Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s previously stated plan to create a new and independent city Department of Ocean Safety through executive action is taking shape.
On Tuesday, Blangiardi introduced for City Council consideration a draft resolution — now called Resolution 103 — to pursue what the city administration believes will be a quicker way to stand up the mayor’s planned expansion of lifeguard services on Oahu.
That plan, following the report of a 14-member Ocean Safety Task Force, would remove the lifeguard division from the existing Honolulu Emergency Services Department.
The new sector would be for the city’s 2026 fiscal year budget cycle, which begins July 1, 2025.
“It is our position that using the City Charter Executive Reorganization Power to propose the creation of the new department to the Honolulu City Council is the surest path to the establishment of the Department of Ocean Safety,” Blangiardi wrote in a message to the Council. “This process empowers the City Council to affirmatively approve the proposal, allow the proposal to take effect after sixty days without any action, or reject the proposal by a two-thirds vote of the Council’s entire membership. This process also allows the public to voice its opinions on the proposal through a Council hearing.”
The mayor’s message alludes to existing legislation Council member Andria Tupola introduced which urges, via voter-approved charter amendment, that Honolulu’s lifeguard and paramedic services be broken up in order to create that new Ocean Safety department.
In part, Tupola’s Resolution 50 — which requests language be placed on the Nov. 5 general election ballot — also calls for a “board, creating accountability and oversight similar to that provided by the city’s Fire Commission and Police Commission over the city’s other public safety departments, the Honolulu Fire Department and Honolulu Police Department.”
Blangiardi reiterated recent testimony to the Council by his administration that such a board be brought forward separately to voters in November.
The administration’s stated concern over Tupola’s Resolution 50 is that, if given to voters, the ideas for an expanded city Department of Ocean Safety and its oversight commission may both be shot down at the polls, leaving little chance for the future city department’s creation.
“The separate question of a commission could then be put to the electorate through the City Council initiated resolution process as the Executive Reorganization Power does not extend to the creation of boards and commissions,” Blangiardi wrote. “Not only is this the surest path to the establishment of the Department of Ocean Safety, but it will give the administration finality sooner so that we may take concrete budgetary, human resources, and administrative steps in order to have the department ready to go by the start of the 2026 Fiscal Year.”
Ian Scheuring, the mayor’s deputy communications director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the mayor’s resolution will “stand up a Department of Ocean Safety immediately.”
“And just put the commission issue to the voters,” he said by phone.
According to the city, the estimated cost to run a new Ocean Safety department will be about $1.4 million annually.
Meanwhile, Council member Matt Weyer submitted a resolution that solely calls for a voter-approved charter amendment to create an oversight panel — the Ocean Safety Commission.
Also introduced April 9, Weyer’s Resolution 92 would see the proposed commission consist of five members who will have the power to “appoint such staff and engage consultants as necessary for the performance of its duties.”
The panel also would “adopt rules necessary for the conduct of its business and review rules for the administration of the department of ocean safety,” Weyer’s resolution states.
The commission would review the annual budget prepared by the Ocean Safety chief and make recommendations to the mayor and the Council; review the department’s operations for the purpose of recommending improvements to the Ocean Safety chief; evaluate at least annually the performance of the Ocean Safety chief and submit a report on the evaluation to the mayor and Council; and annually review the department’s operations for the purpose of recommending improvements to the Ocean Safety chief, the resolution indicates.
The panel will also submit an annual report to the mayor and the Council on its activities. However, “except for purposes of inquiry or as otherwise provided in this charter, neither the commission nor its members shall interfere in any way with the administrative affairs of the department,” the resolution states.
If Weyer’s charter amendment question goes to voters in the 2024 general election, the commission would take effect Jan. 1, 2025, the legislation states.
“We have been receiving testimony at Council regarding the creation of a Department of Ocean Safety, and some community members have expressed support for a commission to oversee a newly created department, as is the case for other public safety departments,” Weyer told the Star- Advertiser via email.
He noted that as the mayor “initiates the creation of the department, his reorganization powers do not allow for the creation of a commission, so our resolution allows for continued public input, which if passed will allow voters to decide in November.”
Weyer — whose Council 2 district includes shoreline communities from the North Shore to Windward Oahu — said he supports the creation of an Ocean Safety department “in order to keep our community safe and better support our lifeguards.”
“Creating a department was championed by my predecessor, and it is something that many in our community have been asking for over the past several years,” he said. “Mayor using his authority to start the process now is thus timely and welcomed, and it allows for the Council to evaluate steps forward in next year’s budget.”
The full Council is expected to review both resolutions Wednesday.
