Former banker Roy Amemiya Jr., once praised by politicians and civil servants for helping maintain the integrity of city government, is back at Honolulu Hale, this time as Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s second-in-command.
Amemiya, onetime city finance director and currently president and chief executive of the nonprofit ‘Olelo Community Media, is scheduled to take over as city managing director Jan. 1. His appointment must be confirmed by the City Council.
He replaces Ember Shinn, who has overseen day-to-day operations of the city since Caldwell was sworn in as mayor in January 2013.
Shinn will stay on at City Hall, as a part-time, temporary-hire executive assistant to Caldwell, for at least two months to help Amemiya shepherd the budget to the City Council. By law the administration must submit operating and capital improvement budgets to the Council by March 1.
A key figure in the administration of former Mayor Jeremy Harris, Amemiya was finance director when Harris decided to merge the Department of Finance with the Department of Budget to create the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services. Amemiya then became the city’s first BFS director.
Property tax assessors, in 1998, told reporters that when another member of Harris’ Cabinet tried to pressure them into raising appraisals to generate more money for the city, Amemiya refused to allow it to happen. Several City Council members at the time also applauded Amemiya’s integrity and civility.
As for his new gig, Amemiya, in a statement, thanked Caldwell for giving him a chance to return to public service. "A lot of important and exciting work is being done at the city, especially in building a strong infrastructure for future generations."
A banker at Bank of Hawaii for nearly two decades before he joined the city, Amemiya was a vice president with Central Pacific Bank after leaving the city and before joining ‘Olelo in 2010.
Born and raised in Wahiawa and a 1973 graduate of Leilehua High School, Amemiya is not his family’s only public figure. Corinne Watanabe, his sister, was a longtime associate judge on the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, while his uncle Ronald Amemiya was a onetime state attorney general under former Gov. George Ariyoshi. Cousin Keith Amemiya, Ronald’s son, has served as executive director of the Hawaii High School Athletics Association. His brother-in-law is former state Sen. Randall Iwase.
On Tuesday, Caldwell described Amemiya as knowledgeable about city government and the city budget process. What’s more, "he understands politics," the mayor said.
Shinn had agreed to come out of retirement and join Caldwell’s administration only under the condition that she be allowed to leave in two years, Caldwell said, adding that he tried to persuade her to stay.
Shinn has been front and center on some of the key issues the Caldwell administration dealt with in the last two years, including its attempts to increase affordable housing and reduce homelessness and oversight of the annual budgetary reviews of city agencies.
Most recently, Shinn helped spearhead Caldwell’s Housing First initiative, including creation of a new housing and strategic development office. She also was the lead in recent talks with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials who demanded that the city repay $2.9 million in grant money that they found was spent in a questionable manner. Instead of returning the money, HUD officials agreed to let the funds be used for other city projects.
Caldwell praised Shinn for "her ability to move the needle, her laserlike focus and ability to go to 40,000 feet, see the entire forest and then dive back down into the trees."
He also credited her for instituting zero-based budgeting for this year’s budget and performance-based budgeting for next year.
"She’s performed way beyond any of the expectations that I’ve had," the mayor said.
Caldwell first worked with Shinn when he was a state House member and she was chief of staff to onetime House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa and later former House Speaker Calvin Say.
Shinn said she has no immediate plans for when she leaves her temporary post next year, other than locating miniature goldendoodle puppies to raise.
