2018-09-19 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board September 19, 2018 MS. NAMAHOE: So, what I’m trying to think through is would there ever be any examples of where the County Charter could influence our process and how we—due process for us? I know we’re obliged to HRS, but is there any way that the County Charter could impact County employees that come in front of us? MR. BRILHANTE: The HRS is the base entity that formulated or was the starting point for this Merit Appeals Board. There is a section in the Charter that specifically identifies some functions and duties of the Merit Appeals Board, but it’s more administrative type functions. As far as when an employee comes up and requests an internal complaint—those procedures and those processes are established through rulemaking. So, we have our rules for internal complaints, which are County rules. But those rules are not incorporated into the Charter. It’s internal within our governmental authority—and, normally, that’s the case. You’ll have a departmental—and the Charter will identify the areas of responsibility and the key components that align itself with the areas of responsibility for a department or a board or a commission. So, Charter is a big picture. But then, the small day-to-day operations, what the employees expect from the Merit Appeals Board—it’s more formulated within our rules—and it’d be rules for the internal complaint procedures, which is specific to the MAB. And it’s—I should have brought the Charter— MS. NAMAHOE: Then, if we’re going to make any statement—as long as we acknowledge that and request that they keep any amendments they make are benign to our process? Is that— MR. BRILHANTE: Unless somebody proposes a amendment, they’re going to—my understanding and J can correct me if I’m wrong—but they’re not going to, on their own, go and start tweaking portions of the Charter unless somebody brings it to their attention. And if somebody were to bring it to their attention, my assumption and what I’ve seen in the past with previous Charter Commissions is that this initial process is information gathering. And then, once they get their information and they go forward and they start identifying each specific item—then, if an item particularly pertains to a certain entity—they invite that entity to come in and say, “Hey, this is the proposed changes to your section of the Charter. Do you—would you like to come in and give us your feedback as it relates to any proposed-type changes?” That’s how it’s worked in the past—I’ll let J, he would be the expert as to how it’ll probably work in the future. MR. YOSHIMOTO: No—and that’s accurate what Mr. Brilhante just stated. And as I—to answer your question, because the Charter is a difficult process to amend, I think the recommendation moving forward to just let it be “as is”— MS. NAMAHOE: Right. MR. YOSHIMOTO: —is the best decision. Because HRS can be changed every session or whenever they want to—but we can’t do that. Page 6