Jim Ireland appears poised to keep his job as director of Honolulu’s Department of Emergency Services despite loud opposition from some current and former employees who have blamed his management for poor morale, staffing problems and slow response times.

Those complaints dominated a February hearing to consider his reappointment, causing council member Val Okimoto, who chairs the public safety committee, to postpone the vote. The committee reconsidered the matter Thursday.

Leading up to the meeting, about 200 people submitted testimony supporting Ireland, dwarfing opponents by a factor of 10. Many of those supporters, including political bigwigs like the governor, don’t work under Ireland, opponents said.

But council members Esther Kiaʻāina and Matt Weyer said they have been impressed when working with Ireland, and at the end of the hourlong hearing the five members of the committee, which also includes Augie Tulba and Scott Nishimoto, voted unanimously to forward Ireland’s reappointment to the full council. The only measure of dissent was Okimoto’s vote of “yes with reservations.” 

Ireland came to the podium with a prepared speech saying he supports his team, he’s working to recruit more employees and he plans to gradually add more ambulances. Some ambulances in urban Honolulu average one trip every hour, he said, which is faster-paced than the industry standard of one trip every three hours or so. That’s the reason for the retention and morale problems, he said — issues that are not unique to Honolulu.

Okimoto’s skepticism of the department’s performance led her to propose a merger between EMS and the Honolulu Fire Department last year.

Though adding ambulances in places like Kaimukī will distribute the workload, Ireland said it could take a decade to build up Honolulu’s fleet to the appropriate size. The agency should have 35 ambulances but has just 23, according to EMS spokesperson Shayne Enright.

But Okimoto and council member Andria Tupola – who is not a voting member of the committee – pushed Ireland to address complaints about his management. Tupola said many of the concerns she heard weren’t about call volume, but instead “management, wanting communication, asking for transparency — it sounds like a lot of managerial things.”

Ireland acknowledged that some employees have complained about sexual harassment, bullying and a hostile workplace. “We’re not immune to that,” he said. Those complaints are investigated according to city procedure and perpetrators are disciplined when warranted, he said.

In an unusual show of support, Gov. Josh Green came in person to testify on Ireland’s behalf. Both men are medical doctors, and they work closely on homelessness initiatives.

Green said he has no doubt Ireland “pisses people off” from time to time, given the challenges that come with running a city EMS department. Still, he trusts Ireland’s leadership. 

“He can be a bulldog,” Green said, “but he is a bulldog to positive ends for our people.”

The full, nine-member council will take up Ireland’s reappointment on April 16.