By Staff Reports
(HONOLULU) – Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Wednesday announced the names of the five individuals who have been nominated to serve as the inaugural members of the City and County of Honolulu’s Ocean Safety Commission.
The City’s stand-alone Honolulu Ocean Safety Department was created by Mayor Rick Blangiardi in May 2024 via Resolution 24-103, which was unanimously approved by the members of the Honolulu City Council. The City’s lifeguard services had previously operated as a component within the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, along with Emergency Medical Services.
During the 2024 general election, Oʻahu residents voted to amend the Revised Charter of the City and County of Honolulu to thereafter establish a commission — similar to the City’s Fire Commission and Police Commission — to help oversee the newly-created Honolulu Ocean Safety Department.
The Honolulu Ocean Safety Commission will be responsible for appointing and evaluating the performance of the Chief of Ocean Safety, and to make recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council on certain department activities.
The mayor’s nominees to the Ocean Safety Commission are:
- Racquel Achiu, a long-time resident of Oʻahu’s North Shore and the current Vice Chair of the North Shore Neighborhood Board;
- Steven Jenness, a retired captain with the Honolulu Fire Department and former coach of the cross country and track and field teams at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama;
- Richard Kebo,an organizational development expert and business consultant who owns a company that manufactures, sells and rents Stand Up Paddle (SUP) boards;
- Kanani Oury, a born-and-raised resident of the North Shore who is an established business owner and veteran of the legendary Hale’iwa Surf Center; and
- Billy Pratt, a real estate developer who served as the president of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation and co-founded the Hawaiʻi Waterman Hall of Fame.
All five nominees must now be confirmed by the Honolulu City Council.
“These men and woman embody the very best of our island values — leadership, kuleana, and aloha for our ocean and each other,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “I am confident that their knowledge, passion, and commitment will provide meaningful guidance to the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department as we move into a new era of excellence in public safety on our beaches and in our waters.”
Once the nominees have been confirmed, the members of the commission will need to make determinations on a number of internal operating processes and procedures, including the frequency with which they meet and which members will serve as Chair and Vice Chair.
An early critical decision for the commission will be the selection process for the Chief of Ocean Safety. Kurt Lager will continue to serve as Acting Director until an Ocean Safety chief is selected by the commission.
The Honolulu Ocean Safety Department is responsible for monitoring the roughly 227 miles of coastline and near-shore waters around the island of Oʻahu and rescuing thousands of people in distress every year. The department typically performs more than one million preventative actions in any given year, warning beachgoers and visitors about ocean conditions that could prove dangerous to inexperienced swimmers, surfers and snorkelers.