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Hawaii County Parks and Recreation seeks $4M in repairs, increases maintenance staff for aging facilities
Summary
Director Clayton Honma told the council the Parks Department needs $4 million in OCE for facility repairs and is adding five maintenance positions to reduce long travel times for crews and speed repairs at West Hawaii parks.
HILO — The Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation asked the County Council on May 20 for an expanded maintenance budget and more field staff to tackle a backlog of repairs at the county’s roughly 300 recreational facilities.
Director Clayton Honma told council members the department’s FY26 budget includes a $4 million increase to a parks facility repairs line item to address roofs, court resurfacing, comfort-station replacements and other deferred maintenance across the island. Honma said the funding would be used at several high-priority sites, including repairs at Greenwell Park, Konokau Park, Nāʻālehu Park and the long-sought replacement of the Luna Līlo Playground surface.
Honma also proposed adding five maintenance positions — three building maintenance workers and two painters — focused on West Hawaiʻi. He said the county’s current staffing model often requires crews based in Hilo to make long round trips to Kona to perform repair work, consuming travel time that reduces hands-on repair productivity. Honma said placing trades-capable building maintenance staff on the west side would reduce travel time, accelerate repairs and free Hilo crews to address other needs.
The department reported 584 budgeted positions and 45 vacancies overall. Honma said recruiting remains toughest for lifeguards and nutrition-driver roles, and he asked for continued help from Human Resources to move open recruitments to hire. The department said it has reduced vacancies from about 60 to 45 since the director’s confirmation earlier this year.
Parks staff highlighted a slate of CIP projects for FY26, including demolition and reconstruction work at Kailua Park (new comfort stations and an events pavilion), design and construction for outdoor sports-court renovations island-wide, reroofing and repairs for the Waimea Community Center, ball-field lighting restoration in Pāhala and Nāʻālehu, and a new comfort station at Kohana Beach Park. Honma said the department is partnering with Public Works on paving and parking improvements at several parks, and with grant partners to fund shelter and stop upgrades tied to multimodal planning.
Council members asked for a clearer public listing of “Friends of the Park” groups, which the department said would be compiled and published after staff complete a cleanup of outdated and overlapping agreements. Honma said the department is increasing funding for Friends of the Park from about $18,000 to $30,000 to support neighborhood volunteer projects.
Why this matters: Parks maintenance is largely year-to-year funding for assets the public sees daily. Several ongoing CIP projects and small but numerous repair needs — roofs, playground surfacing, fencing and electrical work — are constrained by staffing and equipment shortages. The department said increasing West Hawaiʻi–based maintenance staff would reduce travel overhead and speed repairs.
Looking ahead: Council members asked for an updated publicly available dashboard of major park projects and prioritized repairs. Honma said staff will produce a priority list of near-term projects for each council district and continue outreach to Friends of the Park and community partners.
