Honolulu City Council's Planning and the Economy committee heard an update from the Blangiardi administration on its efforts to restore public trust in the city's liquor commission.
The commission has been under scrutiny since the pandemic, with bar owners filing complaints against inspectors.
Last year, the owners of the downtown club Scarlet Honolulu filed a federal lawsuit against the City — claiming inspectors violated civil rights laws.
The liquor commission has seen turnover since 2020, with two chairs resigning. The body's interim chair, Malama Minn, resigned earlier this year.
Deputy managing director Krishna Jayaram told councilmembers the administration narrowed down its search to two candidates. However, both recently withdrew their names from consideration.
Despite the setback, Jayaram and the Council highlighted that restoring public trust is a multi-faceted effort. In addition to finding a new leader, the administration will be using a third-party contractor to look into complaints.
"The liquor staff is understaffed, and by understaffed, I mean at the executive level leadership. We do not have an administrator. We do not have a chief investigator," Jayaram said.
"I asked [the commission] to authorize us to undertake this investigation. So what that means is the liquor commission will be funding this investigation, but it'll be contracted out of the managing director's office. And we will be supervising and monitoring the contractor."
Jayaram told the committee that the Mayor's office is taking the matter seriously. That includes pursuing avenues of revamping the commission by looking at how other liquor commissions in the U.S. operate.
Other efforts the administration is taking are audits and internal reviews, which are underway.
Jayaram said the City will be using a third-party agency to find new candidates to lead the commission. He estimates that process will begin at the end of the month.
