The Office of Hawaiian Affairs could have a new chief executive by the end of October. The office’s Board of Trustees approved the kickoff of a national search process on Thursday.

The recruitment comes amid a lawsuit from agency CEO Stacy Ferreira, who alleges that the trustees retaliated against her when they put her on paid leave last year. Ferreira’s contract was set to expire in October and has no automatic option to extend the contract.

The trustees voted 5-4 along factional lines to approve the search for a new CEO. The four trustees who voted against the process have aligned with Ferreira in the lawsuit.

Rozelle Agag, OHA’s associate general counsel, told the trustees that it’s important to take action now with Ferreira’s contract expiring in three months.

“Regardless of what is happening externally, there is a duty to the board to ensure continued governance of this agency,” she said. “There is no legal problem proceeding in this fashion.”

OHA has hired Kumabe HR to handle the executive search, for which the board approved a $70,000 budget. Kumabe handled the search in 2023 that resulted in Ferreira’s hiring.

The recruiting period is expected to take five weeks, after which Kumabe will narrow the applicants down to the five most qualified candidates, according to the firm’s owner, Marie Kumabe.

A candidate’s financial acumen, leadership skills and ability to collaborate were among the skills the search firm will consider. Stakeholder feedback will also be a factor, and Kumabe has suggested setting aside the week of Oct.12 to allow OHA’s beneficiaries to weigh in on the process or meet the candidates in a public setting.

Candidates would be subject to criminal background checks and a review of their social media “to make sure there’s no skeletons in the closet,” Kumabe told the board.

Under the approved schedule, the board would rank the finalists and select the new CEO at its Oct. 22 meeting.

Trustee Carmen Hulu Lindsey, who was chairwoman during the last executive search, suggested waiting until Ferreira’s contract runs out because she felt that taking action now could hurt OHA’s case in the Ferreira lawsuit. Lindsey later voted against the search process.

Summer Sylva has been the office’s interim CEO since last September. Some of the board members suggested she could stay in that role while the board deals with the ongoing lawsuit. But Board Chair Kai Kahele said he wants certainty in the CEO position.

“I have to prepare for that day I get the phone call and she says, ‘I’m getting a job somewhere else,’” Kahele said.

Other trustees disagreed that advancing the process now weakens OHA’s defense in the lawsuit. Vice Chair Keoni Souza said that Ferreira is “free to apply” for the CEO position.

Although Ferreira’s contract could not automatically extend past Oct. 31, it does include a provision allowing the board to extend the contract by majority vote. That is unlikely, given the current makeup of the board.

A request for comment sent to Ferreira’s legal team did not receive a response.

The lawsuit has divided the trustees after four of the dissenting board members filed a legal response to Ferreira’s lawsuit that supported the retaliation claims the CEO made. The other half of the board, including Kahele, has alleged those trustees had no right to do that.

A judge has been asked to sort out those legal issues and others pending in the case at a hearing on Aug. 6.

The search process lands in the middle of election season for five of the current OHA trustees. Three of the majority trustees who had sided with Kahele – Brickwood Galuteria, John Waiheʻe and Souza – are in crowded primary races for six spots that advance to the general election.

Two trustees in the dissenting faction – Lindsey and Kalei Akaka – automatically advance to the general election but will face competitive races then.