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Mayor Caldwell names city’s Employee and Manager of the Year


From left, front, Manager of the Year Craig Mayeda, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Employee of the Year Richelle Kobashigawa; back row, City Council members Tommy Waters, Ron Menor and Brandon Elefante..
HONOLULU – Mayor Kirk Caldwell today announced the 2019 Employee of the Year and the 2019 Manager of the Year for the City and County of Honolulu.
Richelle A. Kobashigawa of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply was named the Employee of the Year, and Craig Mayeda of the Department Parks and Recreation was named Manager of the Year.
The announcement was made as part of the 2019 Mayor’s Awards Program held at the Honolulu City Council Chamber.
Accountant IV and Fiscal Controls Supervisor Richelle Kobashigawa is well-regarded within the agency for her broad expertise and willingness to help where and when needed. Her personal commitment, expertise and supervisory skills contributed greatly to the success of several projects. She worked to ensure that a new payroll system worked correctly and was able to improve working conditions for employees and assisted in encumbering funds for major capital improvement projects.
Park Maintenance and Recreation Services Division Administrator Craig S. Mayeda managed the department’s largest division for more than 20 years. His strong planning, organizational and collaborative leadership skills played a major role in the success of the Kākou for Parks initiative which has renovated park comfort stations, resurfaced play courts and refurbished play apparatus islandwide in a fair and equitable manner. Maeda’s leadership, perseverance, hands-on approach with staff, and dedication to improving our parks has ensured the success of the initiative and provided for the recreation needs of O‘ahu residents.
Receiving the prestigious Valor Award was Robert T. Primiano of the Department of Facility Maintenance for rescuing a woman who was pinned under a car.
The Exceptional Achievement Award went to Wilson A. Unga and David M. Van Acker of the Prosecuting Attorney Department for prosecuting 15 members of a criminal network. Tracy S. Fukui was named the Outstanding Deputy Corporation Counsel and Jeen Hee K. Pang the Outstanding Deputy Prosecuting Attorney.
“All of today’s honorees have demonstrated a level of excellence that reflects extremely well upon themselves and their individual departments, but also on their fellow city workers who are dedicated to making sure the services we need every day are readily available,” said Mayor Caldwell. “Our city employees work extremely hard every day at all hours, and I want all of them to know how proud I am of all of them.”
The Citizens’ Selection Committee, which selects the winners, was comprised of Rachel Brant, general counsel for Hawai‘i Dental Service, Lisa Ching, a marketing and media director, Olomana Loomis ISC, and Nancy Downes, director of marketing for Legacy of Life Hawai‘i.

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