Maui County Council Members Danny Mateo and Joe Pontanilla will end their fifth and final consecutive terms as council members Jan. 2, but they won't be going far.
Mayor Alan Arakawa announced during the council's last meeting of this year on Friday that Mateo and Pontanilla would join his administration in the new year. He did not immediately say what positions they would take.
Contacted by phone Saturday, Arakawa said Mateo would be an executive assistant, and Pontanilla would become an employee in the county's Community Development Block Grant Office.
The appointments have not become official because the council members need to complete their terms in elected office before they can be hired to work for the county administration, Arakawa said.
Meanwhile, the paperwork is being done for both to take new jobs with the county, he added.
When that happens, the mayor will have five former council members working with his administration. Aside from Mateo and Pontanilla, Mike Molina and Bill Medeiros are executive assistants and Jo Anne Johnson Winer is director of the county Department of Transportation.
Mateo and Pontanilla were unable to seek re-election because of term limits. They are being replaced on the council by Stacy Helm Crivello of Molokai and Don Guzman of Kahului.
