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Hawaii County honors fire department fiscal staffer Keiko Furukawa with July Haweo award
Summary
The Hawaii County Council recognized Keiko Furukawa of the Fire Department’s fiscal section with the July 2025 Haweo award for sustained weekend work, paperwork streamlining and launching internal fiscal tools that supported payroll and other operations.
The Hawaii County Council presented the July 2025 Haweo award to Keiko Furukawa of the Hawaii Fire Department on July 9, 2025, recognizing her behind‑the‑scenes work that county officials said kept payroll and fiscal operations running during staff shortages.
Fire Chief Kazuo Todd described Furukawa as an “everyday hero” who “worked really, really hard for over 3 months doing 2 systems at once,” reconciling paper time sheets and a new electronic payroll system on weekends while continuing her regular duties. Chief Todd said Furukawa helped eliminate a redundant paper “night alarm” timesheet and assisted in launching an internal fiscal website that allows employees to submit travel paperwork and manage reimbursements.
Furukawa accepted the award on behalf of her fiscal team. “I truly believe that this one belongs to the whole fiscal team,” she said, thanking supervisors and colleagues who stepped up after a longtime department fiscal employee left and later passed away.
Council members praised Furukawa and other unseen staff for sustaining first‑responder operations. Vice Chair Onishi said, “Without them, our county government cannot be run.” The council later paused for a short recess for a photo presentation and returned to regular business.
The award recognized both specific recent projects — weekend reconciliation, removal of a redundant paper form, and the internal fiscal website — and long‑running contributions to the department’s administrative operations.
