Maui County is hiring for more than 700 vacant jobs and is seeking volunteers for 30 spots on boards and commissions that steer the government’s path forward in solving the community’s most challenging problems. 

Like countless other employers on Maui, the county government is also experiencing a hiring crisis in the aftermath of the pandemic, which drove many longtime families to move away because of the soaring cost of living. For the county, being understaffed can cause delays and make it harder to respond to constituents’ needs. 

In a recent column in the Maui News, Maui County Council member Nohe Uʻu-Hodgins urged residents to apply for the county’s hundreds of open jobs, which often come with “generous employment benefits” — such as vacation, sick leave, retirement, life insurance plans, and medical, vision and dental insurance.

Uʻu-Hodgins is the chair of the council’s Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee, which vets residents interested in volunteering on the county’s boards and commissions. She wrote that there’s also dozens of vacancies on those entities, which help advise the mayor and County Council on important policy decisions that shape Maui, Molokai and Lanai’s future. 

Some of the volunteer openings include those on the Liquor Control and Adjudication Board, East Maui Regional Community Board and Urban Design Review Board. Information about openings on boards and commissions can be found on the county’s website here.

Within county government, almost every department is also dealing with vacancies. Uʻu-Hodgins said in the column that some of the departments with the most urgent need for new hires are the police department, Department of Housing and Human Concerns and Department of Parks and Recreation. 

Right now, the parks department is in desperate need of employees to staff its PALS program, which is one of the most affordable child care options for Maui County families during the summer break. In hopes of attracting more workers, the county is in the midst of raising PALS employees’ pay to a minimum of $20 per hour and a high of around $31 per hour depending on the role.

To learn more about the county’s current job openings, visit governmentjobs.com/careers/Maui or explore other resources from the county’s Office of Economic Development at at http://mauicountyvirtualjobfair.com.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.