At long last, the work of rebuilding the beleaguered State Historic Preservation Division is about to begin.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, the agency that oversees historic preservation functions for the state, has named a panel to search for a new administrator to replace Melanie Chinen, who left the post last month.

Members of the search committee have credibility where cultural and historical resources are concerned: Patrick Yim, retired judge and trustee for the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust; Hawaiian practitioner and educator Ku Kahakalau; and Timothy Johns, president of the Bishop Museum and former DLNR chairman.

If the division is not already a sinking ship, it's at least one with leaks springing up along several seams. Chronic staffing shortages in the face of a mounting backlog of work have put the division into a position of playing catch-up rather than giving historic preservation the consideration it's due in development and other land uses.

The state must lose no more time in setting this right, which means placing the right person at the helm: one who grasps the overall mission but serves no single constituency.

The new division chief will need to create an atmosphere in which staffers in disparate professions (architects, archaeologists, historians) can do their job efficiently.

DLNR'S new leadership has good ideas about helping the division dig out from piles of permit reviews. One is a plan to streamline approvals in areas where clearly no historic resources are at risk. The division should not let minutiae distract staff from standing guard over important historic sites that, once destroyed, can never be replaced.

There are other ambitious plans to corral historic-sites information into a public database that could make the research process far easier and quicker.

But at the moment, job No. 1 is to find a level-headed administrator who can help fill key vacancies with competent experts.

The Legislature plans to weigh in on the upheaval in historic preservation. That can be useful, but only so far as it bolsters the push for staff and efficiency and avoids micromanaging. Too many cooks can definitely spoil this stew.

For now, the search committee and the struggling division need support in getting past this hurdle and back to the job of protecting the artifacts, buildings and places that set Hawai'i apart.

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