re-elected.

Maui County deserves a professional manager who is hired based on professional qualifications and experience, not political connections.