The federal government did not pressure the state to replace the head of its embattled historic preservation office, but after a critical assessment of that office, management changes needed to be made, according to William Aila, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Aila on Tuesday announced that he accepted the resignation of Pua Aiu, who has run the State Historic Preservation Division for the past five years. The division, which protects Hawaii’s historic and cultural sites, is part of the land department.
Aiu was criticized in a report last week by the National Park Service, which has continued the division’s designation as a "high-risk grantee" for another year. The division has held that status since 2010.
Under that designation, the division is required to take steps to correct operational deficiencies, including inadequate staffing, that the federal agency believes hampers the efficiency of the division. If corrections are not completed within the next year, the division risks decertification and loss of federal funding.
Although the report highlighted some significant improvements made since 2010 and applauded the hard work of the staff, it was critical of Aiu’s role in overseeing steps to address the parks service’s corrective action plan, or CAP.
"The administrator has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of understanding of the office budget, basic personnel hiring procedures — which has repeatedly been an obstacle to filling the CAP-identified positions — and staff accountability (time and attendance)," the report noted.
It also said morale continued to be "very low" and that "recruitment is significantly affected by the presence of the current administrator."
"I think we’ve accomplished a lot more than we’ve been given credit for," Aila said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Some of the references to the administrator were "unkind," according to Aila, who said Aiu was doing "an excellent job."
Under her direction, SHPD has hired qualified staff and dealt with a backlog of reviews and compliance tasks, Aila said.
He said he did not ask for Aiu’s resignation, but that he accepted it once offered.
"We take this report seriously, and given the importance of SHPD to the state, we need to change the leadership in order to move forward to implement the recommendations," Aila said in a statement.
He said he has to take some responsibility for the correction plan not being met.
Aiu is expected to remain on the job until an interim replacement is appointed by the end of this month. She was unavailable for an interview Tuesday, department spokeswoman Deborah Ward said.
The planned management change comes as the division is involved in some key projects, including the review of the city rail project. Aila said the change will not delay that review.
Within the next year, Aila said he expects to correct parks service-identified deficiencies that his agency has control over.
The federal agency will conduct another evaluation after that year is up.
