47 applicants for zoo director cut to 10

The city received applications from 47 people hoping to be the next director of the Honolulu Zoo, but only 10 were deemed qualified, city Human Resources Director Carolee Kubo said Friday.

The job pays between $102,192 and $170,100 annually.

Kubo, in an email, said the 10 people who applied by last week’s deadline consisted of “local and out-of-state applicants.” She declined to provide the identities or the qualifications of the candidates, citing privacy rights afforded to civil service applicants.

An official with the Department of Enterprise Serv­ices, which oversees the zoo, said last month that the city hoped to have a director hired by the end of summer.

Former zoo Administrator Baird Fleming resigned effective Nov. 30, the fifth zoo leader to leave in seven years.

Unstable leadership was one of the reasons cited when the Association of Zoos and Aquariums stripped the zoo of its accreditation in March 2016.

The major reason given was the lack of a consistent revenue source, and the city has taken some steps to rectify that.

A Honolulu City Charter amendment approved by voters in November requires that at least 0.5 percent of annual real property taxes goes into a special zoo fund to help the zoo regain its accreditation.