Leithead Todd qualified for job, judge says

3rd Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra has ruled Environmental Management Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd can keep the position she has held for the past three years.

In an order dated Tuesday, Ibarra said the charter amendment requiring that the director of that department hold an engineering degree or a degree in a related field is vague, and is open to interpretation by the mayor and County Council.

Kona attorney Robert Kim, representing Leithead Todd, had argued the mayor is vested with the power to appoint and he did. Kim also pointed to the council, which has checks and balances over the decision of the mayor, and based upon the legal opinion of then corporation counsel, Lincoln Ashida, who told council members that they have the discretion to determine what “or the related field” meant.

Former South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Brenda Ford filed the lawsuit in 2013, saying Leithead Todd doesn’t meet the minimum qualifications for the job, as set by charter. Ford, represented by attorney Michael Matsukawa, cited the charter’s requirement that the Environmental Management director hold “an engineering degree or a degree in a related field.” Leithead Todd, an attorney, holds a bachelor’s degree in English.

Leithead Todd held the director job under a previous mayor before the charter language was changed. She left that post to head the Planning Department under Mayor Billy Kenoi, from 2009 until 2013, when she returned to Environmental Management.

The County Council, by a 6-3 vote, confirmed the appointment that year. Ford, North Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff — who had served as staff for the Charter Commission that added the ballot language — and Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille voted no.

See the Thursday’s edition of Hawaii Tribune-Herald for more on this breaking story.