Kazuo Todd recently was elected the Hawaii County Fire Commission’s new fire chief to replace Darren Rosario, but the voting process is now in question.
The commission held the election behind closed doors but has unanimously ratified the decision and announced the winner in an open session.
“The overriding interest is the public’s interest to know what’s going on,” said Hilo City Councilman Aaron Chung when contacted for a comment, West Hawaii reported. “I’m not questioning the selection at all. It's the process by which they made the selection.”
Battalion chief Todd, with 16 years of experience, ran against battalion chief William Bergin (26 years of experience), Capt. Garrett Kim (20 years' experience), Daniel Manning (a candidate outside the department) and Deputy Fire Chief Robert Perreira (25 years' experience). Perreira became acting chief when Rosario retired in November.
Todd is the son of former County Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead Todd and is the brother of state Rep. Chris Todd.
The Hawaii Fire Department is primarily responsible for fire protection and suppression, pre-hospital emergency medical services, land and sea search and rescue, hazardous materials response, ocean safety, and fire prevention and public education for the County of Hawaii.