Chief lifeguard 'stoked' over potential new department

Apr. 15—As chief of Honolulu's 277-member Ocean Safety Division, John Titchen says his agency's possible transformation into a full-fledged city department is a long time coming.

As chief of Honolulu's 277-member Ocean Safety Division, John Titchen says his agency's possible transformation into a full-fledged city department is a long time coming.

"We are so stoked at Hono ­lulu Ocean Safety to see this incredible level of support from our mayor and our City Council, " Titchen told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

A retired U.S. Coast Guard commander with a law degree from the University of Hawaii, Titchen, 50, was a contract lifeguard with the city from 2004 to 2008. Since 2018 he's led the city's lifeguard division, within the larger Honolulu Emergency Services Department.

In his time on the job, the city's ocean safety program has undergone changes.

"Until quite recently the Honolulu Fire Department used rescue skis, but for a variety of reasons, disbanded their program, turning over all their skis to Honolulu Ocean Safety a few years ago, " he said.

He said HFD's retreat from "the maritime domain, " combined with the passage of a 2019 city ordinance requiring Honolulu to have a "dawn-to-dusk lifeguarding " service, and an ever-increasing number of visitors, mean an increased demand for the city's Ocean Safety services.

"This is the primary reason I have personally and professionally advocated for a stand-alone Ocean Safety Department, " he said. "On an island of nearly a million residents ... a separate department focused exclusively on the nearshore environment makes sense to me, and most other first responders here agree."

To create that new city Department of Ocean Safety, Mayor Rick Blangiardi began with a task force.

Set up in 2023, the 14-­

member Ocean Safety Task Force—composed of current and former city and county lifeguards including Titchen, as well as city employees from the departments of Budget and Fiscal Services, Human Resources, Honolulu Emergency Serv ­ices and legal advisers from Corporation Counsel—met 11 times between July and January.

By March the group emerged with its final recommendation : that OSD should "be its own stand-alone department " in the city.

Among the data scrutinized toward a larger lifeguard agency, the report highlights the number of ocean drownings on Oahu, which it says fluctuates between 33 to 46 a year and has remained static.

From 2013 to 2022 a total of 388 ocean drownings occurred on Oahu, or an average of about 43 ocean drownings annually. In 2022, 39 reported ocean drownings on Oahu occurred, while 33 were reported in 2013. Of all the drownings, about 56 %—or 218—were Hawaii residents, while the remainder—170, or 44 %—were nonresidents, the task force report states.

As for the actual necessity for a new city department of lifeguards when ocean drownings have remained roughly the same year over year for a decade on Oahu, Titchen said the report's numbers don't tell the whole story.

"While true that the number of drownings around our county have remained somewhat consistent, this is despite a marked increase in beach patronage, " he said. "For example, there are more than twice as many patrons visiting Kailua Beach now than in 2013, and we have noticed a threefold increase in other areas such as Kahe Point."

He added that lifeguards here maintain numbers daily for "beach attendance, " which is a lifeguard's subjective snapshot of the beach or shoreline taken several times a day.

"So, in 2013, lifeguards at our two towers in Kailua reported 430, 824 visitors. In 2022 they saw 992, 146 visitors, " he said. "During this time we did not increase the number of lifeguards on duty there."

"Frankly, it's a miracle to me that the drowning rate remains low and constant, and this is a testament to the work our lifeguards do, " he said.

But the city's plan to float a new Department of Ocean Safety has hit rough seas inside Honolulu Hale.

During the Council's Committee on Budget meeting April 2, the proposal to establish, staff, fund and perhaps have public oversight over a larger city lifeguard department caused division between Blangiardi's administration and a few Council members.

That divide centered on Council member Andria Tupola's Resolution 50, which urges, via a voter-­approved charter amendment, that the city's lifeguard and paramedic services be broken up to create that new department.

Tupola's resolution requests language be placed on the Nov. 5 general election ballot, offering this question to voters : "Shall the Revised City Charter be amended to establish a Department of Ocean Safety and remove ocean safety responsibilities from the Department of Emergency Services ?"

The resolution calls for a "board, creating accountability and oversight similar to that provided by the city's Fire Commission and Police Commission over the city's other public safety departments, the Honolulu Fire Department and Honolulu Police Department."

Since the resolution's introduction in February, the city administration says it prefers to create the new department under the mayor's executive action.

But that action, the city says, would not include a commission. Instead, the city requested the commission portion be presented to voters in November under an amended version of Tupola's Resolution 50.

Tupola—along with the rest of the Council—refused changes to her legislation.

Others, like Council member Calvin Say, were mindful of the city administration's proposed $3.63 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025, which prioritizes affordable housing development, public safety improvements and operating and maintaining the nearly $10 billion Skyline.

Say said he hoped a newly founded ocean safety department doesn't come before the Council in fiscal year 2026—with a start date of July 1, 2025—with a "budget request of $1.5 (million ) to $2 million for the administrative costs."

According to the city, the estimated cost to set up and run a new Ocean Safety sector will be about $1.4 million a year.

"Have we thought it through ?" asked Say. "It's easy to just say 'yes, yes, ' but in the end I worry about whether we can find the finances for it, also."

According to Titchen, "an additional $1 million to $1.4 million more, on top of our existing $25 million budget, would be appropriate."

He asserted one thing that won't change under a new Ocean Safety department will be employees' salaries, noting that starting pay for city lifeguards is about $50, 000 a year.

"It will not rise under a new department, " he said. "There would be very little—if any—change to our budget for salaries under a new department, except, of course, for about nine new administrative support positions, or $1 million to $1.4 million."

He said he supports Tupola's resolution, which includes an oversight commission.

"Of course, we are willing to see it go to the ballot—I see no risk in this, only gain, " Titchen said. "If it passes by 80 %, the electorate is saying, 'Invest more in Ocean Safety.' If it passes by 1 %, they are saying, 'Keep doing what you're doing.' If it fails by 1 %, they are saying, 'This is not the time.' If it fails by 80 %, we are wasting our time."

But he added, "I think it would pass in a landslide, especially with public support from the mayor and the Council members."

Meanwhile, on April 9 two related resolutions were introduced for Council consideration toward a new ocean safety department.

If adopted, one resolution submitted by Blangiardi's administration, would, under the mayor's executive authority, stand up a new department immediately.

Council member Matt Weyer's resolution calls for a voter-approved charter amendment in the upcoming election to create an oversight panel, the Ocean Safety Commission. If adopted, that panel would take effect Jan. 1, the resolution states.

The full Council is expected to review both resolutions Wednesday.