Too often, an apt description of Hawaii local government workings is “half-assed.”

A rail system is built with inconceivable incompetence, our schools forever let down our kids, we can’t maintain the old stadium or build a new one, homelessness never abates despite endless plans, promises to diversify our economy are joke fodder, we develop luxury housing for outside speculators and tiny homes for local people.

Citizens turn cynical, lose faith in democratic institutions or just get numb to it. More and more, those able to leave simply go.

Is it possible to hope the devastating Lahaina fire, which left a beloved town in ashes and incinerated more than 100 souls — many beyond identification — is the spark that will finally awaken us to the true human cost of half-assed?

The state and county response to this fire was a grand monument to half-assery:

>> Despite having a hurricane nearby and a National Weather Service “red flag” advisory on possible windblown wildfires, our civil defense leadership was not on high alert.

>> Herman Andaya, a political appointee with few qualifications to head the Maui Emergency Management Agency, was at a conference on Oahu.

Andaya declined to sound warning sirens designed for such an emergency and, before resigning, said he had no regrets despite the horrendous outcome.

>> Kenneth Hara, director of the state Emergency Management Agency, said he didn’t know people had died in Lahaina until the next morning.

>> Maui Mayor Richard Bissen initially said he didn’t know who was in charge as the tragedy unfolded, then later changed his account.

>> Roads out of town were blocked, leaving escaping motorists to either turn back into the flames or run and swim for their lives.

>> Maui firefighters declared an earlier blaze in the morning extinguished and then left before the deadly fire reignited in the afternoon.

>> In the midst of the crisis, officials squabbled over releasing water for firefighting.

>> Sen. Gil Keith-Agaran, Maui’s legislative dean who could have accelerated the recovery as the Ways and Means Committee vice chair responsible for capital improvement allocations, resigned from the Legislature so he and his law firm could cash in on fire-related lawsuits — including possibly some against the state.

>> Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, acting governor while Gov. Josh Green was traveling, suggested such a disaster was impossible to plan for, saying, “We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane which did not make impact on our islands will cause this type of wildfires.”

In fact, a similar windblown fire that caused more than $4 million in property damage but miraculously took no lives occurred near Lahaina only five years ago; promises of a plan to prevent another such disaster went unfulfilled.

Obviously, it’s imperative to resume this planning with real urgency, given how much of our dried-out state faces similar threats every time the wind whips up.

As important, we need people of conscience — especially those with power and financial resources — to put aside selfish interests and work together on ending our pay-to-play politics and cultivating leaders capable of better than half-assed.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.