LIHUE — It was revealed by Kauai police commissioners on Friday that three job descriptions for the chief of police are unofficial.
“I spoke with Janine Rapozo (Kauai county director of the Department of Human Resources ) and she said the county has no official job description for the chief of police,” said Kevin Mince, Kauai police commissioner.
The first job description was commissioned in 2008 as part of a salary survey by Nash & Company, a human resources and executive search consulting services firm; the second, a detailed description formed by the police commission; and the third is attached to the back of the chief’s contract, which commission officials say its origin is “a mystery.”
“We’ve got some cleanup work to do,” said Commissioner Catherine Adams.
The mystery contract, Mince said, is from 2010.
“It’s slightly different in the chief’s contract than what we have in our rules because it does not have the verbiage that talks about residency requirement,” Mince said.
In the 2010 contract, it requires that a candidate for the chief of police must be a resident of Kauai for at least one year.
However, county deputy attorney Mahealani Krafft said the residency requirement was unconstitutional.
Police commissioners unanimously agreed to omit that requirement.
According to county HR officials, the county of Kauai has one official job description: planning director.
“(Miss Rapazo) is open and she would like like to work with this commission to develop the job description” for the chief of police, Mince said.
Commission members also asked if education ought to be a requirement for the head of the KPD.
“In the current job description, there is no educational job description,” said commissioner Gerald “Chip” Bahouth.
In the Nash salary survey, it recommends a combination of experience and education roughly equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.
“That’s wobbly language to me. You either have a BA degree or you don’t,” Mince said.
Police Chief Darryl Perry, on the other hand, was clear with his recommendation of an education requirement.
“I believe that a four-year degree would be a minimum — master’s preferable,” Perry said.
A motion was passed to create a subcommittee consisting of Perry, Mince, Adams and the county’s HR department to work on the police chief’s job description and finalizing its language.
The next Police Commission meeting is scheduled for June 24.
