FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       March 1, 2005              

Release M-21

MAYOR APPOINTS EMERGENCY SERVICES ADVISOR

            Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced he has appointed Danilo “Danny” Agsalog as special advisor in the City Department of Emergency Services.

            Agsalog, who has been Maui County’s budget director for the past two years, will serve as the deputy to Dr. Elizabeth Char, director of Emergency Services.

            A native of the Philippines, he served eight years in the U.S. Air Force and 15 years in the Hawaii Air National Guard.

            His professional experience ranges from supervising the electrical department of Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Co. in Puunene (he is a licensed electrician) to creating and running a marketing research firm Manila. He served as campaign chairman for Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa in 2002.

 As Arakawa’s budget director, Agsalog expanded Maui County’s unreserved “carryover” funds from $4.4 million in fiscal year 2004 to $17 million in the current fiscal year.

Emergency Services is one of four city departments where Mayor Hannemann has eschewed appointing deputy directors. Instead, those duties will be handled by special advisors. (The other departments are Community Services, Customer Services and Information Technology.)

-30-

Contact:

Mark Matsunaga 527-5767

Bill Brennan 527-6928