OHA to vote A local consulting firm may be hired by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to search for its new administrator.
on headhunter
The board of trustees wants
help recruiting its next
administratorBy Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinThe OHA board will vote Thursday on a $24,500 contract to Inkinen & Associates, an international executive search and human resources company, to recruit and screen for the job of administrator.
The independent firm was the next lowest bidder to consultant Stanley Lum, who withdrew his bid. A divided board two weeks ago could not agree on whether to award Lum the contract and deferred the issue until Thursday.
Two OHA committees yesterday narrowly approved the action item to hire Inkinen. The measure was put on Thursday's board agenda. Current Administrator Randy Ogata's second two-year contract expires June 30, and a majority of the board wants to begin a search now.
Just like two weeks ago, however, a few trustees continued to question the need and way the search for a new administrator is proceeding.
Trustee Linda Dela Cruz, who was elected last November, favors giving Ogata more time so he can "prove what he can do." After four years on the job, four different chairpersons -- and working with an interim appointed board -- Ogata's experience under those conditions should not be wasted, she said.
"I think we're doing something that is uncalled for and should not have been done," Dela Cruz said.
Ogata is a certified public accountant who helped shape Honolulu Cellular's growth between 1986 to 1994. He succeeded Linda Colburn as administrator in 1997.
But former trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto, who was at odds with Ogata during her last term in office from 1996 to 2000, warned trustees they must break the cycle and hire a new administrator who is accountable to all trustees. DeSoto also told trustees there must be a way to evaluate the administrator's performance, and they should not fear implementing such a policy.
OHA Budget Chairman Oz Stender said the search for a new administrator has nothing to do with Ogata's performance but that trustees need to have something in place when his contract expires.
"It has nothing to do with his performance evaluation; we're talking about being prepared to have someone in place when June 30th comes," Stender said.
If a consultant is approved, the firm would recruit candidates and then test, rank and forward five finalists to the board chairperson by June 8. The board would then vote on a new administrator at its June 14 meeting.
Advertising for the post would occur in local and national newspapers and on OHA's Web site. The job of administrator has a minimum annual salary of $85,302 plus fringe benefits.
Inkinen & Associates was the firm that recruited the new trustees at Kamehameha Schools.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
