WAILUKU – Three positions within the county were unanimously approved by the Maui County Council Tuesday during the County Council’s first meeting for August. The county appointees approved during the meeting were Richard E. Mitchell, Kapono’ai Molitau, and Marcy Martin, according to a County of Maui press release issued on Tuesday.

Mitchell has been the Legislative Attorney in the Office of Council Services for the county and with the confirmation Tuesday, he is the the director of the newly created Department of Housing.

Molitau was approved as Director of the new County Department of ‘Oiwi Resources. All three positions were created prior to the 2023 fires, according to the county.

Martin was approved as the new Director of Finance after serving for nearly 25 years in various other positions, according to the county.

The council voted 9-0 during its regular meeting to adopt resolutions recommending approval of Mayor Richard Bissen’s three appointees. The Council vote follows its Government, Relations, Ethics, and Transparency (GREAT) committee meetings July 9 for Molitau and Mitchell and July 26 for Martin.

“Your committee expressed strong support for all three appointees and voted unanimously to recommend the resolutions be adopted,” Councilmember and GREAT committee chair Nohelani U’u-Hodgins said before Tuesday’s vote.

According to a press release from Maui County, Molitau’s department was established to implement programs to ensure proper management of ‘Oiwi cultural resources. These include the Hawaiian language, place names, historical and archival materials, cultural sites, iwi and burials, and natural resources used in cultural practices.

Founder and CEO of Native Intelligence, Molitau as a Hawaiian cultural resource center and retail business in Wailuku. As Kumu Hula of Halau Na Hanona Kulike’O Pi’ilani, he has been teaching youth, kupuna and other kumu in the art of Hawaiian dance, oli and Hawaiian chant for the past 21 years.

“Mahalo to Maui County Council for confirming these new leaders who are working hard today for a healthier, more resilient tomorrow,” Mayor Bissen said

The Housing Department was created when Maui County residents voted to pass a ballot measure in Nov. 2022 Mitchell, who previously worked as a Legislative Attorney in the Office of Council Services since 2019, earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Syracuse University, a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University.

Molitau leads the new Department of ‘Oiwi Resources, which launched July 1, with his deputy director, Kekai Robinson. The Department of ‘Oiwi Resources was created when Maui County residents voted to pass a ballot measure in November 2022. The department was established to implement programs to ensure proper management of ‘Oiwi cultural resources, including the Hawaiian language, place names, historical and archival materials, cultural sites, iwi and burials, and natural resources used in cultural practices.

Martin leads the Department of Finance, with her deputy director, Maria Zielinski. Martin has nearly 25 years of experience in the Finance Department’s Real Property Assessment Division, where she started as a valuation analyst in 1995. From 2019 to 2023 and from Feb. 2024, she served as County Real Property Tax Administrator, directing a staff of more than 40 full-time employees in the appraisal, assessment, administration, tax mapping, title abstraction, compliance The and enforcement, and GIS mapping of real property for assessment purposes.

* This article originally ran in the print edition on Thursday, Aug. 15, and incorrectly stated that Richard E. Mitchell is the new Director of Finance and that Marcy Martin is the new Director of Housing. The correction has been added to the digital edition of the article.