Each of Hawaii's four functioning counties (Hawai'i, Honolulu, Maui, Kaua'i) has a directly elected mayor as chief executive and a separately elected county council as the legislative body. Because Hawaii has no separately incorporated cities or towns beneath the county level, the county is the only general-purpose local government residents deal with — for planning, permitting, police, parks, and more. For a meeting or records request, contact the county council or clerk for legislative matters, or the mayor's office for executive and administrative ones.

Most states structure local government as a small elected commission with combined legislative and executive power; Hawaii instead gives each county a separately elected mayor as chief executive alongside an elected council, because the counties themselves are the state's only general-purpose local governments.