2018-09-19 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board September 19, 2018 there’re sufficient enough call takers, make sure they’re there, make sure we’re providing sufficient—accurate public information and stuff. rd So, that started, for me, back in—the onset of the lava flow in—on May 3 or something like that, I think (inaudible)—some time back then—when the current lava event? rd FEMALE: Yeah, first week, May 3. MR. BRILHANTE: Yeah. So, we started service—we started—we ratcheted up and we opened up the Call Center. So, we’ve been doing that quite a bit. What hap—used to happen in the past, was that Health and Safety Division would respond to the EOC and they would supervise the Call Center. The unfortunate part of that was all that time was overtime and it would come out of our overtime budget— MALE: Oh, no—budget. MR. BRILHANTE: —and I had 2 people responding. So, what I did was from a budgetary perspective, I reassigned—I made a reassignment, so now I’ve been going up and responding to the EOC and I’ve been supervising the call center. And I have my deputy come in and he, kind of, relieves me when we go up there and we do that. So, what we’ve done is we significantly reduced our overtime expenditures associated with that. So, we covered the lava flow, we covered Hurricane Lane, and we covered Hurricane Olivia. And so, it’s just—to me, it was just a simple change in assignments, which at the end of the day, showed a significant reduction in our overtime expenditures. So, as J knows, we don’t get any overtime. CHR. NAHUINA: Your personal commitment to the department is impressive. I mean, they’re right there—your time and not being compensated. And then, even your car allowance—I heard you mention that earlier. So, those of the things are significant money and we appreciate you. Thank you. MR. BRILHANTE: No—and with the car allowance, the only reason I was willing—or I offered that was I’m a strong believer in us leading by example. CHR. NAHUINA: That’s quite obvious. MR. BRILHANTE: I cannot go and ask somebody else to cut—make cuts in what they’re doing or—“I’m sorry, but you can’t go to the mainland for this training this year”—and I’m not doing anything. So, that’s why—that was the impetus for the reduction of car allowance. I mean, we’ll see how it goes. But, anyways, so the third thing I just want to touch about is the—bringing in Jenny Sakamoto to be our Professional Development—I don’t know if you’re aware, but Gabriella Cabanas is st retiring, effective December 1. Page 12