A new administrator is poised to take over the embattled State Historic Preservation Division. The news comes four months after the division’s previous head stepped down, following repeated criticisms by federal officials of how the division was run.
Alan Downer will join the agency Dec. 2, according to Laura Stevens, a spokeswoman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the division’s parent agency. He served 27 years as director of the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department in Arizona — one of the largest public historic preservation agencies in the U.S., according to DLNR. He is now a special adviser at the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources.
Downer was chosen from more than 30 candidates from Hawaii and the mainland, Stevens said. His compensation package for the job hasn’t been finalized yet, but he will receive at least $90,000 in salary and the standard benefits package for state employees, Stevens said in an email Tuesday.
"I’m thrilled to hear that Alan Downer has been selected for the position," Ty P. Kawika Tengan, screening committee member, said in the news release.
"His experience working with the Navajo Nation and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation gives him the sensitivity to indigenous issues and expertise in federal and state laws that will be needed to rebuild and revitalize our historic preservation division, making it not only a well-functioning but socially responsible agency for future generations," said Tengan, associate professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Department of Ethnic Studies and Department of Anthropology.
The state preservation division reviews proposed developments — including Oahu’s 20-mile, $5.26 billion rail project — aiming to protect culturally important sites.
Its approvals of the rail project’s archaeological surveys in August cleared the way for construction to resume after a year-plus hiatus, brought on by a legal challenge in state court.
The division’s previous administrator, Pua Aiu, resigned July 2, several days after the National Park Service released a report saying "serious problems" persisted at the agency. The division could lose its federal funding if its problems aren’t fixed by summer.
Nonetheless, state officials, including Aiu’s boss, Land Board Chairman William Aila, praised Aiu’s leadership and retained her as his special assistant. Aiu’s earnings — which DLNR officials have previously put between $70,000 and $90,000 — will be covered out of a DLNR special fund, Stevens added.
