The Honolulu Liquor Commission is looking to hire a new senior-level executive after it announced a key employee plans to leave the troubled agency after nearly 25 years on the job.
On Thursday, Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration said it commenced its search for HLC’s new assistant administrator, the person charged with managing the day-to-day operations for the entity responsible for issuing liquor licenses and enforcing liquor laws on Oahu.
The selected person will replace Anna Hirai, HLC’s assistant administrator, who’s set to step down from the position later this year, according to a city news release.
In a statement, HLC Administrator Sal Petilos said Hirai “served the Liquor Commission in several capacities for almost two and a half decades.”
“Her determination and expertise have been, and continue to be, critical to the Honolulu Liquor Commission’s efforts to improve operations,” he added.
Petilos said Hirai’s replacement must be “a
highly-motivated, civic-
minded individual with the knowledge, skills and experience to provide critical support in our continuing effort to dramatically improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of Honolulu Liquor Commission
operations.”
“Thousands of licensees around the island depend on the commission’s work to do business, and our next Assistant Administrator will have a key role to play in delivering on our promise to improve every facet of our operation,” he added.
Among many day-to-day priorities, the assistant administrator is responsible for the general supervision and coordination of HLC’s administrative services branch, which manages liquor license applications and renewals, the city said.
That person also manages HLC’s field services branch, which oversees
investigative and enforcement activities.
Additionally, the assistant administrator helps to facilitate strategic planning and ensure effective communications not just within the HLC, including licensees and the broader community, the city said.
The salary for the position is $125,000 annually, the city indicated.
For his part, Petilos was selected to be HLC’s administrator in 2023.
In accepting the job,
he took the reins of a city agency that faced several internal and external issues including low morale, low pay, understaffing and a history of its liquor investigators accepting illegal bribes and allowing alcohol-
serving businesses like nightclubs to violate liquor laws.
Outside litigation also alleged homophobic behavior among HLC investigators.
But in October a 2021
federal lawsuit filed by the owners of a Chinatown nightclub and a guide to
the islands catering to the LGBTQ+ community in which they alleged anti-gay discrimination by liquor investigators was tentatively settled.
At that time the provisional agreement was to see plaintiffs Scarlet Honolulu Inc. and Gay Island Guide LLC receive $670,000, and require mandated federal court oversight, among other reforms.
Originally, the complaint had named two Liquor Commission investigators — Jacob Fears and Catherine Fontaine — who, along with other investigators working for the city, allegedly engaged in an “ongoing campaign of unlawful, unconstitutional, and highly discriminatory anti-gay harassment of Scarlet, Gay Island Guide, and generally, the Honolulu LGBTQ+ community” that lasted more than six years, according to the complaint and attorney James DiPasquale.
After the city in 2024 sought a motion to dismiss the Scarlet case, Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson on Aug. 3, 2023, issued a 38-page order allowing the case to proceed to a bench trial.
But the judge’s prior ruling dismissed all claims against the two investigators — Fears and Fontaine — in their official capacities.
The trial started in late September.
But by Oct. 8, seven days into the proceedings and following testimony from Scarlet co-owner Joseph Luna, who detailed specific instances of prior bigotry including the targeting of a transgender employee, the parties agreed to a resolution and were directed to Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield for a “settlement on the record,” according to the nightclub’s co-owner Robbie Baldwin.
The Honolulu City Council formally adopted the settlement agreement Nov. 7.
“The $670,000 settlement agreement between Scarlet Honolulu and Gay Island Guide and the Honolulu Liquor Commission was approved by City Council and finalized in December 2024,” Ian Scheuring, the mayor’s deputy communications director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
A stipulation for dismissal of the complaint has already been filed and approved by the court, he added.
“The core component of the agreement relates to HLC operational improvements,” he said. “The settlement commits the HLC to implementing specific measures designed to strengthen its capacity to serve licensees and the community in a
fair, equitable, and non-
discriminatory manner.”
The settlement agreement includes:
>> Modernizing operations by replacing manual tracking with GPS apps and implementing electronic
recording of licensee
interactions.
>> Ensuring fairness through randomized and equalized inspections.
>> Enhancing staff training, including LGBTQ diversity and inclusion training.
>> Improving accountability through monthly data reviews and complaint tracking.
>> Updating policies and procedures, including removal of outdated practices.
>> Diversifying organizational culture and improving public engagement.
“While the HLC must file quarterly progress reports with the court and meet
regularly with plaintiffs to discuss implementation progress, the agreement
explicitly states that these reporting requirements ‘shall not be deemed court-
imposed Federal Monitoring or Federal Oversight,’” he said. “There was never any agreement to federal
oversight.”
Finally, there was no admission of liability by any party, he said.
Scheuring noted the settlement also provided for the dismissal of a related Uniform Information Practices Act public-records lawsuit filed against the city by the same plaintiffs.
Related litigation, however, is still ongoing.
In late 2024 the city asked for more legal fees to defend against a 2023 federal civil rights lawsuit alleging three investigators subjected another investigator, Jhumar Ray Waite, to discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment based on his sexual orientation and race after starting his job with the city in 2022.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Hawaii, Waite’s complaint names defendants Fears, Fontaine and Glen Nishigata and alleges the trio, in their official and individual capacities at HLC, violated portions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as state laws related to discrimination against Waite.
Waite — who has worked as a Honolulu liquor investigator since August 2022 —
is gay and Filipino, the complaint states.
To fight this lawsuit, the city requested the Council adopt Resolution 249, which seeks an additional $115,000 be appropriated to pay law firm Kobayashi Sugita &Goda LLC to defend the city against the Waite civil
lawsuit.
In October the Council unanimously granted the city’s funding request.
The trial is set to begin in April, the city said.
DiPasquale, Waite’s lawyer, previously told the Star-Advertiser this case continues in part because no settlement was reached between his client and the city.
